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When I was a kid, I was scared of God. It started with what seemed like a creepy Bible story about God sending plagues on the Egyptians for not letting His people go. The message was clear; do whatever God wants or you will wake up with blood in your water bottle, frogs in your bread and no more sunshine. Of course, if you really insist on going your own way, you will end up dead. Not a lot to celebrate with a God like that.
The devil wants us to believe that God chose these plagues at random with the intent to torment, but when I took an art history class, I began to see it differently. A little study of the Egyptian gods explains the rest of the story.
I recently ran across a blog by Lee Andrew Henderson: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2041953/why_did_god_send_frogs_locusts_boils.html?cat=34
He says it better than I could say it myself:
“Why Did God Send the Ten Plagues?
At the time the Egyptians did not worship the one God that Moses believed in. Instead the Egyptians had many gods that they worshiped. There were gods of the sky, gods of the waters, gods for just about everything. Each one of the ten plagues that God sent through Moses were not just random plagues. Each of the ten plagues were specifically designed to defy some of the Egyptian gods.
Why Did God Send the Plague of Blood?
Two of the Egyptian gods were Khnum and Hopi. Khnum was the guardian of the Nile and Hopi was the spirit of the Nile. When God turns the Nile River into blood it is a sign that God is more powerful than Khnum or Hopi.
Why Did God Send the Plague of Frogs?
The Egyptians also worshiped a god of resurrection named Heqt. Heqt was believed to take the form of a frog. The plague of Frogs was a way of saying that God could control any form of frog.
Why Did God Send the Plague on Cattle?
Apis was the symbol of fertility and took the form of a bull god. The plague on the cattle was a sign that even God could strike down any cattle, even a bull god.
Why Did God Send the Plague of Boils?
The Egyptians also worshiped Imhotep, the god of medicine. When boils appeared on the people of Egypt and not even Imhotep can cure them it was a sign that God was more powerful.
Why Did God Send the Plague of Hail?
The plague of hail was sent to defy the god of Nut. Nut was the sky goddess and normally would be the one to control the weather.
Why Did God Send the Plague of Locusts?
Seth was the Egyptian god that was supposed to be the protector of the crops. The locusts destroyed crops so the plague of locusts was a way to defy Seth.
Why Did God Send the Plague of Darkness?
The Egyptians had many sun gods. Four of the Egyptian sun gods were Re, Aten, Atum and Hours. The plague of darkness was to challenge the sun gods.
Why Did God Send the Plague of the Firstborn? Osiris was the Egyptian god that was considered the giver of life. Osiris supposedly has the ability to give people to life but was unable to stop every firstborn from being killed.” - Lee Andrew Henderson
So there you have it, God always does everything with a purpose. As a matter of fact, the Bible actually spells it out for us. God told Moses WHY He was sending the plagues:
“I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt, I am the LORD.” Exodus 12:12
God wasn’t seeking to torment people; He was establishing His Sovereignty in the eyes of the Egyptians and the Children of Israel who had already begun to worship false gods. He was actually using emergency stops to wake them up and save their lives. There is no God like our God!
For scared children like us, that is really good news!
-Cherilyn Christen Clough
www.myfatherinheavenisperfect.com
When Tobin was nine years old, his mother was doing laundry at the laundry mat. He had taken a dime out of the ash tray in the car. This angered his mother so she called him a thief. Then she took out her cell phone and started calling up members of the family, telling each of them that Tobin was a thief. After several calls Tobin’s eyes began to fill with tears. He glanced nervously at the woman who was pulling her laundry out of a nearby washer and complained to his father. “Mom’s telling everyone that I am a thief.”
The stranger’s heart was breaking for Tobin. She kept listening to the verbal tirade hoping it would stop. Eventually, the mother pointed to Tobin and called out to the stranger, “Have you met my son, the thief?” The stranger set aside her wet towels and walked over to the abusive mother. Calmly, she confronted her face to face, saying, “No, I don’t see a thief at all. I see an innocent child who has borrowed a dime.” The mother’s voice was finally silent, while the father nodded in agreement. As Tobin smiled up into the kind face of the stranger, he sighed with relief.
We shudder to think of such an unloving parent, yet many people still think that is how God treats sinners. The Bible calls Satan “the accuser of the brethren” for a reason; whenever we sin, the devil (like an abusive mother) taunts us and points out our sins. If the devil has a habit of doing something, we can usually be assured that God’s way is the exact opposite. The life of Jesus proves this true by showing us how that God actually treats sinners. Peter and Judas, both were about to betray Jesus and He knew it. As Jesus gently washed the dirt off of their feet, He lovingly warned them of what they were about to do, but He did not condemn them. Regardless of His warning, both of them betrayed Him anyway. It was not their sin that determined their future, but rather the quality of their relationship with Jesus. Judas, not trusting Jesus, bore his own sins and hung himself in shame. Peter, who also felt ashamed, trusted Jesus to carry the burden of his sins and came back to be forgiven.
Even God’s friends betray Him sometimes. The issue is not about what we have done, but rather do we (like Peter) trust Jesus enough to come back to Him? If the devil keeps bringing up your sins, think about how Jesus treated Peter and remember His words to the woman caught in adultery, “Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more.”
For Benedict Arnolds like us, that’s really good news!
©2010 Cherilyn Christen Clough
www.myfatherinheavenisperfect.com
When Tobin was nine years old, his mother was doing laundry at the laundry mat. He had taken a dime out of the ash tray in the car. This angered his mother so she called him a thief. Then she took out her cell phone and started calling up members of the family, telling each of them that Tobin was a thief. After several calls Tobin’s eyes began to fill with tears. He glanced nervously at the woman who was pulling her laundry out of a nearby washer and complained to his father. “Mom’s telling everyone that I am a thief.”
The stranger’s heart was breaking for Tobin. She kept listening to the verbal tirade hoping it would stop. Eventually, the mother pointed to Tobin and called out to the stranger, “Have you met my son, the thief?” The stranger set aside her wet towels and walked over to the abusive mother. Calmly, she confronted her face to face, saying, “No, I don’t see a thief at all. I see an innocent child who has borrowed a dime.” The mother’s voice was finally silent, while the father nodded in agreement. As Tobin smiled up into the kind face of the stranger, he sighed with relief.
We shudder to think of such an unloving parent, yet many people still think that is how God treats sinners. The Bible calls Satan “the accuser of the brethren” for a reason; whenever we sin, the devil (like an abusive mother) taunts us and points out our sins. If the devil has a habit of doing something, we can usually be assured that God’s way is the exact opposite. The life of Jesus proves this true by showing us how that God actually treats sinners. Peter and Judas, both were about to betray Jesus and He knew it. As Jesus gently washed the dirt off of their feet, He lovingly warned them of what they were about to do, but He did not condemn them. Regardless of His warning, both of them betrayed Him anyway. It was not their sin that determined their future, but rather the quality of their relationship with Jesus. Judas, not trusting Jesus, bore his own sins and hung himself in shame. Peter, who also felt ashamed, trusted Jesus to carry the burden of his sins and came back to be forgiven.
Even God’s friends betray Him sometimes. The issue is not about what we have done, but rather do we (like Peter) trust Jesus enough to come back to Him? If the devil keeps bringing up your sins, think about how Jesus treated Peter and remember His words to the woman caught in adultery, “Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more.”
For Benedict Arnolds like us, that’s really good news!
©2010 Cherilyn Christen Clough
www.myfatherinheavenisperfect.com
From that first Valentine in kindergarten, our hopes were raised that someone might possibly love us. Throughout the following years of break ups and disappointments and sometimes even marriages that fail, we often become disillusioned that there even is such a thing as love and settle for numbing out with our addictions instead. When no one else seems to care, we turn to them for comfort, not realizing that whatever enslaves or controls us can never truly love us. We say to ourselves that if we can just find one person who really loves us, we will finally know we are okay. We really are okay and we have actually been loved all along, but our problem is that we do not trust God.
The biggest reason for this is a misunderstanding of God’s character. For four thousand years, God tried to convey His love to the human race in many different ways. He took out all the gods of Egypt so that people could realize that He alone was the one who could help them. (Exodus 12:12). Other times, God allowed some people to lose their temporary lives in order to protect others from losing eternal life. By doing things that His enemy could misconstrue and twist as a lack of love, God took the rap for many sad events often scaring the very people He was trying woo. When we chose to view God’s character through Jesus, we can reframe the Old Testament events and lose our fear as we come to understand God. We can realize that the flood is not an example of God punishing, but rather God patiently allowing people to live out their evil ways until only one man was left speaking with Him. Even God’s chosen people, the ones who were to represent Him to the world, misconstrued His character so badly, that they often portrayed God to be more like His enemy, than the loving God that He truly is. As all the distortions and misunderstandings about Him culminated, God finally became human so that we could get a close up of what He’s really like.
In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul gave us a description of love, since God Himself is the source of all love (1 John 4:16), this is a description of God Himself:
God is patient, God is kind, God envies no one, God does not boast, God is not proud. God is not rude, God is not self-seeking, God is not easily angered, God keeps no record of wrongs. God does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. God always protects, God always trusts, God always hopes, God always perseveres. God never fails.
Any contradictory picture of God is made up of lies from the devil who wants to separate us from God’s love by spreading lies about Him. But Jesus, who is the exact representation of the Father (Heb. 1:3) came to destroy the devil’s work (1 John 3:8). Even while we were blatantly sinning, God still loved us and sent Jesus to let us know that God is indeed love. (2 Corinthians 5:19). Jesus is God incarnate and God is the epitome of love!
So if you are feeling lonely or low on love this holiday, remember there is someone that we can always trust Who really love us with an unconditional love. Even when it seems like no one else cares, we have a friend that sticks closer than a brother or even a lover. Calling out to us, God says:
"I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.” Jeremiah 31:3
For broken-hearted lovers like us, that is really good news!
Cherilyn Christen Clough
www.myfatherinheavenisperfect.com
Being a natural loner at heart, a weekend of intense authentic fellowship left me yearning for some alone time with God. Since we were in a deep valley in the mountains, the most logical place to go for that was up. Waking before dawn, I climbed back up the winding road that descended to our camp. When I reached the top, I still didn’t have the view I wanted, so I started to climb up the remaining couple hundred feet to the top of the nearest hill. This is where things got interesting.
The steep hillside was covered in loose shale, and for every step I took forward it seemed I slid two or three back. I strained to reach branches and roots to hold onto any bit of progress I made. And then my eyes spotted something that made all the difference. It would be an exaggeration to call it a path. It was more like a succession of tiny foot and hand holds snaking across the slope. It must have been created by deer or goats, but that morning it seemed to be just for me. With solid rock beneath my feet, I soon found myself standing on top of the peak just in time to watch the sunrise and have that worship time my heart desired.
I pulled my Bible out of my pocket and read our verse of focus for that weekend. Psalm 23 looked a little different in the small Bible I had borrowed for the plane trip. Yet something in the wording this time caught my heart in a way I had never perceived it before. “He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name.” (verse 3, NLT) I was still catching my breath from my steep struggle up the loose rockslide and the welcome discovery of a “right path” had saved me from wasted efforts and possible injury.
Waves of gratitude washed over me as I realized that God had been guiding me to right paths my whole life. All the pain and grief I had experienced in the past had been the results of my wandering away from the path He had created for me. As far off course and into the rough as I had found myself at times, He had faithfully and lovingly pursued me and guided me back to safety. I suddenly realized that any progress I had made in my life had not been my own doing. It was all God’s effort, love and guidance that had brought me this far. The only thing I have left to live for is bringing honor to His name! Our God of love will go to any length to find us and guide us back to the solid ground of His path.
For wandering children like us, that’s very good news!
Raleigh Clough