When God Does His Thing, Watch Out

My friends in southeastern Kentucky are having a rough time of it right now. Flood waters have risen and covered roads, poured into houses, shut down schools, and put many people out of power, clean water, sewage, etc. It's an area that is often hard-hit with water over roads, etc, but this time, the flooding is higher than usual. A friend tells me that the area had topped out in 2003 at 37.2 feet; this time, it's expected to be higher.

Those affected by the flood were my first thought waking up this morning as I wondered how they were. I spent some time praying for them in generalities like: "Lord, keep them safe. Lord, stop the rain."

Then I got up, came out to the couch to read my next chapter in Exodus, and the Lord said: Pay attention.

Pay attention to what? I'll tell you in a second. Context first.

See, in Exodus 8, the plagues are coming in earnest. Seven days after the Nile turns to blood, frogs hop out of the Nile and cover the land of Egypt. They get into everything. Houses. Beds. Clothing. Food. Hop, hop, hop.  

Pharaoh's magicians try their dark arts, and they manage to make a few frogs hop around, too (see my post from yesterday about cheap imitation), but the plagues have finally made a tiny dent in Pharaoh's armored heart, and his magician's efforts don't impress him. The Egyptian king calls for Moses and Aaron. 

"Pray to the Lord to take the frogs away from me and my people and I will let your people go to offer sacrifices to the Lord" (Exodus 8:8).

Moses must have breathed a sigh of relief. Finally. 

Heh. He's underestimating Pharaoh's legendary stubbornness. 

Moses says: "I leave to you the honor of setting the time for me to pray for you and your officials and your people, that you and your houses may be rid of the frogs, except for those that remain in the Nile" (Exodus 8:9).

Which tells me this: When Moses prays, he makes an event of it. He shows up on time, he asks, he asks specifically, and he waits for an answer. He also lets Pharaoh know that he is going to pray. He doesn't hide it, and then only reveal that he prayed after he gets his answer. He steps out in faith.

Moses is an intercessor, and quite an effective one, as we'll see in several instances coming up.

Pharaoh chooses the time for Moses to pray: "Tomorrow" (Exodus 8:10). (Why didn't he say: "Right now"? I would have. Anyway, I digress).

"After Moses and Aaron leave Pharaoh, Moses cries out to the Lord about the frogs God has brought on Pharaoh. And the Lord does what Moses asks" (Exodus 8:12-13).

The frogs start dying. Everywhere. "The frogs died in the houses, in the courtyards, and in the fields. They were piled into heaps, and the land reeked of them." Gross.

"But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief... he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said" (Exodus 8:13-15).

Here's the next thing that stood out to me: When Moses prays, he prays what he knows God wants him to pray. Could he have prayed that Pharaoh would have a change of heart? Yep. But he doesn't. He prays specifically that God will remove the plague of frogs. 

And God does.

Because Pharaoh hardens his heart, God sends a plague of gnats next; the swarms are as thick as the dust on the ground, and they cover both people and animals. It's worth noting that Pharaoh's magicians try to re-create this plague, too, but this time, they can't. Perhaps it has dawned on them that their imitation arts are getting them nowhere. And when that fact hits them, they tell Pharaoh: "This is the finger of God."

Pharaoh still refuses to let Israel go. So...

Here come the biting flies. I hate these things. They're not like normal flies that are super annoying but you can just wave away. They don't scare easily, and when they bite, it hurts like a bee sting for a bit. 

It's also worth noting that at least in this case, the land of Goshen where the Israelites live is empty of flies. God tells Moses: "I will deal differently with the land of Goshen, where my people live; no swarms of flies will be there, so that you will know that I the Lord am in this land." 

The Israelites, Moses, Aaron all expect the Lord to demonstrate His power. They are perhaps hoping that the Egyptians will just... disappear, and they'll be able to run away with no hindrances. They perhaps hope that this will happen immediately, as seen at the end of Exodus 4 when Moses originally comes to them and tells them that they'll soon be free. The people bow down and worship. God's going to do something!

How keen is their disappointment when what they expect doesn't happen.

The Lord's blueprint plan doesn't match the Israelites' expectations, but even while He is carrying out His big picture plan, He demonstrates His power, giving hope with other signals like this: Ain't no flies on us; may be flies on some of you guys, but there ain't no flies on us. "I will make a distinction between my people and your people," Moses tells Pharaoh. 

And the Lord does it.

The biting flies are everywhere the Egyptians are. "Dense swarms of flies poured into Pharaoh's palace and into the houses of his officials, and throughout Egypt the land was ruined by the flies."

It strikes me that Moses and God have an interesting relationship, which fascinates me. I tend to hold up examples of places where Moses acts outside of the careful instructions of God. He marries a Midianite woman, the daughter of a priest (not likely a priest of the one true God). He doesn't circumcise at least one of his sons, and God nearly kills him because of it. He is raised for forty years in an Egyptian household; I assume he likely -- at one point or another -- follows protocol and expectation and worships Egyptian gods as the Egyptians do. If he hadn't, I wonder how that would have gone down in the palace? 

What is it about Moses that draws him close to the heart of God? What is it about him that pleases God to answer Moses's heartfelt intercession on behalf of the people of Israel?

I don't have those answers. I do know that in many places throughout Scripture, God listens to the earnest prayers of His desperate people, and He intervenes. 

Elijah prays for rain, he prays hard. He sends his servant seven times to check for any sign of a cloud. Finally, the last time, the servant returns: "There's a cloud the size of a man's hand." The size of a man's hand. Tiny. Yet, because the tiny cloud has shown up, Elijah runs for cover, outrunning even the king's own chariot. And the rain poured over the land.

The disciples are on the Sea of Galilee, and a storm comes up. Jesus is sleeping in the boat, and the disciples wake him up; they're terrified. "Lord, don't you care if we drown?" In their desperation, they seek help. Jesus stands up, looks at the wind and the waves, and He says: "Peace. Be still." Lie down, waves. Go to sleep, wind.

He is pleased to answer the prayers of His people, but do we really think He'll respond?

That gets to the heart of the issue, right? Moses prays, knowing that God would move His hand to do what he requests, because it is the heart of God to answer him. Elijah prays, knowing that God will send rain, and he keeps a weather eye out for the change as he prays. The disciples, though still in a journey of discovery regarding Who exactly Jesus is, know that there is something about Him that can save them... so they ask. 

And Jesus, Master of creation, answers.

Once not long ago, my friend prayed for me, for healing from the throbbing pain of a migraine. While he prayed, while I agreed with him in prayer, I saw the Lord stretching out His hand, placing it on my head, right over the side that was driving me crazy with pain, and He said: Do you believe?

He waited. His hand was there on my head, it was ready and waiting to heal. But I needed to do something first.

Yes, Lord, I said. I believe!

As swiftly as I said the words and leaned into that faith, the pain disappeared and it didn't come back. It was as though it had never happened. But it did happen, and that's my testimony. The Lord healed me, through the intercession of my friend and through faith.

As I pray for my friends in Breathitt County, Jackson, Hazard, and surrounding areas in Kentucky, I'm praying with faith for the miraculous... so that, as per Exodus 8:22: "you may know that I the Lord am in this land." I'll ask you to join me.

Jesus, I pray for retraction of flood waters. I pray for safety. I pray for compassion, one for another, that those who are able can help those who are in desperate need. I pray for economic help for damaged areas. I pray for stability for weakened areas. Lord, intervene. Help your people in this time; You Who are Master of creation, the same One who told the wind and waves to lie down and go to sleep... I pray that You step in here, too.

And Lord, I believe. Do Your thing; only You can.