Tag Archives: plagues

Plenty of Water, March 16, 2020

Today’s Podcast

Subscribe in: iTunes|

Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

The headlines for this week will be much like the headlines of last week and next week and probably the week after. Coronavirus! It has everyone’s attention. Is it the next apocalyptic event? Are we in for the long haul with something akin to the Spanish Flu of 1918 or the Black Plague of the Middle Ages?

Frankly, no one knows. Thanks to the media storm with the misinformation and rumor that sells news by heightening fear, we are running into shortages of crazing things like toilet paper of all things. I’m not sure about your house, but we’d have a hard time using twelve jumbo packs of toilet paper in fourteen days. But that seems to be the fear of some as they raid the shelves of anything and everything they think might be of value in the coming days.

I think at least part of the world has gone insane over the coronavirus. I’m not dismissing the importance of taking precautions. I’m in that category with the highest mortality rates. Still, we can get a little overboard and do some incredibly stupid things that harm everyone when we lose our heads and don’t take appropriate actions to protect ourselves and others in times like this. Panic serves no useful purpose and keeps us from acting in ways that move us toward meaningful solutions to the problem.

One thing I’m sure of in times like this, God is still in control. For those saved by his grace, following in his footsteps, there need be no fear in these times. Despite the shortages of hand sanitizer (soap works just as well, by the way), bottled water, and toilet paper, God’s word reminds me he cares for us.

John tells of an event in Jesus’ life when he shares a source of life-giving water that never ends. We don’t need to worry about it running out or having to stock up in case of an emergency. We just need to tap into the source to satisfy our thirst. He tells the story in chapter four of the book by his name.

He [Jesus] came into Sychar, a Samaritan village that bordered the field Jacob had given his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was still there. Jesus, worn out by the trip, sat down at the well. It was noon.

A woman, a Samaritan, came to draw water. Jesus said, “Would you give me a drink of water?” (His disciples had gone to the village to buy food for lunch.)

The Samaritan woman, taken aback, asked, “How come you, a Jew, are asking me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” (Jews in those days wouldn’t be caught dead talking to Samaritans.)

Jesus answered, “If you knew the generosity of God and who I am, you would be asking me for a drink, and I would give you fresh, living water.”

The woman said, “Sir, you don’t even have a bucket to draw with, and this well is deep. So how are you going to get this ‘living water’? Are you a better man than our ancestor Jacob, who dug this well and drank from it, he and his sons and livestock, and passed it down to us?”

Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again and again. Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst—not ever. The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life.”

The woman said, “Sir, give me this water so I won’t ever get thirsty, won’t ever have to come back to this well again!”

He said, “Go call your husband and then come back.”

“I have no husband,” she said.

“That’s nicely put: ‘I have no husband.’ You’ve had five husbands, and the man you’re living with now isn’t even your husband. You spoke the truth there, sure enough.”

“Oh, so you’re a prophet! Well, tell me this: Our ancestors worshiped God at this mountain, but you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place for worship, right?”

“Believe me, woman, the time is coming when you Samaritans will worship the Father neither here at this mountain nor there in Jerusalem. You worship guessing in the dark; we Jews worship in the clear light of day. God’s way of salvation is made available through the Jews. But the time is coming—it has, in fact, come—when what you’re called will not matter and where you go to worship will not matter.

“It’s who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That’s the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration.”

The woman said, “I don’t know about that. I do know that the Messiah is coming. When he arrives, we’ll get the whole story.”

“I am he,” said Jesus. “You don’t have to wait any longer or look any further.”

Just then his disciples came back. They were shocked. They couldn’t believe he was talking with that kind of a woman. No one said what they were all thinking, but their faces showed it.

The woman took the hint and left. In her confusion she left her water pot. Back in the village she told the people, “Come see a man who knew all about the things I did, who knows me inside and out. Do you think this could be the Messiah?” And they went out to see for themselves.

In the meantime, the disciples pressed him, “Rabbi, eat. Aren’t you going to eat?”

He told them, “I have food to eat you know nothing about.”

The disciples were puzzled. “Who could have brought him food?”

Jesus said, “The food that keeps me going is that I do the will of the One who sent me, finishing the work he started. As you look around right now, wouldn’t you say that in about four months it will be time to harvest? Well, I’m telling you to open your eyes and take a good look at what’s right in front of you. These Samaritan fields are ripe. It’s harvest time!

“The Harvester isn’t waiting. He’s taking his pay, gathering in this grain that’s ripe for eternal life. Now the Sower is arm in arm with the Harvester, triumphant. That’s the truth of the saying, ‘This one sows, that one harvests.’ I sent you to harvest a field you never worked. Without lifting a finger, you have walked in on a field worked long and hard by others.”

Many of the Samaritans from that village committed themselves to him because of the woman’s witness: “He knew all about the things I did. He knows me inside and out!” They asked him to stay on, so Jesus stayed two days. A lot more people entrusted their lives to him when they heard what he had to say. They said to the woman, “We’re no longer taking this on your say-so. We’ve heard it for ourselves and know it for sure. He’s the Savior of the world!” (John 4:5-42 TM)

During these troubling times, take solace in the fact that Jesus cares. Paul shares the vision of what walking in faith can do. “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55 NIV)

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

Scriptures marked TM are taken from THE MESSAGE: THE BIBLE IN CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH (TM): Scripture taken from THE MESSAGE: THE BIBLE IN CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH, copyright©1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group

Scriptures marked NIV are taken from the NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (NIV): Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®. Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™. Used by permission of Zondervan

Deliverance, September 25, 2017

Today’s Podcast

Subscribe in: iTunes|Download

Bible Reading Plan – www.Bible-Reading.com; The Story, Chapter 4; You Version Bible app, days 22 through 28

We continue our journey through the story examining another of the stories that almost everyone has heard. In fact, almost everyone can tell you the book that contains the story. It’s found in the book of Exodus, an interesting compound Greek word that means “the way out.”

Today I want us to focus on the hero of the story as we have focused on the unlikely heroes in the first weeks of our study. Adam and Eve were unlikely heroes because of their disobedience. Abraham was an unlikely hero, picked by God to be the father of the nation of Israel through which all the nations of the world would be blessed. Joseph, a slave and prison, who God chose to become the second in command of the mighty nation of Egypt. All unlikely heroes. People you and I would never choose if we were God. But then we are not God. He chooses people whose hearts are in the right place, not who necessarily have it all together.

So it is with today’s story. Who would choose Moses as the savior of the Hebrew slaves in Egypt? Yes, he was miraculously saved from Pharaoh’s destruction of the male children born to the slaves as they continued to increase in population. Yes, he was raised in Pharaoh’s palace as a young man. But Moses was a murderer. Moses had a price on his head. Moses couldn’t speak well and many scholars think he might have suffered from some sort of speech impediment and had difficulty being understood. Moses was an outlaw living in the wilderness making sure no one recognized him, tending sheep, just to stay alive.

What did Moses have that would make him the hero of the story? Why would God choose him to be the leader of the nation and call him to face Pharaoh to pronounce His judgment on Egypt to free His chosen people from their centuries of slavery? Why would God ask someone with a speech impediment to be His spokesman? This just doesn’t make sense, does it?

But there he was, tending his father-in-law’s sheep, when God spoke to him from a blazing bush that wasn’t consumed by the fire. Bizarre! We would see Moses as much more a hindrance than a help. But God saw something else. He saw a man committed to Him. He saw a man He could use as an instrument of His grace and mercy. He saw a man through whom He could demonstrate His justice and His redemption because He saw Moses’ heart.

Was Moses perfect? No. Not by a long shot. We already said he was a murderer. He was a coward, running into the desert when confronted by his countrymen. He even did things after God called him as Israel’s leader that kept him out of the promised land. Remember the story of Moses striking the rock to get water out of it instead of doing what God said and speaking to the rock? That might not sound like a big deal to you, but to God that was disobedience to His command. That’s pretty serious, don’t you think? That was just like Adam and Eve disobeying God in the Garden of Eden when God said don’t eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They didn’t do what God said. God told Moses, “Speak to the rock and get water out of it.” Moses didn’t do what God said and his punishment, like Adam and Eve’s was banishment from the promised lan. Moses wasn’t perfect. He had his struggles and his faults just like you and I. But he knew to whom he could go when he did wrong. Unlike Adam and Eve, he didn’t hide, but rather he confessed and laid himself before God in repentance. He opened himself to the God of the universe and kept that intimate relationship between His God and himself. And that’s why God used him in such a miraculous way.

There were still consequences for Moses’ disobedience. We still have consequences for our sin. We pay a price for the wrongs we commit. God sometimes removes the consequences, but most often does not in the physical world we live in. We suffer and struggle in this broken world because we live in a world filled with sin. But when we follow Him and obey His teachings, we experience far fewer of the negative consequences that come with wrong actions. Right living brings good consequences. Wrong living brings bad consequences. It just makes sense.

This week, if you follow the reading in “The Story”, chapter 4 or the smartphone app You Version reading plan Engaging God’s Story days 23 through 29, you will see just how God uses this unlikely hero as an instrument for the salvation of His people. It’s pretty exciting stuff.

The readings also remind me that God can use the most unlikely people, even you and me, to carry out the most incredible events. He might not use you to change the world like He did with Moses, but then again He might. Moses was 80 when he stood before the burning bush. Abraham was 100 when Isaac, the promised son was born. God doesn’t pay attention to age or bank accounts or social status or race or nationality or any of the things we might think are important in being a hero or world changer. God pays attention to hearts. He wants people who are devoted to Him. And when He finds that person, He can use him or her to do what others think impossible.

We’ve already seen that in the characters we’ve explored just in these few days of reading God’s Story. But hold on. There is a lot more ahead. God has a plan and it is unfolding just as He expects. You can be part of moving His plan forward or you can futilely try to push against it. It’s your choice which side you choose. But He is God and will not and can not fail because He is God and we are not. No matter how hard we might try to push against His will, His plan, He wins…every time. So which side will you choose? Yours or His? It’s really not hard to make the smart choice, so why do so many choose the wrong one? Which one do you choose?

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more about The Story and our part in it. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved. In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Don’t forget your history (Exodus 9:13-35), Jan 24, 2015

Today’s Podcast

Subscribe in: iTunes|Download

Today’s Devotional

Today’s background scripture comes from Exodus 9
Edmund Burke, one of America’s supporters in the British House of Commons during its disputes leading to the American Revolution is known for saying, “Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.” Such was Pharaoh’s problem. He failed to know the history of Egypt and the role My people played in rescuing it from ruin. He failed to learn about Joseph, the second highest leader in the nation during the greatest famine in Egypt’s history.

Pharaoh saw the Hebrew’s as a blight in his country instead of an asset to him. He saw their growth as a threat instead of a blessing. He didn’t read his history to find I would bless all nations through My covenant with Abraham. Instead, Pharaoh enslaved My chosen people and tried to crush them. He began to kill My children to try to wipe out My Hebrew race. But as with all such leaders bent on the genocide of My people, I will never let it happen. They are My people.

So, I raised Moses to show Pharaoh My power. I allowed Pharaoh to take his place on the throne in the first place. I could remove him as well. Pharaoh would hear from one who grew up in the palace. The rest of Egypt might think him a god, but Moses lived with him in the palace and knew he was nothing but a man, and a flawed one. My message, delivered by one who knew Pharaoh well, would shake the faith of the man on the throne who teaches others to bow to him. He would know only I am worthy of worship.

The plagues I would bring would attack the icons of their religions. I would turn their most sacredly held things against them. I would show them the power of the One True God. And beginning with the plague of hail, I would make a distinction between the Egyptians and My people. My people would not feel the effects of my power, but all those outside the bounds of My chosen family would feel the wrath of God.

What do I want you to learn from Pharaoh’s story? He failed to remember his nation’s history. My people saved his country from ruin. Today, many in America want to rewrite its history and take Me out of it. But America was founded on, thrived and grew to become a mighty nation because the majority of its people trusted and believed in Me. Today, belief in Me is slipping away. Don’t let forget your history. More important, don’t forget My story.

Today’s Scripture

Today’s Bible reading plans include:

Ready – Exodus 9:13-35
Set – Exodus 9; Luke 24
Go! – Exodus 9-11; Luke 24

Exodus 9:13-35
Eternal One (to Moses): 13 Get up early tomorrow morning and stand before Pharaoh. Tell him, “The Eternal, the God of the Hebrews, has a message for you: ‘Release My people, so that they may serve Me. 14 This time, if you refuse, I’m going to send a series of plagues upon you yourself, your servants, and your people. Then you will see that there is no one else as great as I am in all the earth. 15 For by now I could have easily raised my hand and struck you and your people with a disease so lethal that you would be erased entirely from the earth. 16 But I have kept you in power for a reason, to show you My greater power and to see that My name and reputation spread through all the earth. 17 But you still try to dominate My people and refuse to release them from the land. 18 This time tomorrow, I will unleash an enormous hailstorm upon you—a storm like no other that has ever occurred in Egypt since its beginning until now. 19 So gather all your livestock and anything left in your fields into a safe place. Protect it the best you can, for every man or animal left unprotected in the field when the hailstorm arrives will die.’”

20 Some of Pharaoh’s servants feared the Eternal’s message, so they gathered their servants and livestock into the safety of their houses. 21 But there were others who did not take seriously the Eternal’s word, and they left their servants and livestock unprotected in the field.

Eternal One (to Moses): 22 Raise your hand up toward the heavens, and hail will rain from the sky across the entire land of Egypt—upon people and animals and all the crops in the field throughout the land of Egypt.

23 So Moses raised his staff up toward the heavens, and the Eternal released loud thunder and hail from the sky, and fire streaked down upon the earth. He caused hail to rain down upon all of Egypt. 24 As the hail fell, lightning pierced the darkness and lit up the sky. The hailstorm was so intense that it was like no other that had ever occurred in Egypt since its beginning. 25 The hail pounded everything to the ground that remained in the fields, both people and their animals; it crushed every crop, it shattered every tree. 26 There was only one place the hail did not fall—Goshen—where the people of Israel lived.

27 Pharaoh then sent for Moses and Aaron.

Pharaoh: I admit that this time I’ve gone too far. I have sinned. The Eternal is in the right; I and my people have done wrong. 28 Go back to the Eternal and plead my case. We have had enough of your God’s thunder and hail. I will agree to release you—you and your people will not stay any longer.

Moses: 29 Watch closely. The moment I step outside the city gates, I will lift up my hands to the Eternal, and the thunder and hail will stop. Then you will know that the earth belongs to Him. 30 But I know very well that you and your servants do not yet fear the Eternal God.

31 (The flax and barley crops were both destroyed, because the barley heads were nearly ripe and buds had formed on the flax when the hail fell. 32 But the wheat and the spelt had not yet sprouted, so these crops were spared.)

33 Moses left Pharaoh and departed the city. He lifted up his hands to the Eternal and prayed. When he did, the thunder and hail and heavy rains stopped. 34 But as soon as Pharaoh saw that the weather had changed, and he and his servants were certain that the hail and thunder and heavy rains were no longer a threat, they became utterly defiant and Pharaoh hardened his stubborn heart once again. 35 Because his heart was as hard as stone, he refused to release the Israelites as he promised. This happened exactly as the Eternal One predicted through Moses.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.