Christianity Oasis Forum

[cimi]

March 26


OUT OF CHAOS

READ
Exodus 8:1-15
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Speak evil of no one,
...be peaceable,
gentle, showing all
humility to all men.
__Titus 3:2
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Everything I observe makes me believe this is true: Order is not natural. When I consider my office, I'm astounded at how quickly it descends into chaos and how long it takes me to restore order. Order requires intervention; it does not happen naturally.

I shouldn't be surprised. God's role in bringing order out of chaos is a prominent biblical theme. He did it when He was creating the nation of Israel (Ex. 7-14). When God said it was time to bring the Hebrew people out of Egypt, Pharaoh objected. His nation's economy depended on the Hebrew workers, so Pharaoh didn't want to lose them. To change Pharaoh's mind, God sent 10 plagues to convince him. Pharaoh's magicians were able to duplicate the first two plagues. But they could not reverse the plagues__any of them. They could cause chaos, but they could not restore order. Only God can do that.

With effort, we can bring order to our living spaces, but none of us can bring order out of the emotional and spiritual chaotic situations when we live as God intended__speaking no evil, being peaceable and gentle, and showing humility to all (Titus 3:2). __Julie Ackerman Link

````````````````Father, our world and our lives do have much chaos````````````````
````````````````and confusion. We need You to restore our souls.``````````````````
````````````````````Help us to live as You want us to live__``````````````````````
````````````````````````````````loving others.````````````````````````````````
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When we put our problems in God's hands,
He puts His peace in our hearts.

****************************Today's Bible Reading __ Exodus 8:;1-15**************************

1 And the LORD spoke to
Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and
say to him, "Thus says the
LORD: "Let My people go,
that they may serve Me.

2 But if you refuse to let
them go, behold, I will smite
all your territory with frogs.

3 So the river shall bring
forth frogs abundantly,
which shall go up and come
into your house...." ' "

5 Then the LORD spoke to
Moses, "Say to Aaron,
'Stretch out your hand with
your rod over the streams,
over the rivers, and over the
ponds, and cause frogs to
come up on the land of
Egypt.' "

6 So Aaron stretched out his
hand over the waters of
Egypt, and the frogs came
up and covered the land of
Egypt. 7 And the magicians
did so with their
enchantments, and brought
up frogs on the land of
Egypt.

Then Pharaoh called for
Moses and Aaron, and said,
"Entreat the LORD that He
may take away the frogs
from me and from my
people; and I will let the
people go, that they may
sacrifice to the LORD."...

12 Then Moses and Aaron
went out from Pharaoh. And
Moses cried out to the LORD
concerning the frogs....

13 So the LORD did according
to the word of Moses. And
the frogs died out of the
houses, out of the courtyards,
and out of the fields....

15 But when Pharaoh saw that
there was relief, he hardened
his heart and did not heed
them, as the LORD had said.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

The Egyptian magicians could only mimic three of the miracles of
Moses__staffs turned into serpents (Ex.7:11), water turned to blood
(7:22), and the frog plague (8:7). Unable to mimic the remaining
plagues (8:16-11:10), the magicians acknowledged that they were
from "the finger of God" (8:19).