Exodus 10 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 
Max Lucado Daily:God’s Abounding Grace - September 30, 2021

Scripture says in Romans 5:20 that “the more we see our sinfulness, the more we see God’s abounding grace.” To abound is to have a surplus, an abundance, an extravagant portion. Should the fish in the Pacific worry that it will run out of ocean? No. Why?  The ocean abounds with water. Need the lark be anxious about finding room in the sky to fly? No, the sky abounds with space.

So should the Christian worry that the cup of mercy will run empty? He may. For he may not be aware of God’s abounding grace. Are you? Are you aware that the cup God gives you overflows with mercy? Or are you afraid your cup will run dry? Or your mistakes are too great for God’s grace? God is not a miser with his grace. Your cup may be low on cash or clout, but it is overflowing with mercy.

Exodus 10

Strike Eight: Locusts

 God said to Moses: “Go to Pharaoh. I’ve made him stubborn, him and his servants, so that I can force him to look at these signs and so you’ll be able to tell your children and grandchildren how I toyed with the Egyptians, like a cat with a mouse; you’ll tell them the stories of the signs that I brought down on them, so that you’ll all know that I am God.”

3-6 Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, “God, the God of the Hebrews, says, ‘How long are you going to refuse to knuckle under? Release my people so that they can worship me. If you refuse to release my people, watch out; tomorrow I’m bringing locusts into your country. They’ll cover every square inch of ground; no one will be able to see the ground. They’ll devour everything left over from the hailstorm, even the saplings out in the fields—they’ll clear-cut the trees. And they’ll invade your houses, filling the houses of your servants, filling every house in Egypt. Nobody will have ever seen anything like this, from the time your ancestors first set foot on this soil until today.’”

Then he turned on his heel and left Pharaoh.

7 Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long are you going to let this man harass us? Let these people go and worship their God. Can’t you see that Egypt is on its last legs?”

8 So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. He said to them, “Go ahead then. Go worship your God. But just who exactly is going with you?”

9 Moses said, “We’re taking young and old, sons and daughters, flocks and herds—this is our worship-celebration of God.”

10-11 He said, “I’d sooner send you off with God’s blessings than let you go with your children. Look, you’re up to no good—it’s written all over your faces. No way. Just the men are going—go ahead and worship God. That’s what you want so badly.” And they were thrown out of Pharaoh’s presence.

12 God said to Moses: “Stretch your hand over Egypt and signal the locusts to cover the land of Egypt, devouring every blade of grass in the country, everything that the hail didn’t get.”

13 Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt. God let loose an east wind. It blew that day and night. By morning the east wind had brought in the locusts.

14-15 The locusts covered the country of Egypt, settling over every square inch of Egypt; the place was thick with locusts. There never was an invasion of locusts like it in the past, and never will be again. The ground was completely covered, black with locusts. They ate everything, every blade of grass, every piece of fruit, anything that the hail didn’t get. Nothing left but bare trees and bare fields—not a sign of green in the whole land of Egypt.

16-17 Pharaoh had Moses and Aaron back in no time. He said, “I’ve sinned against your God and against you. Overlook my sin one more time. Pray to your God to get me out of this—get death out of here!”

18-19 Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to God. God reversed the wind—a powerful west wind took the locusts and dumped them into the Red Sea. There wasn’t a single locust left in the whole country of Egypt.

20 But God made Pharaoh stubborn as ever. He still didn’t release the Israelites.
Strike Nine: Darkness

21 God said to Moses: “Stretch your hand to the skies. Let darkness descend on the land of Egypt—a darkness so dark you can touch it.”

22-23 Moses stretched out his hand to the skies. Thick darkness descended on the land of Egypt for three days. Nobody could see anybody. For three days no one could so much as move. Except for the Israelites: they had light where they were living.

24 Pharaoh called in Moses: “Go and worship God. Leave your flocks and herds behind. But go ahead and take your children.”

25-26 But Moses said, “You have to let us take our sacrificial animals and offerings with us so we can sacrifice them in worship to our God. Our livestock has to go with us with not a hoof left behind; they are part of the worship of our God. And we don’t know just what will be needed until we get there.”

27 But God kept Pharaoh stubborn as ever. He wouldn’t agree to release them.

28 Pharaoh said to Moses: “Get out of my sight! And watch your step. I don’t want to ever see you again. If I lay eyes on you again, you’re dead.”

29 Moses said, “Have it your way. You won’t see my face again.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Thursday, September 30, 2021

Today's Scripture
Psalm 73:23–28
(NIV)

Yet I am always with you;

you hold me by my right hand.c

24 You guided me with your counsel,e

and afterward you will take me into glory.

25 Whom have I in heaven but you?f

And earth has nothing I desire besides you.g

26 My flesh and my hearth may fail,i

but God is the strengthj of my heart

and my portionk forever.

27 Those who are far from you will perish;l

you destroy all who are unfaithfulm to you.

28 But as for me, it is good to be near God.n

I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge;o

I will tell of all your deeds.

Insight

Asaph, whose name means “Jehovah has gathered,” was a Levite and one of David’s three chief musicians (1 Chronicles 6:31, 39–43; 15:16–17; 16:4–5; 25:1–2). He wrote twelve psalms that now bear his name (Psalms 50, 73–83). In Psalm 73, known as a wisdom psalm—a psalm that instructs readers how to deal with life’s challenges and pain—Asaph was bitterly overwhelmed by the injustice of the prosperity of the wicked (vv. 1–14, 21). But the moment he understood the presence of God in his life (vv. 23–24), his own glorious destiny (v. 24), and the destiny of the wicked (vv. 17, 27–28), his perspective on this material world and possessions changed. Drawing near to God and certain that “earth has nothing [he] desires,” Asaph embraced the sovereign God as his strength (Hebrew rock), portion, and refuge—his permanent and eternal possession (vv. 25–28). By: K. T. Sim

All That You Need

God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Psalm 73:26

Seated at the dining room table, I gazed at the happy chaos around me. Aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, and nephews were enjoying the food and being together at our family reunion. I was enjoying it all, too. But one thought pierced my heart: You’re the only woman here with no children, with no family to call your own.

Many single women like me have similar experiences. In my culture, an Asian culture where marriage and children are highly valued, not having a family of one’s own can bring a sense of incompleteness. It can feel like you’re lacking something that defines who you are and makes you whole.

That’s why the truth of God being my “portion” is so comforting to me (Psalm 73:26). When the tribes of Israel were given their allotments of land, the priestly tribe of Levi was assigned none. Instead, God promised that He Himself would be their portion and inheritance (Deuteronomy 10:9). They could find complete satisfaction in Him and trust Him to supply their every need.

For some of us, the sense of lack may have nothing to do with family. Perhaps we yearn for a better job or higher academic achievement. Regardless of our circumstances, we can embrace God as our portion. He makes us whole. In Him, we have no lack. By:  Karen Huang

Reflect & Pray

What’s one thing lacking in your life that you feel would make you whole? How can you surrender it to God and find satisfaction in Him as your portion?

Father, thank You for making me complete in Christ. Help me to say along with the psalmist, “As for me, it is good to be near God” (Psalm 73:28).

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, September 30, 2021
The Assigning of the Call

I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church… —Colossians 1:24

We take our own spiritual consecration and try to make it into a call of God, but when we get right with Him He brushes all this aside. Then He gives us a tremendous, riveting pain to fasten our attention on something that we never even dreamed could be His call for us. And for one radiant, flashing moment we see His purpose, and we say, “Here am I! Send me” (Isaiah 6:8).

This call has nothing to do with personal sanctification, but with being made broken bread and poured-out wine. Yet God can never make us into wine if we object to the fingers He chooses to use to crush us. We say, “If God would only use His own fingers, and make me broken bread and poured-out wine in a special way, then I wouldn’t object!” But when He uses someone we dislike, or some set of circumstances to which we said we would never submit, to crush us, then we object. Yet we must never try to choose the place of our own martyrdom. If we are ever going to be made into wine, we will have to be crushed—you cannot drink grapes. Grapes become wine only when they have been squeezed.

I wonder what finger and thumb God has been using to squeeze you? Have you been as hard as a marble and escaped? If you are not ripe yet, and if God had squeezed you anyway, the wine produced would have been remarkably bitter. To be a holy person means that the elements of our natural life experience the very presence of God as they are providentially broken in His service. We have to be placed into God and brought into agreement with Him before we can be broken bread in His hands. Stay right with God and let Him do as He likes, and you will find that He is producing the kind of bread and wine that will benefit His other children.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

Re-state to yourself what you believe, then do away with as much of it as possible, and get back to the bedrock of the Cross of Christ.  My Utmost for His Highest, November 25, 848 R

Bible in a Year: Isaiah 9-10; Ephesians 3


A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, September 30, 2021

Familiar Faces In The Rescue - #9059

I've got a lot of friends in law enforcement, and usually they don't show a lot of emotion. But the Cleveland police chief said, "Yes, law enforcement people do cry." I think some of them did when three women, missing for a decade, were suddenly found alive several years ago. They'd been imprisoned. You might remember it, a nondescript house by a man who kidnapped them years before and endured living horrors that we may never fully know.

A neighbor heard screams coming from that house and went to investigate. A woman locked inside cried, "I've been kidnapped! I want to leave right now." It took kicking in the door, but he got her out. Later, the police brought out the other two kidnapped captives. The frantic 911 call from Amanda was riveting. "Help me! I'm Amanda!" (She gave her last name.) "I've been missing for ten years and I'm out here. I'm free now." No wonder police officers cried.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Familiar Faces In The Rescue."

I watched this powerful story unfold on TV. It reminded me of some things I can't afford to forget through people who are at the heart of this story. Like people who refused to give up on the loved ones they've lost. Like Amanda's mom, who refused to believe it was hopeless. She just kept her daughter's picture and her story in front of people; she prayed relentlessly. Amanda's mom did not live to see her prayers answered, but we all did.

A lot of us have an "Amanda" - someone who, for one reason or another, seems hopelessly gone; emotionally, spiritually, even physically. But the celebration in Cleveland at that time seems to shout to us, "Never stop fighting for the person you love." Reach out to them. Love them when they give you no reason to. Pray for God to do what only He can do. Keep the porch light on.

I love that story where Jesus comes upon the funeral procession of a young man. The Bible says He saw the grieving mother and it says, "His heart went out to her." Then He did what only He could do. He brought her son back to life. And here's the best part. It says, "Jesus gave him back to his mother" (Luke 7:15). He's still doing things like that; restoring lost loved ones to the people who care for them. That's the hope that keeps us fighting for them. And as long as there's breath, there's hope.

Of course, a key player in freeing the Cleveland captives was that neighbor, who disregarding the risks, jumped in to help someone in trouble. Somewhere on our "street" we all know someone like that. Behind a façade that looks fine, they may be living a nightmare, desperately seeking someone who will care about them, who will listen; who will be the voice and the face of Jesus for them.

And then there's that prisoner who's desperate to be free, whose only hope is a rescuer. That was me and a lot of folks like me, in a very dark place, unable to get out by myself until somebody heard the cry of my heart. Then I didn't have to stay there one day longer.

Jesus came all the way from heaven to rescue a world of people held captive by the darkness inside them. "Sin" the Bible calls it. It's our deadly addiction to defying God and doing life "my way" instead of His way. And we can't seem to stop. The Bible says, "Everyone who sins is a slave to sin" (John 8:34), and I can't argue with that. The selfishness, and anger, and dark desires, the wounding words, the endless lies - nobody wants to be that way, but we are. We're prisoners in a dark place, until the Rescuer shows up at our door.

And finally, here's our word for today from the Word of God, in Galatians 1:3. It says of Jesus, "He gave Himself for our sins to rescue us." Wow! And it says, "If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:36). He didn't just come to the door. He died on a cross.

So here's my story: "I've been missing. I'm free now, and I'm home!" I want that for you.

You can read about how to begin that relationship with Jesus right now. Go to our website ANewStory.com. The personal Rescuer has come to your "dark place" to rescue you. You can be free and you can be home!