Sorry for the lateness. I'll warn you now that it'll probably be a running theme this week as I'm mega busy morning, noon and night. Did get a job interview today though so pray for Friday morning please! Onto business then,
Today’s readings
Exodus 9:1-10:29
Matthew 26:69-27:10
Psalm 20:1-9
So Moses keeps showing God's power and Pharoah keeps saying no. The sixth plague is just dismissed, the seventh is interesting because not only can the magicians not counter due to them being affected by the boils (which is surely proof of God's power over them) but also in verse 12 it says that God hardened Pharaoh's heart so that he wouldn't listen to Moses. This seems a little strange but how often do we wonder why God doesn't act to stop evil? Well I think here is a case of God stepping in and making sure that not only is His prophecy fulfilled but also that Pharoah pays for his arrogance and stubborness by suffering the consequences of those attitudes taken to their most extreme. That's an important lesson for all of us and definitely for me. If we have an attitude that we know isn't Christ like, it's dangerous to not address that and let it linger inside us. While God won't necessarily punish us for it now that Jesus has paid the price, it will lead to us finding it harder to change our ways back to God's example. I'm sure we can all think of one trait we have with how we interact with people that isn't necessarily Christ like and maybe today's the day we pray hard for it to be broken and moulded into something better.
What I think is mindblowing for several reasons is how God has kept Moses safe through all this. Clearly Pharoah recognises that God is working through Moses and that God's power is there because he won't kill Moses and yet he still chooses to be stubborn and protect his own interests first. We beg God to show up in our lives so often and I just wonder how guilty we can be of then ignoring that presence because our way is better for us or certainly seems that way. I also like verse 31-32. It seems strange to put some agricultural information in here but to me it shows that God was showing His power but ensuring that the Egyptians wouldn't starve because of Pharoah's sin. But then Pharoah still tries to bargain with God and not give into His way so the locusts take away that chance they had to continue with at least something left instead of having to rebuild and regrow everything. How often do we sound like Pharoah in verse 17? Forgive me again, I promise I'll change! Forgiveness is such a huge blessing and to treat it like a plaster you stick onto your sin but then peel off when it suits you is just disrespectful to God. If we're sorry then it should break our hearts to do the same thing again. Yes we'll always sin but do we just shrug and accept that or challenge ourselves to make the right choices more often.
Into the New Testament we spring and we have two prophesies fulfilled and two realisations of just how big sin can get. Peter denying Jesus three times was always going to happen as Jesus had foretold it but Peter had been so sure that he wouldn't do it that he hadn't prepared himself for the possibility. We have to be realistic with sin and accept that we will sin but our attitude shouldn't be that we stop caring about sinning and we should still have sorrow like Peter, and then like Judas. I feel so sorry for Judas carrying such a legacy of betrayal because I believe God loved him like a son and wouldn't be surprised if his sin was forgiven before he ended his life. The remorse he shows is so great. It's more than refusing the payment. Judas realises how great Jesus was to the world and can't live with the guilt he has. I'd never recommend suicide as an option even if it's something I've been close to in the past. I believe that Judas could have repented and gone onto work for the Lord in some way just as Paul turned his life around. But Judas couldn't handle the burden of his sin and crumpled under it. Guilt's a terrifying emotion and I believe it's not a healthy one. God wants to forgive us and take away our guilt. He wants to give us opportunities to fix injustices and sins that are caused either directly by our sin or by humanity's wrong doing. Being emotionally overwhelmed by injustice is definitely a sign of being like Christ but then allowing the guilt to weigh on you and prevent you from action comes from the Devil as God wants to take that burden away.
Finally our Psalm and David here is praising God again for His faithfulness in rescuing David, even though at the time he wrote it he was in danger! It's hard to say new things about the meaning of the Psalms because they tend to be similar but I do think it's worth reading them seperately from the rest of our reading, maybe after a cup of tea,
because they just seem so affirming in their promises.
I think today's message is about what happens when we do things wrong and how we should handle it. Sneaking a look at tomorrow there's an obvious solution to sin but it's important to remember that Jesus' death won't stop us from sinning. We should be wary of what we do wrong and whilst we can't continually bear the burden of guilt for our sin, we should always be praying for God to help us change our attitudes and not just forgive us. I believe that while a person will always sin and fall short of Jesus, they can definitely stop doing something as often and that choice will focus them on getting closer to God and on making a real difference in the world. There's a YouTube channel I subscribe to called the vlogbrothers which features my favourite author, a guy called John Green, and they have a mission for their followers (or nerdfighters; proud citizens of nerdfightaria) to decrease worldsuck and promote awesome. I just keep thinking of that and smiling at how God moves people to make a difference even when they don't realise they're doing it for Him. This is what our goal should be folks and we can't let sin and guilt get in the way! Deal with the fact you will do stuff wrong and give that up to God. Ask Him to help you change but don't let it stop you shining your light!!
And that's your lot for today. Yesterday's tune is here and whilst it does talk about Jesus, it also talks about Martin Luther King and probably secretly Bono and how fantastic a bloke he really believes he is. Good tune though. I really wanted to use an obscure New Order tune called "Guilt is a useless emotion" for today's title but that might have been a tad self indulgent. Much more mainstream a choice today. Questions, criticisms and comments welcome as always
Jon
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