{"id":4175,"date":"2022-08-12T16:37:22","date_gmt":"2022-08-12T21:37:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nazareneblogs.org\/pastorscott\/?p=4175"},"modified":"2022-08-12T16:37:22","modified_gmt":"2022-08-12T21:37:22","slug":"devotional-on-exodus-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/devotional-on-exodus-13\/","title":{"rendered":"Devotional on Exodus"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><figure style=\"width: 680px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-Kk9rrry7dWQ\/XPnWbICYp3I\/AAAAAAAA8BY\/vU26jWqBGgcnepKTM5zWXSj16yTpmUs5wCKgBGAs\/s1600\/lost%2Bmaples%2Bst%2Bpark%2Btx%2Band%2Barea%2B11-28-2006%2B6-17-38%2BPM.JPG\" width=\"680\" height=\"544\" class=\"size-large\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lost Maples State Park, TX &#8211; 2006<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\nDid I do that?<br \/>\nExodus 7: The magicians of Egypt did the same thing by their incantations.<br \/>\nHave you ever wondered about the \u201cmiracle contest\u201d that takes place between Moses and the sorcerers of Egypt?  Moses throws his staff on the floor and it turns into a snake.  Pharaoh summons his sorcerers and they do the same thing.  This scenario is repeated when the plagues begin and the water of the Nile is turned to blood and then in the plague of the frogs.  It\u2019s only in the third plague that the sorcerers are stymied when they can\u2019t produce gnats by their incantations.  I know the Source of Moses\u2019 miracle working ability but how do the sorcerers do it?   This is one of those situations in which the Bible makes no effort to answer our question.  All we\u2019re told is what happens in this contest; not how it happens.  I\u2019ve always been inclined to think that they do it by sleight of hand.  After all, it appears that they\u2019re given advance warning each time.  I can picture it now: \u201cHey, there\u2019s a guy down at the river that\u2019s turning water into blood, how can we do that?\u201d  Some experienced old faker says he has just the thing and off they go to duplicate Moses\u2019 miracle.  However, I\u2019ve just been thinking of another explanation.  Maybe they\u2019re the most amazed people present when their efforts produce a miracle.  You see, the Lord says he\u2019s going to harden Pharaoh\u2019s heart.  What better way to do that than, when he sees an obvious God-caused miracle take place, he sees his own sorcerers duplicate it?  I\u2019m not sure of this understanding of events, but I\u2019d sure like to have seen their faces when their staff\u2019s became snakes.<br \/>\nTake Away: We\u2019d better trust God because sometimes we can\u2019t believe what we see with our own eyes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Did I do that? Exodus 7: The magicians of Egypt did the same thing by their incantations. Have you ever wondered about the \u201cmiracle contest\u201d that takes place between Moses and the sorcerers of Egypt? Moses throws his staff on the floor and it turns into a snake. Pharaoh summons his sorcerers and they do [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1493,7],"tags":[124,722,992],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4175"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4175"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13810,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4175\/revisions\/13810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}