Love Through The Pain of Plagues

I never knew that most of the plagues that God sent to the Egyptians attacked a specific “god” that they were trusting in. Check this interesting insight out...

“The plagues were actually a “declaration of war” against the gods of Egypt (see 12:12). The Nile River was worshiped as a god since it was their source of life (Deut. 11:10–12), and when Moses turned it into blood, God showed His power over the river. The goddess Heqt was pictured as a frog, the Egyptian symbol of resurrection. The plague of frogs certainly turned the people against Heqt! The lice and flies brought defilement to the people—a terrible blow, for Egyptians could not worship their gods unless they were spotlessly clean. The murrain attacked the cattle which were sacred to the Egyptians; Hathor was the “cow-goddess” and Apis was the sacred bull. The gods and goddesses that controlled health and safety were attacked in the plagues of boils, hail, and locusts. The plague of darkness was the most serious, since Egypt worshiped the sun god, Ra, the chief of the gods. When the sun was blotted out for three days, it meant that Jehovah had conquered Ra. The final plague (the death of the firstborn) conquered Meskhemit the goddess of birth, and Hathor, her companion, both of whom were supposed to watch over the firstborn. All of these plagues made it clear that Jehovah was the true God!” - Wiersbe's Expository Outlines on the Old Testament

I love how God has not ceased to send various plagues into our lives to tear us away from the “gods” that we cling onto for hope.

I love that God causes someone who is worshiping their work to lose their job to show them that they can't trust in that job to bring them the fulfillment they are looking for.

I love that God causes a student to get dumped by their girlfriend or boyfriend who they are worshiping to show them that they can't trust in that person to bring them ultimate satisfaction.

I love that God causes unexpected emergencies in our lives to pry us from worshiping money and to show us that we can't rely on our finances to bring us the ultimate comfort and peace we long for.

Have we been overlooking the plagues that God is putting in our lives? Have we been resisting His plagues not knowing that they are for our good?

God is always after our good.

But, to get us to that place of rest and fulfillment, He has to pry us away from the things that we are going to other than Him. And that process of separation (a.k.a sanctification) is a very painful one.

Satan’s Schema – Part 4

Jesus is tempted three times in Matthew 4. The third and last temptation goes something like this: “Worship me and I will give you all of the kingdoms of this world.”

This temptation is a little less subversive than the others. Satan simply wants Jesus, the Son of God, to worship him. It is no secret here that this is what Satan wants. That’s his motive for everything he does. That’s why he got kicked out of heaven (FYI: he used to be an angel). He stopped worshiping God the Father because he wanted to be like God and be worshiped.

This temptation can be broken down into two temptations: WORDLY AMBITION and IDOLATRY- yet both are linked together.

An idol is anything we worship other than God. Idolatry is not simply worshiping Satan or other gods, but can be a worship of money, sex, our boyfriend or girlfriend, our family, our job, or even our favorite Sports team.

An idol is anything we elevate and make supreme over the one true God.

If we are worshiping (talking about, praising, meditating on, etc.) anything more than God it is idolatry - which is Satan’s desire for us. As long as he takes our attention off of worshiping God (which is the only worship that is truly satisfying to our souls) he wins. There is no middle ground. There is no gray area. There is only lightness and darkness. There is the kingdom of God and kingdom of Satan. If we aren’t worshiping God as supreme, we are in the realm of Satan’s kingdom.

In Matthew 4, Satan was trying to transfer Jesus out of the kingdom of God and place him in his own kingdom.

And how did Satan try to accomplish this with Jesus? By appealing to his fleshly need for power – which is exactly what he does with us.

Here are a few examples of how Satan uses power and ambition as a temptation for us to worship in his kingdom:

• Satan: If you just put in more hours at work you’ll be a) richer and b) more powerful within your company. You won’t have time to worship God, and your family will be left in the dust, but you’ll be powerful.
• Satan: If you spend all your time studying for your classes, I will give you a wonderful job someday. A job that will give you power and prestige. Even if you don’t have time for God or time to go to church or time to serve others, you’ll get a lot of money someday which will take care of all your needs.
  

Now, I think that working hard in school and working hard in the workplace are good godly desires. However, my point is that Satan’s goal is to take good things and make them ultimate in our lives so that we worship those things and not God. If Satan gets our eyes off of God, he wins.

What are the idols in your life? What are you fixing your eyes on, thinking about, praising - that is not God Himself? How is Satan using worldly ambition to tempt you away from God?