Real-Life Moments From ExodusMuestra

You might be plagued

I’ve been hearing the story of the ten plagues in Egypt since I was little. Maybe you’ve seen it portrayed in the classic (but now kitschy) Ten Commandment movie featuring Charlton Heston.

Because Pharaoh wouldn’t let God’s people go, God turned Egypt’s rivers, streams, ponds, and house water to blood. Then frogs infested the land (even bedrooms!). After that, gnats swarmed people and animals.

With the fourth plague, God changed things: “On that day I will deal differently with the land of Goshen, where my people live; no swarms of flies will be there, so that you will know that I, the Lord, am in this land. I will make a distinction between my people and your people” (Exodus 8:22,23).

Oh! It took me 51 years to realize that in addition to backbreaking work as slaves, God’s people suffered through the first three plagues. In the middle of those plagues, they didn’t know God would allow their suffering to end, that he had a plan for how to use their struggles.

We can relate. Sometimes it’s tempting to think that because we love Jesus we shouldn’t be plagued by suffering. But we will. It’s not easy in the middle of hard times to confidently believe that God will use suffering for our good and his glory. But he will. We just don’t know how or when. So we keep working and living, knowing that there is a day coming when we will be set free and God yet again “will make a distinction between my people and your people.”