The Wednesday Word 2.01.2023

 Exodus 7:1-12

New Living Translation

 

“7 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pay close attention to this. I will make you seem like God to Pharaoh, and your brother, Aaron, will be your prophet. 2 Tell Aaron everything I command you, and Aaron must command Pharaoh to let the people of Israel leave his country. 3 But I will make Pharaoh’s heart stubborn so I can multiply my miraculous signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. 4 Even then Pharaoh will refuse to listen to you. So I will bring down my fist on Egypt. Then I will rescue my forces—my people, the Israelites—from the land of Egypt with great acts of judgment. 5 When I raise my powerful hand and bring out the Israelites, the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.” 6 So Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded them. 7 Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron was eighty-three when they made their demands to Pharaoh. 8 Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 9 “Pharaoh will demand, ‘Show me a miracle.’ When he does this, say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down in front of Pharaoh, and it will become a serpent.’” 10 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did what the Lord had commanded them. Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a serpent! 11 Then Pharaoh called in his own wise men and sorcerers, and these Egyptian magicians did the same thing with their magic. 12 They threw down their staffs, which also became serpents! But then Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs.”

 

God will use the unlikeliest people to achieve his purposes. Talk about an unlikely choice! Raised in the court of Pharaoh, fleeing Egypt to avoid prosecution for murder, living his adult life in the hinterlands as a shepherd, eighty-year-old Moses would not spring to mind as a probable leader of his ancestral people. What does God teach us about his choice of instrument? That is right. You, too, can do God’s work!

 

Our daily lives are filled with choices. We can choose how we interact with people we meet, with those at our workplace, with those we love. God gave us that choice. You may never know the vital role you play in the plans that God has for this world. You may never get to see the Red Sea part or lead a nation through the desert; but make no mistake, you can be of service to God and your fellow man. We just have to prepare ourselves by reading His Word. We just have to incorporate his teachings into the basis by which we make our choices. The Holy Spirit will move us to be of use. We just have to be ready…something to pray about.

 

Don’t forget to look for the Lord today. Vicki H.

    
                                                                                photo by Peyman Toodari 


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