The nation was always separate from Egypt and here the words
spoken to Pharaoh emphasize that truth. The
Lord says He is God of the Hebrews. He is
not Egypt's God and Pharaoh is not the god of the Hebrews. Ultimately they owe an allegiance higher than
they owe Pharaoh as their host. They are
to go and serve their God, they are His servants, not Pharaoh's. Not only that, but the Lord says that He
raised up Pharaoh, and raised him up specifically so that He could reveal His
own power. This plague is announced with
a warning to get the livestock into shelter prior to the hail coming on the
land. The disaster could have been
averted with faith that the Lord would do as He promised. Prior to this the plagues were unavoidable,
now there has been enough proof that people could heed the warning in the
knowledge He can do as He promises. Can He,
however, control the weather? Some respond
and save their livestock. Not only can
He control the weather, the Lord can precisely control it, no hail fell in
Goshen. There is a distinction between
Egypt and the Hebrews. Again, once the
plague is over Pharaoh breathes a sigh of relief, forgets his promise and
further hardens his heart. Have you ever
promised the Lord something in a time when you were facing some difficulty and
failed to follow through once the difficulty was passed?
Even though Jesus has just told the disciples how terrible
it will be for Him in the coming days they seem either not to hear it or not to
believe it. James and John come and ask
Jesus to let them sit at His right and left hands, chief counselors, when He
comes into His kingdom. What do they
think that kingdom will be if it entails death?
They had some reason to believe He might do this thing, they were always
among the three chosen for special times with Jesus, His closest disciples
along with Peter. It isn't surprising
that the rest of the disciples would be quite angry with them for this request
is it? Jesus says the path to greatness
in His kingdom is the path of service not being served. We tend towards hierarchy like the world
though.
Paul is a guy who never forgot that he had averted disaster
for one simple reason, because God acted in love towards him. His first sentence here tells us that, "Therefore,
having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart." He knew that this ministry was due to his
cleverness or that he deserved it because he was good in some way, it was all
mercy that allowed him this ministry. He
knew that he was serving the one who showed him mercy. His hope for the work and for life was based
in the reality that this ministry wasn't his, it was God's. We have the treasure of the Gospel, eternal
life in Christ Jesus, in earthen vessels, fragile and cracked. The treasure is
the important thing, not the vessel. The
vessel may not be pretty but it is of great honor because of what it
contains. We must always keep that
humility of knowing that we are nothing at all without Him but we are God's
treasure because of Christ in us, the hope of glory.
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