Monday 3 February 2014

TFTD - 03 February 2014 - Thoughts from Today's Bible Readings

03 February 2014

Exodus 9
Psalms 62; 63
Romans 13; 14

"LET MY PEOPLE GO"

Moses stated the words of God as to what God would do because of Pharaoh’s refusal to let “let my people go.” [Exodus 9:2]

Pharaoh said what he would do as a result of the damage caused by the hail. “I and my people are in the wrong … I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer” [Exodus 9:27,28] But the chapter ends with “… the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go …” So Pharaoh did not fulfil his word!

Now we take special note of what God had previously told Moses to say to Pharaoh, “… this time I will send all my plagues on you yourself and on your servants and on your people so that you may know that there is none like me in all 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.” [Exodus 9:14,16]. The proclaiming of God’s name is that his reputation became known throughout the nations of the then known world.

So God fulfilled his word! The Bible is full of examples of God fulfilling his word. It is fascinating to read the examples of God’s word in Old Testament times about the coming of the Lord Jesus, first to “bring the good news to the poor … to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour” [Isaiah 61:1,2] and then the ultimate time, soon to be fulfilled, achieved by the return of Christ when “the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations.” [Isaiah 61:11]

God and his Son set the example for us; when we give our word, such as in marriage, or at the time of baptism, to fulfil the commitment we have made. Believers have been given God’s words to keep; they, in a sense, fulfil his word by the way they live their lives. Look at the words of Jesus to his disciples in John 14:23 “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my father will love him, and we will come and make our home with him.”

We possess the word of God; we read from it every day, it becomes part of us. May that happen so that our hearts will never suffer hardening, as did the heart of Pharaoh.
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- DC


Thought for the Day

03 February 2014

"Jesus would discern the deep need of men. It was a need older than Nazareth, extending back through the ages to Eden itself. It was the need for God; his life’s work was to satisfy that need."

- Melva Purkis
A Life of Jesus

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