What plagues you

A stunning revelation occurred to me today while reading the exodus (Exodus 7-12), the release of Israel from hundreds of years of slavery in Egypt. Tucked within the captivating story about God’s first vigorous appearance as Yahweh (meaning I AM WHO I AM and WHAT I AM, and I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE), when He makes His great name known to all through many undeniable acts and wonders, Satan makes a piddly little attempt to compete with God. Of all times to steer clear of God Almighty, it’s probably when He is performing the single greatest work in Jewish history; yet the impostor’s appearance does have significance, albeit not what he intended.

This is not the stunning revelation, but it might impress someone that he does have a minor role in the story (people do seem to get excited about being an “extra”); but it’s just enough of a role to be reminded of how sad, and hopeless, and defeated he is against the great God of gods and King of kings. As his people - the magicians, wizards and sorcerers, in this case - do their best to compete with the God of universe, I’m reminded of those times when that guy just should have never shown up to compete…the one that’s two feet shorter than everyone else and embarrassingly unaware of his great athletic misfortune. And, no, this is not the little guy in the exciting come back story. This is the story about the guy who is blind to his weaknesses, arrogant in his own strength, and rightfully humiliated. But even still, the defeated contender is so thoroughly committed to stealing God’s identity and lustfully pursuing worshipers of his own, all of history and much of the future is saturated by humans who have believed his lies. Even his pitiful attempts at duplicating acts of God have lured many into thinking that happiness, peace, love, and success can be attained by some other means than by knowing and loving the Creator of it all. He tempts with flashy and attractive things and uses eons of data analysis to refine the same tricks that have lured humans away so easily time and time again. But in this story, things play out just as they should.

The windbag should have thrown in the towel after the first punch in the gut. Aaron’s rod-serpents wallowed up the serpents brought forth by the magicians (7:11) in a delightful foretelling glimpse into his eternal fate. The second and third attempts at counterfeiting God’s ideas are tolerated - the magicians also turned bodies of water to blood and caused frogs to infest all of Egypt. But the remaining plagues brought on Egypt in demonstration of God’s supreme power, including the spine-tingling Passover, leave the contender to lick his wounds. Early in the story, the magicians finally fold as they were unable to perform the same wonders, claiming much sooner than Pharaoh, that “this is the finger of God!”

But the story makes an important point, other than the obvious one that Satan is no match for God. It is Pharaoh who requests the magicians to duplicate the acts performed by Moses and Aaron; however, even when the magicians are successful, Pharaoh was forced to plead to Moses and Aaron to entreat the Lord to remove the plagues. He figured out pretty quickly that Satan’s boys were handy in creating chaos yet useless in restoring peace. Yes. Of course. This makes sense. Satan, the liar, the thief, and the destroyer, takes great pleasure in magically creating serpents, turning water into blood, and multiplying an infestation of slimy frogs to get some glory and attention. However, he has absolutely no desire to remove the plagues and takes absolutely no pleasure in any type of reprieve. Why would he??! He doesn’t care!! He very simply put does not have the capacity for mercy. He was probably quite distraught that the Lord removed every single one of the plagues when Moses and Aaron prayed for Him to do so.

Which brings me to a very important parallel. Satan deceivingly strings people along with one fraudulent exchange after the next, convincing them to go their own way in search of love, thrill, recognition, and power. The choices they make slowly begin to lead to unexpected consequences. Friendships are strained, priorities are mismanaged, finances suffer, and health begins to decline. The dangling carrot is ridden with poison and life becomes unbearably lonely, depressing, and resembles nothing of initial hopes and dreams. And this is where Satan leaves them. His grand plan is to get them here, but he has no plans to get them out. He will just as soon leave you and me lying in a ditch until we die alone, sick, and penniless. It is the mercy of God, and the mercy of God only, that any of Satan’s plans for us are thwarted. Satan exists to plague and torment to death. God exists to give generously all good things to those who ask.

How does it happen then? No one would ever willingly hop in the car with an ax murderer knowing he was an ax murderer. It happens through deception. He pretends to represent something that he isn’t and promises things that aren’t his to give. Satan lures with tricks that don’t require righteousness (right standing with God), with ideas that resist submitting to God’s laws, and with progressive thinking that exalts man-made rules and understanding above the knowledge of God. He deceives humans with bait that promises to bring them joy and freedom, yet his agenda has always been and will always be to deter man from worshiping the one true God. The enemy’s way may seem less restrictive, more creative, and free from prejudice. But he’s a liar and the father of it (John 8:44). The enemy comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. Jesus came that we would have life and life more abundantly (John 10:10). God reprimands those He loves, He corrects those who are hurting themselves and others, He protects His children from harm, He covers our sins and blots them from His memory, and He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. God always leaves us better than when He found us. Satan always leaves us worse off than when he found us.

If we recognize that we are being plagued, the origin honestly may or may not be obvious. There are many “whys” that will go unanswered until we are face to face with Yaweh. The most important question is not ‘how did we get into this situation?’ but ‘how do we get out?’ Jesus died to get us out of every mess in which we could possibly find ourselves. There are no exceptions to His redeeming act of love. The gospel of Jesus Christ is that He came to save us from every possible plague, every possible mistake, every possible secret evil that no one knows about but us. For anyone who Satan left dying in a ditch, without respect and full of shame, Jesus can get you out. For anyone who has done things they never thought they would or could do, Jesus can get you out. For anyone who is imprisoned in their bodies and minds, tormented by fears, anxieties, and irrational thoughts, Jesus can get you out. For anyone who is lost without purpose, confused, and angry, Jesus can get you out.

Even Pharaoh, whose heart was hardened, learned quickly to bypass the scheming magicians with petty tricks and to entreat the Lord, the God of both righteous judgment and everlasting mercy, for relief from every unbearable plague. God is always waiting for us to ask Him for help. He created us to need Him. And He takes great pleasure in taking care of us. Jesus taught us to “ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:7-11)