God makes a distinction. He does not treat all people the same. He loves all people, but he does not treat all people the same.
Does that seem unfair?
I have five children. They are each unique. While they may look alike (you can definitely tell they’re all related!) they act differently, enjoy different things . . . they even misbehave differently. I love them all, but they are distinctly different, and I respond to them differently.
God knows all His children, and He loves each and every one of us. In fact, he loves us so much that He gave Jesus to die for us, and as Jesus Himself says, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friend.” That is exactly what Jesus did – not just for people who like him, but for the whole of humanity, to save all people from our sins.
That must be kept in mind as we read Exodus 11. As God displays his power and glory on behalf of Israel against Egypt, this God also loves the Egyptians.
But He’s killing them! How can that be love?
To our mind there is nothing worse than death. But to God there is something worse than death, and that is eternal separation from Him.
Moses warned Pharaoh. He plead with him. He left Pharaoh’s presence in “hot anger” because Pharaoh would not listen. In Pharaoh’s mind, he was god, so who was the Lord that he should obey Him? Sin is destructive. It’s fruit is death: for the sinner, and sometimes for those around the sinner, too.
So as painful and confusing as this is to us, God is about to strike Egypt with the most terrible of plagues; the death of the first born. He has chosen to redeem Israel as His precious possession. Egypt will not deter him.
When bad things happen we have a tendency to try to explain them away and to defend God. Theologically, we call this, “theodicy.” We reason that God did this for such-and-such a reason. Or we pronounce, “God would never do such a thing.” Sometimes we need to put our hands over our mouths, like Job, and just let God be God.
I don’t understand everything God does/allows/whatever. But He is God. He loves me. In fact, He is love. He is good and always does what is right. He has shown how deeply he loves us, and to what lengths He would go to save us in the cross. Sometimes all we can do is trust him.
It’s okay to not understand it all. The Lord is good and His steadfast love endures forever, so we will wait for the Lord and put our hope in Him, for there are things worse than death.
Father, help me to trust you. I don’t understand the things that take place in this world. Help me to walk by faith and not by sight. And let me point people to Jesus as I sojourn here. In His name. Amen.
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