Thursday, June 5, 2025
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
Pharaoh has already watched nine plagues dismantle his kingdom, yet here in Exodus 10 he is still bargaining with God. When Moses announces the locusts, Pharaoh’s own servants cry out, “How long shall this man be a snare unto us? knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?” Even they can see what their king refuses to see. Pharaoh offers compromise after compromise—first only the men may go, then the little ones may go but not the flocks—but Moses will not divide what God has claimed whole. “There shall not an hoof be left behind,” he insists. The Lord is not interested in partial obedience, and He is not finished displaying His power.
Then comes the darkness, thick enough to be felt, three days in which no Egyptian could rise from his place. Yet in Goshen the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. That contrast is the heart of these chapters: the same God who darkens Egypt lights the home of His people. Before the final plague falls, Moses tells Israel to ask their Egyptian neighbors for silver and gold, and the Lord gives them favor in the sight of those who had enslaved them. Even in judgment, God is providing for His people’s departure.
We read this in early June, when the fields are green and the year is crowned with goodness. Psalm 65 sings of a God who waters the ridges, settles the furrows, and makes the pastures shout for joy. It is the same God who sent locusts to strip Egypt bare and then let the west wind carry them into the Red Sea. He stilleth the noise of the seas and the tumult of the people. The Lord who hardened Pharaoh’s heart is the Lord who purges away our transgressions and chooses us to approach His courts.
Pharaoh’s problem was not a lack of evidence but a lack of humility. He kept trying to negotiate with the God of the universe, offering terms that kept his own grip on what he valued. How easily we do the same—following the Lord partway, keeping back the flocks, reserving one corner of the heart. But God’s deliverance is never partial. He brought Israel out entirely, and He means to bring us out entirely too, not one hoof left behind.
Reflection
- What “flocks” or “little ones” are you tempted to withhold from God, offering Him a partial obedience instead of the whole-hearted surrender He asks for?
- When you walk through seasons of darkness, do you trust that the God who darkened Egypt still gives light in the dwellings of His people?
Prayer
Lord God of the Hebrews, You are the God who hears prayer, and to You all flesh must come. We confess that like Pharaoh we have bargained with You, holding back what You asked us to release and calling it obedience. Purge away our transgressions, we pray. Do not let us be satisfied with a partial exodus from sin. Give us hearts soft enough to humble ourselves before You, and give us light in our dwellings even when darkness covers the land around us. You crown the year with Your goodness; let our pastures shout for joy and our valleys sing, until every hoof and every heart has been brought out to serve You alone. Amen.
Psalm Verse
Psalms 65:1 — “Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion: and unto thee shall the vow be performed.”