To support the goal of reading the Exodus story, some of the daily readings are longer than typical for the GPS. We encourage you: have an extra cup of coffee, use your lunch break—find a way to hang in there and read this defining Biblical story.
The Daily Guide. grow. pray. study. from The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, United States "Plagues 3 through 6 did not budge Pharaoh"
Tuesday, 30 August 2016
Exodus 8:16 (20) Adonai said to Moshe, “Get up early in the morning, stand before Pharaoh when he goes out to the water and say to him, ‘Here is what Adonai says: “Let my people go, so that they can worship me. 17 (21) Otherwise, if you won’t let my people go, I will send swarms of insects on you, your servants and your people, and into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of swarms of insects, and likewise the ground they stand on. 18 (22) But I will set apart the land of Goshen, where my people live — no swarms of insects will be there — so that you can realize that I am Adonai, right here in the land. (vi) 19 (23) Yes, I will distinguish between my people and your people, and this sign will happen by tomorrow.”’” 20 (24) Adonai did it: terrible swarms of insects went into Pharaoh’s palace and into all his servants’ houses — the insects ruined the entire land of Egypt.
21 (25) Pharaoh summoned Moshe and Aharon and said, “Go, and sacrifice to your God here in the land.” 22 (26) But Moshe replied, “It would be inappropriate for us to do that, because the animal we sacrifice to Adonai our God is an abomination to the Egyptians. Won’t the Egyptians stone us to death if before their very eyes we sacrifice what they consider an abomination? 23 (27) No, we will go three days’ journey into the desert and sacrifice to Adonai our God, as he has ordered us to do.” 24 (28) Pharaoh said, “I will let you go, so that you can sacrifice to Adonai your God in the desert. Only you are not to go very far away. Intercede on my behalf.” 25 (29) Moshe said, “All right, I am going away from you, and I will intercede with Adonai; so that tomorrow, the swarms of insects will leave Pharaoh, his servants and his people. Just make sure that Pharaoh stops playing games with the people by preventing them from going and sacrificing to Adonai.”
26 (30) Moshe left Pharaoh and interceded with Adonai, 27 (31) and Adonai did what Moshe had asked: he removed the swarms of insects from Pharaoh, his servants and his people — not one remained. 28 (32) But this time, too, Pharaoh made himself stubborn and didn’t let the people go.
9:1 Then Adonai said to Moshe, “Go to Pharaoh, and tell him, ‘Here is what Adonai, the God of the Hebrews, says: “Let my people go, so that they can worship me. 2 If you refuse to let them go and persist in holding on to them, 3 the hand of Adonai is on your livestock in the field — on the horses, donkeys, camels, cattle and flocks — and will make them suffer a devastating illness. 4 But Adonai will distinguish between Egypt’s and Isra’el’s livestock — nothing belonging to the people of Isra’el will die.”’” 5 Adonai determined the exact time by saying, “Tomorrow Adonai will do this in the land.” 6 The following day, Adonai did it — all the livestock of Egypt died; but not one of the animals belonging to the people of Isra’el died. 7 Pharaoh investigated and found that not even one of the animals of the people of Isra’el had died. Nevertheless, Pharaoh’s heart remained stubborn, and he didn’t let the people go.
8 Adonai said to Moshe and Aharon, “Take handfuls of ashes from a kiln, and let Moshe throw them in the air before Pharaoh’s eyes. 9 They will turn into fine dust over all the land of Egypt and become infected sores on men and animals throughout Egypt.” 10 So they took ashes from a kiln, stood in front of Pharaoh and threw them in the air; and they became infected sores on men and animals. 11 The magicians couldn’t even stand in Moshe’s presence because of the sores, which were on them as well as on the other Egyptians. 12 But Adonai made Pharaoh hardhearted, so that he didn’t listen to them — just as Adonai had said to Moshe.
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As Pharaoh remained adamant, the plagues grew more hurtful. They went beyond the powers of
Egypt’s religious experts (cf. Exodus 8:19). And God shielded the Israelites from some of the plagues’ effects (cf. Exodus 8:22, 9:7), making it harder to explain them away as natural events. Yet Pharaoh seemed to treat it all as a sort of game. We can almost imagine him, in modern terms, crossing his fingers behind his back as he made promises to get each plague to end.
• The Scriptural story addressed the conflict in theological terms. But Pharaoh (like the
American South before the Civil War) also faced a major economic problem. Letting a large slave labor force go was very costly. Have you ever faced a moral choice that was likely (or maybe certain) to cost you money? How did you deal with the choice, and how do you feel about the decision(s) you made?
• Pharaoh tried varied compromises (like “worship your God here in the land”—Exodus 8:25) to get the plagues to end without freeing the Hebrews. Have you ever found yourself “negotiating” with God (“what if I do part of what you’re asking, Lord?” or “maybe I could live that way two or three days a week”)? If you believe God only calls you to do things that are for your good (and
you may need to pray about that), then who loses in that kind of negotiation?
Prayer: God of freedom, you would not settle for anything short of seeing your people freed from slavery. You want to set me free spiritually, too. Forgive me when I resist, and keep nudging me toward your ways, where true freedom awaits. Amen.
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Insights from Brandon Gregory
Brandon Gregory is a volunteer for the worship and missions teams at Church of the Resurrection. He helps lead worship at the Vibe, West, and Downtown services, and is involved with the Malawi missions team at home.
A 2009 study of insurance records revealed that, on average, people who drive hybrid cars drive more miles than non-hybrid drivers–specifically, they drove 25% more on trips that were not job-related than non-hybrid drivers. Call me crazy, but doesn’t driving more miles in your car kind of defeat the environmental purpose of getting a hybrid car in the first place?
But before you call me out for picking on hybrid car drivers, I’ve got another story. Two separate studies in Taiwan showed that people who take multivitamins are more likely to make poor health choices. The first study showed that, of the two test groups, the one taking the multivitamin was less likely to exercise and choose healthy foods than the control group. The second study looked at smokers exclusively. The control group remained more or less stable with their smoking habit. Want to guess what happened to the other group? That’s right: they actually started smoking more when they started taking the multivitamins. What gives?
The point isn’t that driving hybrid cars and taking multivitamins are bad things. They’re definitely good things–in fact, that right there is the problem. Our brains know they’re good things, which gives us more license to make poor life choices later on. Think of it like a transaction: you earn moral currency for doing a good deed, and feel free to spend that moral currency when a poor life choice comes along. How many times have you eaten an unhealthy meal because you went to the gym earlier that day, or supersized your fries because you got a diet soda?
The phenomenon is called self-licensing, and it’s very well-documented. It’s a temptation that any of us can fall into, and frequently do without realizing it. And self-licensing mixed with religion can have very harmful results.
I talk to a lot of atheists on a very candid level about religion. A story I hear far too often was that a person had some very honest questions about religion, but was driven away by overly-pious religious folks–either by their incongruent actions, or sometimes directly by their words. It’s a very sad story, and always one that I wish could have ended differently.
I wonder sometimes how those stories come about, how those overly-pious religious folks came to be. There are probably a lot of different factors, but one of them is undoubtedly self-licensing. The sad truth is that if we operate on the premise that the simple act of attending a weekly worship service makes us better people, it can actually make us worse people. Without realizing it, we can trade in the moral currency we got by learning how to improve our lives and use it to avoid improving our lives. Becoming more godly and good requires a lot of hard work and change, and going to church is just the beginning.
The trick to beating self-licensing is simply being aware of it. Don’t use good deeds that you’ve done to bargain with God and cheat on your spiritual diet. This isn’t much different than Pharaoh in the Moses story, bargaining and offering a little bit of good and expecting the full benefit–that’s not the way it works. Just like you won’t get much healthier by exercising and eating more junk food, you won’t get much more virtuous by going to church and compromising later on. Don’t let church be the multivitamin that enables you to make poor spiritual decisions–that kind of defeats the purpose of going to church in the first place.
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Join us for worship today - click here for information on worship times and locations. If you are not in the Kansas City area, you can take part in our worship via live Web stream at rezonline.org.
Download a printable version of this week's GPS.
-------
Exodus 8:16 (20) Adonai said to Moshe, “Get up early in the morning, stand before Pharaoh when he goes out to the water and say to him, ‘Here is what Adonai says: “Let my people go, so that they can worship me. 17 (21) Otherwise, if you won’t let my people go, I will send swarms of insects on you, your servants and your people, and into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of swarms of insects, and likewise the ground they stand on. 18 (22) But I will set apart the land of Goshen, where my people live — no swarms of insects will be there — so that you can realize that I am Adonai, right here in the land. (vi) 19 (23) Yes, I will distinguish between my people and your people, and this sign will happen by tomorrow.”’” 20 (24) Adonai did it: terrible swarms of insects went into Pharaoh’s palace and into all his servants’ houses — the insects ruined the entire land of Egypt.
21 (25) Pharaoh summoned Moshe and Aharon and said, “Go, and sacrifice to your God here in the land.” 22 (26) But Moshe replied, “It would be inappropriate for us to do that, because the animal we sacrifice to Adonai our God is an abomination to the Egyptians. Won’t the Egyptians stone us to death if before their very eyes we sacrifice what they consider an abomination? 23 (27) No, we will go three days’ journey into the desert and sacrifice to Adonai our God, as he has ordered us to do.” 24 (28) Pharaoh said, “I will let you go, so that you can sacrifice to Adonai your God in the desert. Only you are not to go very far away. Intercede on my behalf.” 25 (29) Moshe said, “All right, I am going away from you, and I will intercede with Adonai; so that tomorrow, the swarms of insects will leave Pharaoh, his servants and his people. Just make sure that Pharaoh stops playing games with the people by preventing them from going and sacrificing to Adonai.”
26 (30) Moshe left Pharaoh and interceded with Adonai, 27 (31) and Adonai did what Moshe had asked: he removed the swarms of insects from Pharaoh, his servants and his people — not one remained. 28 (32) But this time, too, Pharaoh made himself stubborn and didn’t let the people go.
9:1 Then Adonai said to Moshe, “Go to Pharaoh, and tell him, ‘Here is what Adonai, the God of the Hebrews, says: “Let my people go, so that they can worship me. 2 If you refuse to let them go and persist in holding on to them, 3 the hand of Adonai is on your livestock in the field — on the horses, donkeys, camels, cattle and flocks — and will make them suffer a devastating illness. 4 But Adonai will distinguish between Egypt’s and Isra’el’s livestock — nothing belonging to the people of Isra’el will die.”’” 5 Adonai determined the exact time by saying, “Tomorrow Adonai will do this in the land.” 6 The following day, Adonai did it — all the livestock of Egypt died; but not one of the animals belonging to the people of Isra’el died. 7 Pharaoh investigated and found that not even one of the animals of the people of Isra’el had died. Nevertheless, Pharaoh’s heart remained stubborn, and he didn’t let the people go.
8 Adonai said to Moshe and Aharon, “Take handfuls of ashes from a kiln, and let Moshe throw them in the air before Pharaoh’s eyes. 9 They will turn into fine dust over all the land of Egypt and become infected sores on men and animals throughout Egypt.” 10 So they took ashes from a kiln, stood in front of Pharaoh and threw them in the air; and they became infected sores on men and animals. 11 The magicians couldn’t even stand in Moshe’s presence because of the sores, which were on them as well as on the other Egyptians. 12 But Adonai made Pharaoh hardhearted, so that he didn’t listen to them — just as Adonai had said to Moshe.
-------
As Pharaoh remained adamant, the plagues grew more hurtful. They went beyond the powers of
Egypt’s religious experts (cf. Exodus 8:19). And God shielded the Israelites from some of the plagues’ effects (cf. Exodus 8:22, 9:7), making it harder to explain them away as natural events. Yet Pharaoh seemed to treat it all as a sort of game. We can almost imagine him, in modern terms, crossing his fingers behind his back as he made promises to get each plague to end.
• The Scriptural story addressed the conflict in theological terms. But Pharaoh (like the
American South before the Civil War) also faced a major economic problem. Letting a large slave labor force go was very costly. Have you ever faced a moral choice that was likely (or maybe certain) to cost you money? How did you deal with the choice, and how do you feel about the decision(s) you made?
• Pharaoh tried varied compromises (like “worship your God here in the land”—Exodus 8:25) to get the plagues to end without freeing the Hebrews. Have you ever found yourself “negotiating” with God (“what if I do part of what you’re asking, Lord?” or “maybe I could live that way two or three days a week”)? If you believe God only calls you to do things that are for your good (and
you may need to pray about that), then who loses in that kind of negotiation?
Prayer: God of freedom, you would not settle for anything short of seeing your people freed from slavery. You want to set me free spiritually, too. Forgive me when I resist, and keep nudging me toward your ways, where true freedom awaits. Amen.
-------
Insights from Brandon Gregory
Brandon Gregory is a volunteer for the worship and missions teams at Church of the Resurrection. He helps lead worship at the Vibe, West, and Downtown services, and is involved with the Malawi missions team at home.A 2009 study of insurance records revealed that, on average, people who drive hybrid cars drive more miles than non-hybrid drivers–specifically, they drove 25% more on trips that were not job-related than non-hybrid drivers. Call me crazy, but doesn’t driving more miles in your car kind of defeat the environmental purpose of getting a hybrid car in the first place?
But before you call me out for picking on hybrid car drivers, I’ve got another story. Two separate studies in Taiwan showed that people who take multivitamins are more likely to make poor health choices. The first study showed that, of the two test groups, the one taking the multivitamin was less likely to exercise and choose healthy foods than the control group. The second study looked at smokers exclusively. The control group remained more or less stable with their smoking habit. Want to guess what happened to the other group? That’s right: they actually started smoking more when they started taking the multivitamins. What gives?
The point isn’t that driving hybrid cars and taking multivitamins are bad things. They’re definitely good things–in fact, that right there is the problem. Our brains know they’re good things, which gives us more license to make poor life choices later on. Think of it like a transaction: you earn moral currency for doing a good deed, and feel free to spend that moral currency when a poor life choice comes along. How many times have you eaten an unhealthy meal because you went to the gym earlier that day, or supersized your fries because you got a diet soda?
The phenomenon is called self-licensing, and it’s very well-documented. It’s a temptation that any of us can fall into, and frequently do without realizing it. And self-licensing mixed with religion can have very harmful results.
I talk to a lot of atheists on a very candid level about religion. A story I hear far too often was that a person had some very honest questions about religion, but was driven away by overly-pious religious folks–either by their incongruent actions, or sometimes directly by their words. It’s a very sad story, and always one that I wish could have ended differently.
I wonder sometimes how those stories come about, how those overly-pious religious folks came to be. There are probably a lot of different factors, but one of them is undoubtedly self-licensing. The sad truth is that if we operate on the premise that the simple act of attending a weekly worship service makes us better people, it can actually make us worse people. Without realizing it, we can trade in the moral currency we got by learning how to improve our lives and use it to avoid improving our lives. Becoming more godly and good requires a lot of hard work and change, and going to church is just the beginning.
The trick to beating self-licensing is simply being aware of it. Don’t use good deeds that you’ve done to bargain with God and cheat on your spiritual diet. This isn’t much different than Pharaoh in the Moses story, bargaining and offering a little bit of good and expecting the full benefit–that’s not the way it works. Just like you won’t get much healthier by exercising and eating more junk food, you won’t get much more virtuous by going to church and compromising later on. Don’t let church be the multivitamin that enables you to make poor spiritual decisions–that kind of defeats the purpose of going to church in the first place.
-------
Join us for worship today - click here for information on worship times and locations. If you are not in the Kansas City area, you can take part in our worship via live Web stream at rezonline.org.
Download a printable version of this week's GPS.
-------
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