Pharaoh said, "Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go." Exodus 5:2

 

We can stand to learn a lot from the folly of Pharaoh. When Moses went before and asked that the Lord's people be released so that they might worship the one true God, Pharaoh said no again and again. I've often wondered why Pharaoh thought he could stand up against God almighty and why even after all of the signs he would think he could do whatever he wanted. Pharaoh answers my questions in this verse "I do not know the Lord."

When we don't know the Lord we are the Pharaoh's of our own lives. God sends apostles like Moses into our lives begging us to let sin go from our lives so that we can go to worship the Lord in the wilderness. We seem to run things perfectly fine like Pharaoh did and see that the way we work is good. Pharaoh only knew he didn't know the Lord and that is why he asked who was he that I should obey him? Pharaoh was ignorant of the power of God and even when he saw it he still wished to rule his own life than submit to the Lord. When we are ignorant and see the wonder of God and then harden our hearts from it we become even more like Pharaoh and just as he suffered destruction because of folly so we will too.

When we are ignorant of who God is and the power he posses we continue through life like Pharaoh and refuse to let go of the sin in our lives. It was a sin of Pharaoh not to let the Israelites go and when we prevent others from truly seeing God and worshiping him in the wilderness by our actions or words we become just like Pharaoh. We forget that unlike Pharaoh, we have seen who God is, we know who he is. In the same way we know his love, we know that when we put ourselves above him or forget his power he will bring us back down as he did with Pharaoh.

The temptation to act like Pharaoh by holding onto the sin in our lives and therefore preventing people from truly experiencing God's love and seeing Christ's image in us is constant. Pharaoh's defense was his ignorance of God, but what is our defense since we have been shown who God is? We cannot plead ignorance when the Holy Spirit convicts us of holding onto sin and in order to prevent plague upon plague and the destruction of our lives we must leave our Pharaoh persona and submit ourselves in repentance before the true Pharaoh of the universe - our Abba father. By admitting responsibility we are saved from true folly and calamity. Then we are prepared to go into the wilderness and partake in what our holy Pharaoh God has for us.

 

 

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Dear Lord,
We pray that you will forgive us for forgetting. You have changed us and made us different than Pharaoh. We have believed your signs and heard your prophets and have accepted that you are to be the ruler over us. We have submitted ourselves in our faith and pray Lord when we forget that you will gently remind us through the conviction of your Holy Spirit. We pray that you will have us know you more so that we may not be tempted to be like Pharaoh and try to use ignorance as an excuse. Help us not to prevent others from seeing your light, forgive us for our human desire to rule our own lives, help us to overcome ourselves so that we may truly submit to you Father. Clear away our ignorance and give us a hunger for wisdom so that we may lead others into the wilderness and partake together in fellowship of you. Blessed be your holy, faithful name as we stand in awe of you, our Pharaoh. In Jesus' precious name, Amen.