Up until this point in Exodus (ch.1-6), God has been preparing his people for their deliverance by revealing, calling, and giving Moses and the Israelites the assurance of his Word to save them, to do what he said he will do — even if it feels delayed — as we heard last week.
Now, chapter 7 marks a transition in the story to the 10 plagues. The plagues will be the means by which God will now reveal himself, to not only Pharaoh but all Egypt, but also the Israelites, too. The plagues will be how God displays his power, manifests his glory, and executes his just judgement to bring his people to a place of being free to worship Him, as each plague will strike at the heart of Egypt’s false gods.
The plagues are a heavy read. We can respond to them in one of two ways — with a soft heart or a hard heart, to seeing them as acts of love and mercy to pry people away from false gods, or, like Pharaoh, respond to God with a hard heart, viewing God’s judgement in an opposite way, as un-loving or un-just. About God’s revelation, Charles Spurgeon wrote, “ The same sun hardens clay and melts wax.” How is your heart toward God? Like ‘clay’ or like ‘wax’ in response to God and His Word?