Divine intervention
This week is on Exodus 7:3-4:
People place a lot of stock in the devil being able to influence people's actions, but not a whole lot in God being able to do the same. And yet God is the most able of all! One of his miracles in the freeing of the Israelites from Egypt was the hardening of Pharaoh's heart.
Some people are even skeptical of the devil's ability to affect mankind's thoughts but think nothing of human powers of mind control. An enormous amount of money goes into learning to control people through advertising, news reporting, education, etc. A thirty second video can have you convinced that you'll be rejected by your peers if you don't buy a certain brand of deodorant. A cleverly worded news report can have you convinced that a known criminal is a not worth prosecuting and that his victims belong in jail. A few years of schooling will have you convinced that en vogue theories about gender identity, alternative historical narratives and scientific theories, etc are hard proven facts. It might as well be witchcraft.
Imagine all of the research that has ever taken place on human psychology and influence. That's been maybe a few hundred years. Now extrapolate that back through the history of mankind. That's what the devil is working with. He doesn't have magic powers. He's just been learning and practicing for a very long time. He knows how to manipulate people, whether it is psychologically or supernaturally. He's good at it, but he's not perfect.
Now imagine God. God has always existed. God has not only observed mankind, but designed and created us. He hasn't had to learn because he is the creator and has seen all time. He has full power, not just what has been granted to him. Can anyone outsmart him? Is anyone going to be better at shaping mankind than him?
People read about the exodus from Egypt and wonder how God hardened Pharaoh's heart. How do you shape someone's opinion? Does God have a slider from "openmindedness" to "hard-heartedness" that he just moves in someone? Or does he shape them using the same scientific and spiritual mechanisms he designed into us? Nobody knows.
But think about it. Do you think Satan wanted the people who were God's showpiece at the time to be free? Wouldn't he also have been trying to work on Pharaoh's heart? If Moses had asked for his people to be free, and Pharaoh was like "Yeah, sure, whatever," what demonstration of God's power would there have been? There would have been no reason for the divine fireworks show we read about.
God wins every time. It may take him a thousand years to shape the plan he has, but he wins. He has every tool at his disposal, from our mental wiring to the weather to the very laws of physics. He isn't bound by the rules; he makes them. It wasn't in Pharaoh's best interest to keep the Israelites bound, especially after the first miracle. So why did he persist in the wrong direction? God's unstoppable power.
You might say that the devil had been winning in Egypt. Israel had lost its influence and power, and had become slaves. The people who were supposed to demonstrate God's blessing were powerless before the pagans they'd come to help hundreds of years before. And yet looking back on it, God had been spending that whole time setting up his devastating counterpunch. In one clean sweep, Israel was brought to the promised land and Egypt was punished for their unbelief. Everything the devil had spent hundreds of years working on was washed away like a sand castle.
When looking at the world, both physically and spiritually, it's important to not get too worried about things. Men can only do so much. The powers of darkness can only do so much. God is so much better than them that he is the only one guaranteed to win.
But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in Egypt, he will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites.
People place a lot of stock in the devil being able to influence people's actions, but not a whole lot in God being able to do the same. And yet God is the most able of all! One of his miracles in the freeing of the Israelites from Egypt was the hardening of Pharaoh's heart.
Some people are even skeptical of the devil's ability to affect mankind's thoughts but think nothing of human powers of mind control. An enormous amount of money goes into learning to control people through advertising, news reporting, education, etc. A thirty second video can have you convinced that you'll be rejected by your peers if you don't buy a certain brand of deodorant. A cleverly worded news report can have you convinced that a known criminal is a not worth prosecuting and that his victims belong in jail. A few years of schooling will have you convinced that en vogue theories about gender identity, alternative historical narratives and scientific theories, etc are hard proven facts. It might as well be witchcraft.
Imagine all of the research that has ever taken place on human psychology and influence. That's been maybe a few hundred years. Now extrapolate that back through the history of mankind. That's what the devil is working with. He doesn't have magic powers. He's just been learning and practicing for a very long time. He knows how to manipulate people, whether it is psychologically or supernaturally. He's good at it, but he's not perfect.
Now imagine God. God has always existed. God has not only observed mankind, but designed and created us. He hasn't had to learn because he is the creator and has seen all time. He has full power, not just what has been granted to him. Can anyone outsmart him? Is anyone going to be better at shaping mankind than him?
People read about the exodus from Egypt and wonder how God hardened Pharaoh's heart. How do you shape someone's opinion? Does God have a slider from "openmindedness" to "hard-heartedness" that he just moves in someone? Or does he shape them using the same scientific and spiritual mechanisms he designed into us? Nobody knows.
But think about it. Do you think Satan wanted the people who were God's showpiece at the time to be free? Wouldn't he also have been trying to work on Pharaoh's heart? If Moses had asked for his people to be free, and Pharaoh was like "Yeah, sure, whatever," what demonstration of God's power would there have been? There would have been no reason for the divine fireworks show we read about.
God wins every time. It may take him a thousand years to shape the plan he has, but he wins. He has every tool at his disposal, from our mental wiring to the weather to the very laws of physics. He isn't bound by the rules; he makes them. It wasn't in Pharaoh's best interest to keep the Israelites bound, especially after the first miracle. So why did he persist in the wrong direction? God's unstoppable power.
You might say that the devil had been winning in Egypt. Israel had lost its influence and power, and had become slaves. The people who were supposed to demonstrate God's blessing were powerless before the pagans they'd come to help hundreds of years before. And yet looking back on it, God had been spending that whole time setting up his devastating counterpunch. In one clean sweep, Israel was brought to the promised land and Egypt was punished for their unbelief. Everything the devil had spent hundreds of years working on was washed away like a sand castle.
When looking at the world, both physically and spiritually, it's important to not get too worried about things. Men can only do so much. The powers of darkness can only do so much. God is so much better than them that he is the only one guaranteed to win.
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