Moses said, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘About midnight I will go throughout Egypt, and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, to the firstborn son of the slave girl who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle. There will be a great cry throughout the whole land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again. But against any of the Israelites not even a dog will bark against either people or animals, so that you may know that the Lord distinguishes between Egypt and Israel.’ All these your servants will come down to me and bow down to me, saying, ‘Go, you and all the people who follow you,’ and after that I will go out.” Then Moses went out from Pharaoh in great anger. Exodus 11:4-8
New English Translation
A lot of times, we take the historical account of the Exodus as the lesson that God will deliver us, pack up the Bible study, and move on. However true that lesson is, it is not the full truth God is trying to teach us through Exodus. God is complex, and we have to take that into consideration when reading scripture. That’s why Exodus 11:4-8 stands out to me. It especially stands out with Exodus 1:15-17 coming alongside it.
The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, “When you assist the Hebrew women in childbirth, observe at the delivery: If it is a son, kill him, but if it is a daughter, she may live.”See, the Egyptians were killing the male babies of the Hebrews. They showed no mercy. They wanted to cripple a people. So, when God sent the angel of death to the Egyptians as the tenth plague, He was bringing punishment on the Egyptians to repay them for what they’d done to His people. However, He had mercy on the Egyptians. He only took the firstborn males. God could have taken all the males.
In our lives, the same is true. He does punish us for our sins, for hurting others, and for disobeying Him. We like to blame everything bad that happens on Satan, but that’s not a catch-all solution. In reality, we do stuff that does actually deserve punishment, and sometimes we’re thickskulled enough that we can’t figure out what we did wrong and He has to use a not great moment to get our attention and teach us a lesson. Shocker, He knows how to parent His kids.
So, don’t assume that every bad thing that happens is undeserved. But, don’t assume that God is beating you with a mallet either. He’s merciful. He takes into consideration the fact that you are His child when punishing. A good parent doesn’t take away food from their kid for a month because they were naughty. Rather, they take into consideration that they love their child, that taking away food for that long would be harmful to their child, and in their mercy they choose to only take away food for a single meal.
God does the same because He is the one who taught us to parent that way.
God, in His mercy, chooses punishments that He knows won’t destroy us. He may be trying to teach you something right now through something really difficult, and it may seem unfair. But, in the big picture perspective, do you realize how merciful He’s being to you? He could just strike you with lightning to get you to straighten up. Instead, He takes a little something away and gives you the chance to make things right between you and Him.
See, God doesn’t like it when you treat Him poorly, and He especially doesn’t like it when you treat His kids poorly. That’s why it’s important that we think about what we’re doing. Are you honoring God and others by the way you treat them? Or are you taking only yourself into consideration when acting? Who are you hurting because you are unwilling to obey God? Who are you hurting because you are unwilling to be honest? Who are you hurting because you are afraid of losing friends? Those are just a few questions we need to keep in mind when we are making decisions about what we are doing.
Then, instead of looking at difficulties as the worst thing on the planet, take a step back and ask God, “what are you trying to teach me?” Think about it, God used punishment similar in nature to the actions of the Egyptians to show them what they did wrong. The punishment was revelatory! He didn’t wanted them to have to question concerning what they were being punished for.
I encourage you, take some time today and inventory your life. Are you experiencing trials that are teaching you to live differently? Are you acting in ways that honor God? Or are you leaving a trail of hurt behind you? Talking with God can hurt sometimes. We like to think we’ve got everything altogether, but we don’t. When we let God tell us how it is, He gives us the hard truth. But, if we want to live our best lives, we have got to get over ourselves and walk it out and learn what God has for us to learn. In the long run, a moment of pain to learn a lesson is far better than a life of pain in Hell.