“But when Pharaoh saw there was relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen to them, as the LORD had said.” 8:15
I want to be careful to NOT compare the current crisis to what happened in the 10 plagues on Egypt for a couple of reasons. One is that we are not quite sure what the LORD is up to with this current Corona Virus. I mean I know that He is always working for our good and His glory, and I am sure that is the same, but Exodus gives us the clear picture of what was happening behind the scenes in the days of Moses and we don’t really have all of that information today. The second reason is that I think it would be an overstatement to compare this situation to what happened in those plagues. Many people are sick and some have died, but I don’t believe the scale of this pandemic is currently as massive or destructive as what is described in the book of Exodus.
Yet, some similarities are worth noting and one is that God was trying to teach people something in Exodus. He wanted His children to trust Him, He wanted Moses and Aaron to walk by faith and He wanted Pharaoh to humble himself. Trust, faith, and humility would be good things for us to cling to and learn today. Additionally, God wanted people to change but it seems that change was slow to come. As things got steadily worse, Pharaoh would seemingly repent but then change his mind once relief came. I want to caution us to not make the same mistake that he made.
The Lord is teaching us many things during these days. He is teaching us to trust Him, to walk by faith and to be humble. For many of us, He is teaching us to just abide in Him and to break free from the rat race that consumes us. He has forced us into a time of rest, reflection and, at some level, suffering. There will be many lessons that we will all learn before this is over, but what scares me is that once we see relief “we will harden our hearts” and just go back to the way we were. As you pass through this season, see it for what it is and take full advantage of it. This doesn’t mean it will be all rosy; there will likely be hard lessons that we learn along the way and many of us might be called to suffer. What a shame it would be to pass through the storm and then forget everything on the other side and go back to our old ways, completely unchanged. God help us to remember what you are teaching us and to be different!
