#149 Boiling Exodus 9

8 Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Take for yourselves handfuls of soot from a kiln, and let Moses throw it toward the sky in the sight of Pharaoh. 9 It will become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and will become boils breaking out with sores on man and beast through all the land of Egypt.”10 So they took soot from a kiln, and stood before Pharaoh; and Moses threw it toward the sky, and it became boils breaking out with sores on man and beast. 11 The [d]magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils were on the magicians [e]as well as on all the Egyptians.12 And the Lord [f]hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had spoken to Moses.

13 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Rise up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “Let My people go, that they may serve Me. 14 For this time I will send all My plagues [g]on you and your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is no one like Me in all the earth. 15 For if by now I had put forth My hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, you would then have been cut off from the earth. 16 But, indeed, for this reason I have allowed you to [h]remain, in order to show you My power and in order to proclaim My name through all the earth. 17 Still you exalt yourself against My people [i]by not letting them go. Exodus 9:8-17 NASB

The people of God have for a long time made bricks for the Egyptians, and Pharaoh has connected the punishment of Israel to this very thing. Now, in the sight of Pharaoh, Moses and Aaron will take the soot of the kilns and throw it up before the king. What follows are boils, that break out on every man and beast, so that nothing can claim to be clean. We read in Holy Scripture that we are not clean, but I protest the man that says he does not imagine or has never imagined himself without spot. The boils are a small thing though, and if we become angry with God for the physical manifestations of sin, with disease, or the loss brought on by death, then there is a worse plague. There are things much worse than  death. Still you exalt yourself, this is a frightening thing; this is where a man is no longer hardened solely of his own whims. You see, how long can you deny the Creator, when all a man knows is design? How long can you praise the thoughts of your own mind and desires, when you did not make your own mind? It is scary now for Pharaoh, he will be completely turned over to his own lusts, his ideals of power and who he thinks he is. It is the same for Christians or those who claim to be in this day. God is asking us to love and to speak the truth in that manner. If you think you're way is better or that the Bible is not modern enough for your enlightened and powerful mind, then you are Pharaoh. I have the chance today to mend something, and hopefully drop the arrogance I used to make the tear, but at the same time I cannot change the message. 

But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! 6 For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, 7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 8 Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; 9 but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was. 2 Timothy 3:1-9 NKJV