Daily Devotion for September 21, 2015
Prayers
Scripture
Lord's Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever.
There is a mountain I’ll cross over;
I cannot see the other side.
Will it be home or just another
Mountain to climb? I can’t decide.
Fortunately I’ll climb with a friend,
One who will carry me to the end.
There is a mountain I'll cross over,
Fortunately I’ll cross with a friend.
There is an ocean I’ll sail over,
I cannot greet the coming tide
Will it be still or stormy weather
When will I reach the other side?
Fortunately I’ll sail with a friend.
One who will sail with me on to the end.
There is an ocean I'll sail over —
Fortunately I’ll sail with a friend.
There is a road that I must travel,
Blinded by headlights in the night.
I look for a map or a sign that will guide me
I just want to make it home tonight.
Fortunately I’ll ride with a friend,
One that will ride with me all . . . .
There is a road that I must travel,
Fortunately I will ride with a friend.
Prayer for Morning
Today is a blessed beautiful day and I praise God for allowing me another day to be on this earth. I ask Lord that you touch those whose hearts have turned cold and no longer care. I pray that they see your way is the greater way. Thank you Lord.
Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Meditation
[Do I bring hope where there is despair?]
Doxology
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!
Think of the day ahead in terms of God with you, and visualize health, strength, guidance, purity, calm confidence, and victory as the gifts of His presence.
Getting Close to God
“We never grow closer to God when we just live life. It takes deliberate pursuit and attentiveness.”
~ Francis Chan, Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God
Exodus 9:8-12 (ESV)
The Sixth Plague: Boils
And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of soot from the kiln, and let Moses throw them in the air in the sight of Pharaoh. It shall become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and become boils breaking out in sores on man and beast throughout all the land of Egypt.”
So they took soot from the kiln and stood before Pharaoh. And Moses threw it in the air, and it became boils breaking out in sores on man and beast. And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils came upon the magicians and upon all the Egyptians.
But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had spoken to Moses.
Notes on the Scripture
Both the tempo and the severity of the plagues are escalating. God now attacks the bodies of the Egyptians. The pain of the sores is shown by the magicians themselves, who "cannot stand before Moses."The disease is not merely painful, but also disfiguring; those afflicted, who are all Egyptian, cannot disguise their powerlessness before the might of Jehovah.
Egyptian magicians
The role of the magicians is a gauge of the effect of the plagues on the people of Egypt. The roles of magicians, priests and physicians were closely tied and sometimes overlapping. Initially, they were able to recreate the plagues (at least to a degree) and show that they and their gods were as powerful as the God of the Hebrews. But as of the fourth plague (gnats), they fell so far behind that they could not even imitate it. They had been defeated and admitted that the plague was "the finger of God" and not a magic trick. Now, they cannot even stand before Moses.
The magicians are so thoroughly defeated that they have become irrelevant. They are not mentioned again in Exodus. Pharaoh stands alone, against the opinions of his advisors.
Another difference here is that Moses does not give Pharaoh any warning. Perhaps in light of Pharaoh's repeated lies and broken promises, God has simply begun to punish him. No specific demand is recorded, no promise evoked. The plagues of Egypt have become a plain demonstration of the destructive power of human pride, running contrary to the will of God.
