March 28, 2021 CAC Living Water Devotional : Topic – NEGOTIATING WITH PHARAOH DEAL OR NO DEAL?
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Sunday, March 28, 2021 – Palm Sunday & Jewish Passover
NEGOTIATING WITH PHARAOH DEAL OR NO DEAL?
Read: Exodus 17:1-7
Exodus 17:1-7 All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.
Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?”
But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”
So Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.”
And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go.
Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel.
And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
MEMORISE:
Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God within the land.” But Moses said, “It would not be right to do so, for the offerings we shall sacrifice to the Lord our God are an abomination to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice offerings abominable to the Egyptians before their eyes, will they not stone us? (Exodus 8:25,26)
EXPOSITION
The exodus began with the institution of the Passover. As the Exodus journey of the Israelites began with some offers from Pharaoh to their leaders, it was necessary for them to weigh the options, whether the offers should be seen as a good deal, bad deal, or NO DEAL. The offers that Pharaoh presented to Moses and the other leaders in Israel for negotiation include the followings:
1. Go, sacrifice to your God here in the land (Exodus 8:25).
2. I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness; only you shall not go very far away (Exod.8:28).
3. Go, serve the LORD your God. Who are the ones that are going? (Exod.10:8).
4. The LORD had better be with you when I let you and your little ones go! Beware, for evil is ahead for you. Go now you who are men, and serve the LORD (Exod.10:10,11).
5. Go, serve the LORD; only let your flocks and your hears be kept back. Let your little ones also go with you (Exod. 10:24).
6. Rise, go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel. And go, serve the LORD as you have said. 32 Also take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and bless me also (Exod. 12:31,32).
In the end, it was a ‘No-Deal’ exit for the Israelites from Egypt. There is a saying that “If you want to dine with with Satan, have a long spoon!” But, it is wiser for a child of God never to contemplate dining with the devil. How long can a man’s spoon be to be able to dine with the devil without the latter pulling man to himself and giving him the hardest knock of his life? What in your life is the devil negating with you about? Your identity in Christ? Your freedom in Christ? Your destiny with Christ? Heaven? Is he asking you to compromise your faith to get his ‘blessing’ (Matt.4:1-11)? Never negotiate with the devil!
PRAYER POINTS
1. Thank God for giving you victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Declare that come what may, you will never give your birthright to the devil.
2. Pray for the grace to say NO to every suggestion of the devil as you journey through the wilderness of life.
3. Pray for brethren who are at the verge of compromising their faith due to life challenges.
EXTRA READINGS FOR TODAY: Deuteronomy 23:4-26:1; Luke 3:12-3:33