Friday, June 5, 2026
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: Exodus 10-11
- Secondary Reading: Psalms 65
Key Verse
Exodus 10:20 — “But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go.”
Devotional Thought
It is a sobering thing to read that the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and then to watch Pharaoh harden it himself. Again and again in Exodus 10–11 the two truths stand side by side: Pharaoh refuses to humble himself, and God confirms him in that refusal. Here is a warning for every reader who has grown comfortable with delay. Pharaoh does not reject God in one dramatic moment; he does it in inches. He offers compromises—the men may go, but not the little ones; the people may go, but not the flocks. Each half-obedience is a fresh refusal dressed as negotiation. And when the locusts strip the land bare and the darkness falls thick enough to be felt, even his confession—”I have sinned”—lasts only until the relief arrives. The heart that will not fully yield grows harder with every mercy it spurns.
Yet over against Pharaoh’s stubbornness stands the Lord’s patient purpose. He tells Moses plainly why He has done all this: “that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son’s son, what things I have wrought in Egypt.” The plagues were never merely punishment; they were testimony, a story to be handed down from generation to generation. Even the judgment on the firstborn, terrible as it is, is set within a promise: “the LORD doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.” God’s people are marked, known, and kept. And notice, too, that before the final night falls, the Lord gives His people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians, so that they leave not as fugitives but as those whom God has honored.
This is June, the season when gardens are leafing out and fields are greening under the long light of these lengthening days. We read of locusts eating every green thing in Egypt, and then of the psalmist’s God who “waterest the ridges thereof abundantly” and crowns the year with goodness. The same hand that can wither a land can make the pastures of the wilderness drop with plenty. Which Egypt do we resemble? The one who hardens against the voice of God, or the one who receives each watered furrow as a gift? The psalm asks who may dwell in God’s courts, and answers: the one whom He chooses and causes to approach. That is grace, not merit—and it is offered still.
So let us not trifle with half-hearted obedience. Let us bring our young and our old, our flocks and our herds, everything we have, and hold our feast unto the Lord. The darkness that could be felt lasted three days in Egypt; but “all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.” That light is still given to those who belong to Him.
Reflection
- Where in your life are you offering God a partial obedience—keeping back the “little ones” or the “flocks”—rather than yielding everything to Him?
- Like Israel in Egypt, are you living in the light God has given your dwelling, or have you grown accustomed to the darkness around you?
Prayer
O Lord God of the Hebrews, who puttest a difference between those who are Thine and those who are not, soften our hearts while it is yet today. We confess that we have bartered with Thee, holding back what Thou hast asked, calling it obedience when it was only delay. Purge away our transgressions, as the psalmist pleads, and cause us to approach Thee, for blessed is the one whom Thou choosest. Water the furrows of our lives with Thy goodness; crown our year with Thy grace. Give us light in our dwellings, and let us tell the next generation what Thou hast wrought. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Psalm Verse
Psalms 65:1 — “Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion: and unto thee shall the vow be performed.”