Exodus 5:22-7:25, Matthew 18:21-19:12, Psalms 23:1-6, Proverbs 5:22-23
Today is the 28th day of January welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is an honor to be here with you today as we just lock-in, come around the Global Campfire together and let it all go and let this center us where we belong and orient us to God. So, we are reading in the book of Exodus. We’re just getting started in the book of Exodus, the second book of the Bible and we’ve been introduced to Moses. Moses has been tasked to be the…the representative of God, basically, God’s prophet and to go before the king of Egypt the Pharaoh and demand the release of the Hebrews who have grown to become strong and numerous as a nation themselves. But God is now wanting to set them free from their slavery and so far, that’s not going well. And we’ll pick up the story. We’re reading from the English Standard Version this week. Exodus chapter 5 verse 22 through 7 verse 25.
Commentary:
Okay. So, let’s catch ourselves up in Exodus in the lay of the land. the Hebrew people, remember Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, who became Israel and had children, the children of Israel. And then Joseph goes to Egypt and then famine comes and those people, 70 of them, go to Egypt and are saved. Those 70 people, we are 400 years in the future now, and those 70 people have become tens of thousands and tens of thousands of people. Moses is one of those people. He was supposed to be as an infant thrown into the Nile River to die, to drown, because Pharaoh was doing away from…well…he was trying to eradicate the male population because these people were becoming…were becoming too powerful. In the end it’s Pharaoh’s daughter who saves Moses and he’s educated, and he kills an Egyptian while defending a Hebrew and he has to go on the run where God appears to him and says, basically we’re gonna go back and set the people free and you’re gonna be my mouthpiece. So, he goes back and starts making these announcements and we’re just getting going in the very famous story of the plagues upon Egypt that will one day set the people free. So far not going so well. And this is an important thing for us to look at here because God tells Moses it’s not gonna go well, that He’s gonna harden Pharaoh’s heart and he’s going to resist until he has to be broken essentially. That doesn’t seem fair, though, right? That God is going to somehow against the will of Pharaoh make his heart hard so that he has to resist God in order to be broken and he doesn't…like he has no choice in the matter. That’s not what’s going on here. What would it take to harden your heart? Maybe way less than we realize. Suppose that you have a bit of authority at your job. You have maybe a whole department under you, representing hundreds of people or maybe, you know, you’ve a couple of people who have to answer to you. Let’s suppose that a subordinate guess an appointment with you and comes before you, demanding that you do something that doesn’t make any sense to you and yet they are demanding it it’s. And, so, because of the situation and your flummoxed and your like, “wait a minute. Like I’m your boss, not the other way around. And are you trying to take my job?” And then all this kind of pride kind of begins to emerge. And, so, we want to push that person back and put them in their place because they’ve hardened our hearts. Or they come in with a threat. “If you don’t do what I’m telling you to do then bad things are going to happen to you.” And they say that God is going to do this, but they happen to be of a different religion than you and so you don’t really respect any of their traditions. And, so, you’re like, “I don’t know who this is. I don’t know what you’re…I don’t know what you’re trying to do here. Get out of here if you want to keep your job”, right? The heart gets hardened when we are pressed to do what we don’t want to do. We don’t want to submit anybody’s authority. This is exponentially more difficult for Pharaoh because Pharaoh thinks he is a God. And, so, what we have going on here is that the most-high God is speaking through a Hebrew man demanding that the Hebrew people be let go. And Pharaoh is like, “I don’t know you’re God. Who cares what your God thinks? I am a more powerful God then you’re God or you wouldn’t be my slaves. Get back to your job. And I’m not supplying you anymore. Get back to your job and find your own supplies.” That is the long and short of what’s happening here. And the Bible tells us that pride goes before a fall. And we might…might even know how this story ends. It’s a famous Bible story. So, we could say that in the and Pharaoh does find that he is humbled, whether he likes it or not, but then we have to understand that these stories also become a mirror into our soul. What would it take for us to submit in this kind of scenario? And would it be our pride…like would we resist until we were completely broken? Because pride goes before the fall and God does not appreciate pride because pride exalts us. It exalts us above all things. And God in the Bible or in history does not suffer that for long. And, so, yeah, we’re in the middle of a pretty dramatic story but let’s find ourselves in this story. And one way to begin to find ourselves in the story today is to observe the hardening of the heart and begin to observe ourselves when our hearts are being hardened because most of the time we’re gonna find pride is a part of that recipe.
Prayer:
Holy Spirit we invite You into that. It is not our desire to be arrogant and prideful people. And yet we’re encouraged to be just that all the time inside of our culture. We need to be dominant; we need to be powerful. And yet this is not the path that leads to life, this is not the way of the gospel. The way of the gospel is that strength is actually found in surrender and that strength is actually found in weakness. So counterintuitive to the way that life is been presented to us. And yet this is the way we were made. So come Holy Spirit and help us to interpret our own hearts by observing when they are becoming hard. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen
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And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer and Praise:
Good morning DAB family this is Flourishing in the Desert and it’s Sunday January 24th 2021. I just want to say thank you to all of you. Last year 2020 was a really hard year for me not because of Covid but because of oh the push from God to finally leave an abusive relationship. It was such a struggle. All of last year was such a struggle. And then a dear friend of mine, All the Treasures from Wyoming told me about DAB and I started to listen and I just want you guys to know that your faithful prayers for others for everyone in this community just encouraged me on so many levels and I am forever thankful for your love for the body of Christ, your willingness to put your issues out there, to seek prayer, and also your willingness to pray for others in need. God has blessed me abundantly through you and He continues to carry me through and to bring joy to my day. And I just want to let you guys know that, yeah, you’re the best and I just so appreciate you. You touch the lives of others in so many ways, in ways you just don’t understand. So, I tip my hat to each one of you and I thank you. Be encouraged today and to know that your blessing others even as you pray for those who are in need. God’s blessings on you all. This is Flourishing in the Desert in Cheyenne WY.
Hello Daily Audio Bible family I’m a first-time caller I’ve been listening for about two years and I’m going on my third year and I’ve become a double DABber listening to the Chronological Bible as well. Thank you, Jill. I live in Texas and I’m calling myself Joyful Paradise in Texas. I chose that name not because my life has been easy, but because through everything I’ve been through the Lord has been the joy of my life and the one who’s carried me through everything and sustained me. I met the Lord at a camp revival as a child and I’ve walked with Him and I’ve I've…I've…I’ve grown in the Lord over the years and this year I turned 70. So, it’s…I’ve had my share of ups and downs. A good friend of mine downloaded the app on the on…on the…of the Daily Audio Bible onto my phone and said, listen. So, I did, and it has been a blessing to me. It really has been a blessing and I’m so grateful. I’m so grateful to get to know each one of you, to hear your voices, to hear your prayer requests and my heart has been deeply touched many times by many of your requests and I…and I hope to hear more from each one of you. You…and we’ll just keep praying for one another. Thank you for this podcast Brian and God bless.
Hello Daily Audio Bible family this is His Dearly Beloved in Minnesota. I’ve called in a couple of times recently asking for prayer for a pain I’ve been experiencing. I’m scheduled for a total hysterectomy on February 2nd so I very much would still love your prayers for that. But I’m calling today to encourage each one of you. Today is February 24th, it’s a Sunday…January 24th, sorry. It’s a Sunday and Brian has been talking about our hearts and how we need to guard our hearts because life springs forth from our hearts. And I’m nearing 60 years old right now. So, I have definitely had my fair share of pieces of my heart strewn along the way and have needed mending. And I’m here to tell you that God absolutely does mend our hearts. My…probably my biggest heartbreak was ten years ago when my husband of 25 years who had been my high school sweetheart. We dated 8 years before we were married at…I was about 21 at the time and he finally released me from our marriage because he had…was feeling that he missed out on a life of dating. And…and as you can imagine that was…that was pretty rough for me. But I’m here to tell you 10 years later God has completely…completely healed and mended my heart. And I wanted to share my intention for the year, which is to give my first…give my wholehearted best first and foremost to God loving and trusting the Lord with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, shining that love, joy, peace, hope, and light into the world each day. I love you take care.
Hello this is Rachel from Oregon just want to call in for the lady who asked for prayer whose husband of 46 years just left her. This prayer was posted on January 20th. Today I am praying for you on January 24th. And you just got out of the hospital recently from Covid and you have no one to help you at home. And I can’t even imagine how hard it must be for you right now the things that are happening in your life and in your situation and feeling so alone. And I am so so sorry. My heart breaks for you. I really really wish that I could come help you. In a heartbeat I would. I would be over to help you at home, but I don’t know where you live and chances are it’s not nearby me. But Lord I come before You today to ask You to intervene in this lady’s life. You know all her needs. You know the pain in her heart and the cry of her heart Lord. Will You please bring her the peace that passes all understanding and help her through this hard time that her husband has left her. And please convict him to repent of leaving her and this divorce and also please bring her in abundance of people in her life to love on her and to help her in any way that she needs. We are meant to serve each other as a body in Christ Lord and I ask that You will just show her Your love through other people and help her to find her hope in You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Good morning Daily Audio Bible family members this is Abby calling from Maryland. I trust you are all doing well. My goal for this year is to call more often. So, here I am. And I have been so blessed listening to people calling in, you know, especially those who are joining us on board this year 2021. I’ve heard this lady who is so excited, you know, I believe she’s blind and she’s just been having a wonderful experience with this community. Welcome to every new member and for…I specifically want to pray for a young man or a man who had called I believe his name was Tilly from Florida who is currently in the hospital. He’s scared and, you know, he has chest pains and he said that he’s broken hearted because he had to make a confession to his wife. I lift you into the hands of the almighty God and I pray that God heals you. I pray that God wraps His love around you and God shows you how much He loves you and God just restores you, restores your health in Jesus’ name. I pray for each and every member who has called for one thing of the other. God meets each and every one of you at the point of your need. And yes, I am so excited to hear when China does deliver her child. I am looking forward to that. Thank you, Brian for always being awesome. Thank you, Jill for always being awesome. Thank you, this amazing community. You guys are…you are my community. I just look forward to getting into the word of God with you guys every day. You all have a blessed week. This is Abby from Maryland. Stay blessed.
Good morning everyone this is Mary from the United States. As Brian talks about endurance, I just want to join with him and encourage you. Endurance sounds like a strong word of suffrage and drudgery, yet there’s freedom in endurance. There’s joy in endurance. There’s confidence and grace in endurance. Their strength in endurance. There’s wisdom in endurance. There’s a vision and a sense of purpose in endurance. Endure in love, endure in joy, endure in the morning, endure in the evening, endure in the Lord to the very end. Endurance brings with it joy, peace, rhythm, meaning. Endurance is a gift we can choose or deny. Open the gift and discover its treasures in the box of endurance. Breathe in, breathe out the blessed joy that we can endure in love. Put on foot…put one foot in front of the other, breathe in breath out. The riches gain in endurance. The interest compile in endurance. A rich abundant life as we endure in love.