Épisodes

  • What Does It Take for Death to Pass Over Us?

    What Does It Take for Death to Pass Over Us?
    Nov 19 2025
    What Does It Take for Death to Pass Over Us?Exodus 12:1–20 (ESV)The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbour shall take according to the number of persons, according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roast it, its head with its legs and its inner parts. And you shall let none of it remain until the morning, anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. In this manner you shall eat it, with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover.For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments. I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord, throughout your generations, as a statute for ever, you shall keep it as a feast. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. On the first day you shall hold a holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days, but what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared by you.And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute for ever. In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty first day of the month at evening. For seven days no leaven is to be found in your houses. If anyone eats what is leavened, that person will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land. You shall eat nothing leavened, in all your dwelling places you shall eat unleavened bread.”There are moments in life where you sense that everything is coming to a point, where all the slow movements of God suddenly gather into a single, decisive act. That is what is happening in this chapter. The plagues have been building, Pharaoh has been resisting, and now the Lord announces a night that will divide life into “before” and “after”.Before anything else, God resets Israel’s calendar. This month will be the beginning. In other words, salvation is not simply an event, it is the start of a new story. God makes a fresh beginning for His people long before they step out of Egypt.Then He gives instructions for a lamb. It must be spotless, young, without blemish. It must be killed at twilight. Its blood must be painted on the doorposts. And everyone in the household must stay inside, sheltered under that blood. This is not symbolic, it is life or death. Judgment will sweep through Egypt, and every home will face it. The only difference will be whether the blood is on the door.It is sobering to realise that Israel is not spared because of their goodness, their morality or their spiritual maturity. They are spared because they trust God’s provision. They are protected because they hide under the blood of another.This is the point that confronts us. We are not saved because of our record or because we are better than others. We are saved because God provides a substitute, and we trust Him enough to shelter beneath His mercy.The meal itself reinforces the urgency. They eat with sandals on their feet and staffs in their hands. They eat in haste, ready to walk out of slavery the moment the Lord opens the way. Salvation demands readiness. When God rescues, He expects His people to move.Then there is the command to remove all leaven. Leaven in Scripture often symbolises the quiet spread of sin. Removing it is a picture of cleansing the home, cleansing the heart, ...
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    8 min
  • When God Draws a Line, How Seriously Do We Take It?

    When God Draws a Line, How Seriously Do We Take It?
    Nov 18 2025
    When God Draws a Line, How Seriously Do We Take It?Exodus 11:1–10 (ESV)The Lord said to Moses, “Yet one plague more I will bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt. Afterward he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will drive you away completely. Speak now in the hearing of the people, that they ask, every man of his neighbour and every woman of her neighbour, for silver and gold jewellery.” And the Lord gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants and in the sight of the people.So Moses said, “Thus says the Lord, ‘About midnight I will go out in the midst of Egypt, and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the cattle. There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again. But not a dog shall growl against any of the people of Israel, either man or beast, that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.’ And all these your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me, saying, ‘Get out, you and all the people who follow you.’ And after that I will go out.” And he went out from Pharaoh in hot anger.Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen to you, that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.” Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh, and the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the people of Israel go out of his land.There is a moment in every conflict where things become final. No more warnings, no more negotiations, no more gentle invitations. The line has been drawn, and what comes next will reveal whether the heart is hard or humble. That is exactly where this passage sits. Nine plagues have struck Egypt, yet Pharaoh remains unbending. And here God announces the final blow, one that will cut through every layer of Egyptian pride.It is striking that, before anything else, God tells Israel to ask for silver and gold. In other words, He prepares their redemption before the judgment falls. The Egyptians, who had once oppressed them, now willingly give up their wealth. This is a quiet reminder that God works in the shadows long before His people see the outcome. He supplies for the journey while they are still in the land of slavery.Then the tone shifts. Moses speaks words that would chill any listener. Every firstborn in Egypt will die, from Pharaoh’s own child to the child of the servant girl. The judgment is total, and the grief will shake the nation. Yet, at the very same moment, God promises absolute protection for His people. Not a dog will growl at Israel. This is not because Israel is morally superior, but because God makes a distinction. His mercy rests on those who belong to Him.It is uncomfortable to sit with a passage like this, because it confronts us with a God who is not tame. He is patient, but His patience has a purpose. He warns, He calls, He invites repentance, but He does not indulge rebellion forever. Pharaoh is not simply stubborn, he is determined to be his own god. Every plague has been a chance to turn back. Every warning has been a door left open. Every word from Moses has been an act of mercy. Yet Pharaoh’s heart grows harder, not softer.Before we shake our heads at him, we need to be honest about ourselves. We also resist God’s voice. We also delay obedience. We also assume there will always be another chance, another tomorrow, another gentle nudge. But God draws lines for our good. He exposes our idols because He wants to rescue us before our stubbornness destroys us.The final verses are solemn. God tells Moses that Pharaoh will not listen, and He will use that refusal to magnify His wonders. Judgment and salvation unfold side by side. One heart is hardened, another is delivered. One kingdom is broken, another is born.The question for us is simple. When God speaks, do we resist Him, or do we listen. When He draws a line, do we cross it, or do we trust Him enough to step back. This passage is heavy, but it is also full of grace, because it teaches us to take God’s voice seriously, and to run to the shelter He provides rather than harden our hearts against Him.PrayerFather, keep our hearts soft when You speak. Help us to listen quickly and obey willingly. Protect us from the stubbornness that blinds us, and teach us to trust the salvation You offer. Thank You that You prepare our redemption even before we know we need it. Lead us into Your light and keep us close to Christ. Amen. Get full access to Reformed Devotionals Daily at reformeddevotional.substack.com/subscribe
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    7 min
  • When God Turns Out the Lights, What Is He Trying to Show Us?

    When God Turns Out the Lights, What Is He Trying to Show Us?
    Nov 17 2025

    When God Turns Out the Lights, What Is He Trying to Show Us?

    Exodus 10:21–29 (ESV)Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness to be felt.” So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was pitch darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days, but all the people of Israel had light where they lived. Then Pharaoh called Moses and said, “Go, serve the Lord, your little ones also may go with you, only let your flocks and your herds remain behind.” But Moses said, “You must also let us have sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. Our livestock also must go with us, not a hoof shall be left behind, for we must take of them to serve the Lord our God, and we do not know with what we must serve the Lord until we arrive there.” But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let them go. Then Pharaoh said to him, “Get away from me, take care never to see my face again, for on the day you see my face you shall die.” Moses said, “As you say. I will not see your face again.”

    There is a kind of darkness that sinks into your bones. It is not the soft, familiar darkness of home when you switch the lights off before bed. It is the sort of darkness that presses on you, where you cannot see your hand in front of your face, and where the silence feels like it is breathing down your neck. Egypt sits in that sort of darkness for three long days, and it reveals more about Pharaoh’s heart than anything he has said out loud.

    By this point he has seen plague after plague. His power has been shaken, his gods have been exposed, and his people are begging him to give in. Yet even now, with creation itself seeming to unravel around him, he still tries to negotiate. He still wants control. He still wants God on his own terms. “You may go, but your flocks must stay.” He offers obedience that costs him nothing.

    This is where the passage begins to speak to us. Pharaoh is not a cartoon villain who behaves in ways we cannot understand. He is simply human. He wants to look cooperative while keeping his hands firmly on the controls. He wants to obey, as long as the obedience does not touch anything valuable. He wants God, as long as he can hold on to what he thinks he needs.

    We do exactly the same.We give God the parts of our lives that feel safe.We surrender habits or attitudes that do not cost us much.We follow Jesus gladly, as long as the path does not touch our comfort, our money, our reputation or our sense of control.

    Moses’ response exposes the heart of true obedience. “Not a hoof shall be left behind.” Serving God means serving Him on His terms, not ours. It requires the whole life, not simply the convenient parts.

    This is why the darkness matters. God sometimes allows us to walk through dark seasons because the darkness exposes what we cling to most tightly. When the lights are on, we can pretend that we are in control. When the lights go out, we see what we trust, what we protect and what we refuse to surrender.

    Yet, even in the darkness, there is grace. Israel has light while Egypt stumbles, not because Israel is better, but because God is merciful. When God exposes us, He does it so He can lead us into freedom. When He confronts us, it is so that we might find life in Him. When He unsettles us, it is because He wants to draw us out of our false kingdoms and into His.

    So the real question is not simply, “Why is this season dark.” The deeper question is, “What is God showing me, and what is He asking me to release so that I can walk in His light again.”

    PrayerFather, when life feels dark and the way ahead is unclear, keep our hearts soft towards You. Reveal the things we cling to, the areas we hold back and the negotiations we attempt to make. Teach us to trust You completely, and lead us into the light of Christ, where true freedom is found. Amen.



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    6 min
  • God Breaking Through Stubborn Hearts

    God Breaking Through Stubborn Hearts
    Nov 16 2025
    Note: This article is an AI-generated adaptation of a spoken transcript and may not fully capture the nuances of the original presentation.How far will God go to break through the stubbornness of the human heart? Well, that’s a question that our text today in Exodus chapter 10 verses one to 20 deals with. So let’s have a look.“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go in to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show these signs of mine among them, and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and of your grandson how I have dealt harshly with the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Lord.’ So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and said to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me. For if you refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country, and they shall cover the face of the land, so that no one can see the land, and they shall eat what is left to you after the hail, and they shall eat every tree of yours that grows in the field, and they shall fill your houses and the houses of all your servants and of all the Egyptians, as neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen, from the day they came on earth to this day.”’ Then he turned and went out from Pharaoh.Then Pharaoh’s servants said to him, ‘How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not yet understand that Egypt is ruined?’ So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, ‘Go, serve the Lord your God. But which ones are to go?’ Moses said, ‘We will go with our young and our old. We will go with our sons and daughters and with our flocks and herds, for we must hold a feast to the Lord.’ But he said to them, ‘The Lord be with you, if ever I let you and your little ones go! Look, you have some evil purpose in mind. No! Go, the men among you, and serve the Lord, for that is what you are asking.’ And they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence.Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, so that they may come upon the land of Egypt and eat every plant in the land, all that the hail has left.’ So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day and all that night. When it was morning, the east wind had brought the locusts. The locusts came up over all the land of Egypt and settled on the whole country of Egypt, such a dense swarm of locusts as had never been before, nor ever will be again. They covered the face of the whole land, so that the land was darkened, and they ate all the plants in the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Not a green thing remained, neither tree nor plant of the field, through all the land of Egypt.Then Pharaoh hastily called Moses and Aaron and said, ‘I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. Now therefore, forgive my sin, please, only this once, and plead with the Lord your God only to remove this death from me.’ So he went out from Pharaoh and pleaded with the Lord. And the Lord turned the wind into a very strong west wind, which lifted the locusts and drove them into the Red Sea. Not a single locust was left in all the country of Egypt. But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the people of Israel go.”Now this pattern by now is pretty familiar to us. There’s a warning from God, there’s defiance on the heart of Pharaoh, there’s judgment on Pharaoh in the form of the plague that had already been warned about, there is a period of brief remorse in which Pharaoh says sorry for his sins, but then as soon as things get better, there’s a renewed kind of rebellion.You see, this passage adds something new though that is quite interesting for us and perhaps even quite profound. The purpose of these plagues in this case is not just to humble Pharaoh, but actually to teach Israel about who their God is. Notice the purpose statement at the start. The Lord says he will display these signs so that you will tell your son and your grandson about who God is. You see, God is already providing a way of shaping the people who will come after Moses to remember his power and to pass it on throughout the generations.Now, here exegetically, Pharaoh’s partial obedience, you know, only allowing the men to go, reveals a kind of attempt for him to negotiate with God. You see, God demands full surrender on the part of Pharaoh, actually on our behalf as well. But he doesn’t want compromise. God is not one who negotiates, as we said the other day.And so the locusts here are described as this unprecedented swarm. They strip Egypt bare. As bad as the hail was, whatever was left over is now eaten by the locusts. Now remember ...
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    9 min
  • The Hail of Heaven

    The Hail of Heaven
    Nov 13 2025
    Note: This article is an AI-generated adaptation of a spoken transcript and may not fully capture the nuances of the original presentation.So what happens when God’s judgment literally falls from the sky, but people still refuse to bow down to him? Well, that’s the question that our text today deals with. So let’s have a look at Exodus chapter 9, verse 22 through to 35.“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand toward heaven, so that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, on man and beast and every plant of the field in the land of Egypt.’ Then Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven, and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the earth. And the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt. There was hail and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hail, very heavy hail, such as had never been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. The hail struck down everything that was in the field throughout all the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And the hail struck down every plant of the field and shattered every tree of the field. Only in the land of Goshen, where the people of Israel were, was there no hail.Then Pharaoh sent and called Moses and Aaron and said to them, ‘This time I have sinned; the Lord is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. Plead with the Lord, for there has been enough of God’s thunder and hail. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.’ Moses said to him, ‘As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will stretch out my hands to the Lord. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth is the Lord’s. But as for you and your servants, I know that you do not yet fear the Lord God.’ (The flax and the barley were struck down, for the barley was in the ear and the flax was in bud. But the wheat and the emmer were not struck down, for they are late in coming up.)So Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh and stretched out his hands to the Lord, and the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain no longer poured upon the earth. But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet again and hardened his heart, he and his servants. So the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people of Israel go, just as the Lord had spoken through Moses.”Now this is one of these dramatic scenes in Exodus. There’s thunder and fire from the sky and hail. Heaven itself seems to wage war against Egypt. God here shows unmistakably that the earth is his, that he has the power over all the elements, not Pharaoh and certainly not the gods of Egypt. Each element—fire, water, air and land—is under his control. That’s how they would have understood that.And yet even within the storm, God still shows his mercy. Goshen is spared. And the hail stops at Moses’ prayer. So we also see that the various different types of food were not completely, totally destroyed. Again, a sign of God’s mercy, even here in justice and judgment. Of course, Israel itself is spared. They are the ones that are living in Goshen. So even though God’s judgments are mingled with his grace, we see here that he is still set apart Israel as his special people.I find Pharaoh’s confession in this passage really quite revealing. Here, faced with God’s judgment, he admits his sin. He admits that God is right in what he has done and that his people are in the wrong. This is a kind of repentance that’s not really a repentance. It sort of surrenders to the power of God without actually having a heart that changes.And I wonder sometimes whether we could be the same as Pharaoh in this case, where we hate the consequences of our sin, but we don’t hate our sin itself. Maybe that’s true of you today, and this is a call again to turn to true repentance, to turn from your sin, and not just be sad because of the consequences of your sin, but actually to hate your sin itself, and to return to Christ. You see, we shouldn’t just fear the consequences. We should fear the Lord.So naturally what happens in the case of Pharaoh is as soon as relief comes, as soon as the hail, the fire and the rain and the thunder stopped falling down on his people, he returns back again to the hardness of heart. The plague of the hail shows and exposes the difference between a kind of temporary regret because of sin and true repentance in the heart. And that’s still a distinction that matters pretty deeply today.You see, true repentance isn’t found in a crisis-driven apology to God. It’s really coming in humble submission to God and to really seek the heart change that only the Spirit can give. To be sorry not just for what we’ve done, but for who we are. It’s a pretty massive difference in our heart disposition.Now, that has direct implications for how we live our lives because you see we should rightly fear the Lord. But fear of the Lord is not—you know, to fear God is to...
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    8 min
  • God’s Power Fills the Sky

    God’s Power Fills the Sky
    Nov 12 2025
    Note: This article is an AI-generated adaptation of a spoken transcript and may not fully capture the nuances of the original presentation.Can God show both justice and mercy when His power is overwhelmingly strong? That’s the question our text answers today. And we’re reading from, again, the book of Exodus chapter nine, verses 13 to 21. Let’s have a look.“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Rise up early in the morning and present yourself before Pharaoh and say to him, “Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, let my people go that they may serve me. For this time, I will send all my plagues on you yourself and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth. For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. You are still exalting yourself against my people and will not let them go. Behold, about this time tomorrow I will cause very heavy hail to fall, such as never has been in Egypt from the day it was founded until now. Now therefore send, get your livestock and all that you have in the field into safe shelter, for every man and beast that is in the field and is not brought home will die when the hail falls on them.”’ Then whoever feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh hurried his slaves and his livestock into the houses. But whoever did not pay attention to the word of the Lord left his slaves and his livestock in the field.”Now, this is a pretty pivotal moment in the Exodus story. Here God declares his purposes plainly. His judgments are coming, but they’re not random punishments. They’re really there to show his glory. He says that this situation has been raised up so that His glory may be revealed. Now Pharaoh’s pride, which God has allowed to reach its full display, now becomes the stage on which God’s power and mercy is going to be shown across the world.But notice the compassion that God has here woven into the judgment itself. God sends to Pharaoh Moses and Aaron to tell them that these people are going to die, that the slaves and the livestock and anyone who’s outside will die under this judgment if they’re not brought inside. So he gives them a warning, he gives them time to act. But it’s only those who fear the Lord who obeyed and were ultimately spared. The issue here is no longer nationality, you know, Israel versus Egypt, but it’s really a question of will you trust in God? Will you listen to God’s word and respond?Now exegetically, the phrase, “I have raised you up,” doesn’t mean that Pharaoh was made evil by God, but that God had sovereignly placed him in power so that his own supremacy over Pharaoh, his own power over Pharaoh would be shown. So every act of rebellion that Pharaoh committed really becomes the stage, the scene for God’s justice and his redemption and his mercy to be shown.Of course this foreshadows the cross. That’s ultimately the greatest sign where God’s sovereignty over a situation brings about salvation. So the day of humanity’s greatest rebellion becomes the stage on which God shows his greatest grace and mercy. Judgment for sin is put on Jesus and salvation from sin is given to humans because of that.And so even on this darkest day of the world, we see that salvation comes because of God’s grace and His judgment coming together at the same time. Sovereignly, God had arranged things just so that that might happen.Now, we need to remember that God’s power, therefore, is always purposeful. He reveals Himself so that people might know Him and might trust Him. Notice it’s even the Egyptians who trusted the word of Aaron and the word of Moses and the word of God who were saved in this case. Whoever responds to God’s revelation have access to His mercy. The same is true of us today. Anyone who comes in faith, responds to the call that Jesus has to be made Lord, to come and have their sins forgiven by Him on the cross, still receive His mercy. It doesn’t matter what country you’re from, whether you’re from Egypt or Israel, it doesn’t matter.Anyone who fears the Lord and listens to his word will find refuge in him. Faith will always result in obedience of some sort to the Lord. Now, Egypt was also meant to see God’s glory and so too our lives of those who have been saved are to show the world around us his grace and his mercy through our works. So just as those slaves or those Egyptians who had listened to the Lord and had their slaves and their animals saved from the judgment, so too we who are saved from God’s judgment by Christ should also show forth to the world that we have been saved and that God is a gracious and generous God. Yes, His judgment will come, but His mercy is available now. And that’s a wonderful thing.So let’s ...
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    7 min
  • The Ashes of Judgment

    The Ashes of Judgment
    Nov 11 2025

    Note: This article is an AI-generated adaptation of a spoken transcript and may not fully capture the nuances of the original presentation.

    What happens when we continually ignore God’s warnings? What happens when His patience reaches a limit? Well, that’s what our text today is all about, so let’s go and have a look.

    Our text is from Exodus chapter 9 verses 8 through to 12. “And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Take handfuls of soot from the kiln, and let Moses throw them in the air in the sight of Pharaoh. It shall become a fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and become boils breaking out in sores on man and beast throughout the land of Egypt.’ So they took soot from the kiln and stood before Pharaoh. And Moses threw it in the air, and it became boils breaking out in sores on man and beast. And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils. And the boils came upon the magicians and upon all the Egyptians. But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had spoken to Moses.”

    Now this plague marks a turning point. For the first time, the magicians—these are Egypt’s spiritual elites, if you will—they’re not only powerless, but they’re also personally afflicted by this plague. So the soot from the kiln may well have come from the very furnaces where Israel’s bricks were baked. And so that shows us that God is using these instruments by which the Egyptians were oppressing the Israelites to become the judgment upon those who were oppressing him.

    The ash is like this symbol of divine justice that shows that God has been aware of and has seen these acts of cruelty that have been done against His people Israel. And so He’s providing His answer in His own time. Now in this story or in this passage we see Pharaoh’s magicians. They were these people who at one point they were so confident in their power, in their magic if you like, and they’re now suffering visibly.

    Now all of a sudden they’re unable to stand before Moses. And it just shows us how their human pride has collapsed in the presence of God’s holiness. God had judged what they had done and has made them essentially incapable. Now even still, Pharaoh’s heart remains hardened. This time, Pharaoh’s heart, notice, is being hardened explicitly by God. And so he’s been hardening his own heart and now God continues to allow him to go down that path by reinforcing that hardness of heart. It’s not some arbitrary act by God, it’s part of God’s justice. Pharaoh has persistently rejected God and now God gives him over to the consequences of his own rebellion.

    Now this is important for us to recognize because on the one hand God’s patience with us is immense, it’s ongoing, you know, he’s been patient with his people for years, but his patience does reach an end at some point in time. So continuing to persist in our rebellion will eventually lead to a hardened heart that can no longer respond to his grace. Obviously through his Holy Spirit, he can overrule that, and we don’t believe that you can lose your salvation. But our consciences can be seared, as we said also yesterday as well.

    So we shouldn’t mistake God’s patience with us for His permission for us to keep sinning. Just because we’re not feeling the judgment today doesn’t mean that He’s not still expecting us to repent and to turn to Him. Secondly, we need to remember that God sees all kinds of injustices that happen, whether we are aware of Him seeing those things or not. As I said, the very same ashes that once represented Israel’s suffering here ultimately becomes God’s tool of divine justice. Nothing escapes his notice and so we should ask God to keep our heart soft, you know, the hardness of heart is not just a Pharaoh problem. It’s a human one. We all suffer from this and so daily, I think this encourages us to come responsibly to God and to pray for a softened heart.

    So let’s do that now.

    Righteous Father, You are holy and just in all your ways. Thank you for your mercy. Thank you that you wait patiently for us. But we want to pray that you will keep our hearts tender to your word and to your spirit. Help us to never grow comfortable in our sin. Help us to always look to Jesus who bore our judgment so that we may stand blameless before you. And in His name we pray, amen.



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    5 min
  • Disobedience Has a Cost

    Disobedience Has a Cost
    Nov 10 2025
    Note: This article is an AI-generated adaptation of a spoken transcript and may not fully capture the nuances of the original presentation.What happens when we harden our hearts against God, even after God has given us clear warnings? What happens if we continue to disobey God, even after He’s made it very obvious that there will be consequences? Well, that’s what our text today is dealing with from Exodus chapter 9 verses 1 to 7. Let’s have a look.“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, “Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, ‘Let my people go, so that they may serve me. For if you refuse to let them go and still hold them, behold, the hand of the Lord will fall with a very severe plague upon your livestock that are in the field, the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds, and the flocks. But the Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so that nothing at all that belongs to the people of Israel shall die.’”“ And the Lord set a time, saying, “Tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land.” And the next day the Lord did this thing. All the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one of the livestock of the people of Israel died. And Pharaoh sent, and behold, not one of the livestock of Israel was dead. But the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go.”Now, this plague on the livestock of Egypt is striking because it moves from a mere inconvenience that really the previous plagues had been. You know, having frogs in your bowls and in your beds is inconvenient, but doesn’t really do anything. But this plague on the livestock really struck at the heart of who Egypt was. It deeply affects their economy and their economic and emotional situation. Livestock were Egypt’s source of food, there was a source of labor, it was really a source of their wealth and even their religious identity. And so here God touches the very things that Egypt had trusted in and he exposed the futility of trusting in these idols that cannot save.So again the Lord here makes a sharp distinction between his people and the Egyptians and he shows that his covenant with Israel sets his people apart. He is still faithful to the promises that he gave to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, and then to Israel as a nation. So Pharaoh sent—that means that Pharaoh sent for people to go and have a look—and Pharaoh’s investigation confirms that none of Israel’s flocks have been harmed, but only Egypt’s. And yet even despite this clear evidence, his heart still remains hard.In fact, the text tells us that he hardened his heart even more. So even in the face of this evidence from God, Pharaoh continues to refuse God.Now, theologically, this episode shows us that God is sovereign and that sin is deceitful. So firstly, God is sovereign because he sets aside Israel and he chooses where the disease will hit. He clearly sets apart Israel’s flocks so that they are kept safe and Egypt’s flocks are hit. This is not like COVID where really everyone got sick. It’s just the Egyptians’ livestock.Pharaoh’s heart is not really just stubborn. It’s not a personality trait. He’s hardened his heart against God. So he’s been deceived even in clear evidence of God’s action and power. He’s deceived to keep his own control over the situation. And the plague shows us that there is a real cost to this kind of pride.Even when God in his mercy gives a warning to Pharaoh, Pharaoh continues to reject that. Each judgment here is a punishment, yes, but it’s really a call to repentance as well. So every time something bad goes on, Pharaoh has the opportunity to come to God and to worship him, to let his people go as God had instructed, but of course Pharaoh fails to do that.Now this is important for us because God, just like back in the days of Pharaoh, he still confronts our idols today and he calls us to submit to him in this. Our hard-heartedness against what God calls us to always leads to loss. It always has a cost. Disobedience and sin always has a cost.Now for the Christian, because God loves us enough, he will actually call us to repentance and that cost will be good for us in the long run. And so even though we might feel the rebuke and the punishment and the pain of our rebellion and our sin, we will nevertheless be better off for it because God cares enough to let us feel those consequences. And because the Christian has the Holy Spirit, because we love the Lord and the Lord lives in our hearts, God does these things for us for our good.And so there’s this temptation in modern day Christianity that only good things will ever happen to a Christian. Well good according to whose standard is really the question we should ask. Is it good just by our own experience? Does it feel good? Well no, that’s not the point. It is good even when it feels bad because it shapes our spirit to return us back to God, to ...
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    7 min