For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth. God draws attention to what has not happened. Despite six plagues, despite the death of livestock and the suffering of boils, Egypt still stands, Pharaoh still lives, the people still exist. The restraint has been deliberate and purposeful. The God who could have destroyed Egypt at the first refusal has instead given Egypt nine opportunities to acknowledge Him. 2 Peter 3:9 says God is patient, not wanting anyone to perish. The patience of God expressed in the structure of the ten plagues is not weakness or indecision; it is the fullness of divine mercy extended to a man who keeps refusing it. What Pharaoh has experienced is not God's maximum — it is God's minimum, the least God needed to do to make the evidence overwhelming.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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