Then the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning, confront Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me, or this time I will send the full force of my plagues against you and against your officials and your people, so you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth. For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth. But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. You still set yourself against my people and will not let them go.'” (Exodus 9:13-17 NIV84)

There are times when God doesn’t make sense to us. There are times when He seems harsher than we expect Him to be, and there are other times when He is more gracious than we expect Him to be. Isaiah was right in recording God’s Word to him, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8&9).  We look at the 400-plus years of suffering of the Israelites in Egypt and we wonder where God was. We watch the toll the plagues took on the Egyptian people and wonder how harsh God can be. We hear God tell Pharaoh, through Moses, that He actually had been easy on them up to now. He reminded Pharaoh that He could have completely wiped him and his people off the planet if He desired to.

So what is my point in pointing out that God isn’t always like we think He should be? It is that there is a consistent reason that He is as HE is. It is that His name might be proclaimed on all the earth. God desires to have His rightful place in the hearts of His people. He created us, and desires to have a proper relationship with us. He desires to be known. Everything He does, whether in judgment or grace, is to reach our hearts. Throughout the Scriptures God has proved that He will move heaven and earth in order for blind eyes to be opened to who He really is. Throughout history God has moved people and nations so that His name might be proclaimed.

So the next time God isn’t making sense to you, remember that through the experience, He wants His name to be proclaimed to someone who needs to know it. God promises to work through our good and our bad times to further His kingdom and bring glory to His name.

Peace!

Pastor Tom

www.firmlyrooted.church