Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 78:48-55
Ps 78:48-55
48 He gave over their cattle to the hail, their livestock to bolts of lightning. 49 He unleashed against them his hot anger, his wrath, indignation and hostility--a band of destroying angels. 50 He prepared a path for his anger; he did not spare them from death but gave them over to the plague. 51 He struck down all the firstborn of Egypt, the firstfruits of manhood in the tents of Ham. 52 But he brought his people out like a flock; he led them like sheep through the desert. 53 He guided them safely, so they were unafraid; but the sea engulfed their enemies. 54 Thus he brought them to the border of his holy land, to the hill country his right hand had taken. 55 He drove out nations before them and allotted their lands to them as an inheritance; he settled the tribes of Israel in their homes.
Rom 8:9-11
9 You, however, are controlled not by the flesh but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
In learning the plagues brought on Egypt, it is easy for us to fail to see the mass destruction that God brought on them. Blood in the place of water would be sickening and all those bugs and insects would be a nuisance. The hail would be one day of misery. But do we see the real destruction of this? All of the crops in their fields were destroyed along with most of their livestock. The blood in the rivers killed the fish they could normally have for food. The death of the firstborn child totally changed their culture. God had destroyed Egypt’s agriculture and along with it, their economy. Thousands of their men had died from more than one generation and then in a moment in the sea, their military was gone. It is no wonder that the other nations quaked at the power of God.
This same powerful God is still in charge. But he lives in us, in our hearts. It was his power that raised Jesus from the dead and that same power enables us to live for him and to become all he wants us to be now and to live with him in eternity.
Heavenly Father, I am so thankful for your love. I stand in awe at your power that is seen in all of creation as well as in the many stories you have recorded in your word. Just as you used Pharaoh and Egypt to carry out your will, I know you still use the nations and leaders at your bidding. Help me do all I can to make my world a better place by sharing Jesus with others but keep me from fretting about politics and things in our society. Keep me focused on my spiritual battle so my life will be what you want me to be. I pray in the name of Jesus my Lord.
Robert
