Daily Devotional – The Plague of Blood

Our scripture for the Daily Devotional today is taken from Exodus 7:14-19. After many years and many pleas from the people of Israel, God had sent the redeemer. The son of Pharoh was going to remove the slaves and the workforce for the strongest nation of that time globally.

“Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go. ¹⁵ Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the river. Confront him on the bank of the Nile, and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake. ¹⁶ Then say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the wilderness. But until now you have not listened. 

¹⁷ This is what the Lord says: By this you will know that I am the Lord: With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood. ¹⁸ The fish in the Nile will die, and the river will stink; the Egyptians will not be able to drink its water.’” ¹⁹ The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt—over the streams and canals, over the ponds and all the reservoirs—and they will turn to blood.’ Blood will be everywhere in Egypt, even in vessels^[a] of wood and stone.”

It was time for Israel to move on

Egypt had initially acted as the hedge of protection of the Jewish people. During the famine time that God shared with Joseph, the people of Israel fled to Egypt under the protection of Pharoh and Joseph. It didn’t take long for the foreigners to be abused and thwarted into slavery.

Enough was enough, God’s appointed time had come. God could have so easily jumped to the final step and had Pharoh drive the Israelites out of Egypt. He had other ideas. God wanted to show not only the people of Israel that He was the Almighty God but the world. The Egyptians were about to be left without their trusty slaves. God would also cripple the Egyptians for the rest of the known history.

Starting with the Great Nile, God delivered a blow to the strength of Egypt. Not only is water an essential ingredient to our life, but it was important to the infrastructure and economy of Egypt. Turning the water to blood, God demonstrated the sacrifice that Israel had paid for Egypt while He shot the country down!

Let’s Pray

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you, God, for proving to us beyond a shadow of a doubt that You alone are the Almighty and sovereign God. No matter what we see around us, You are still the one in control. You deserve our faith and trust. Today I resign my efforts to place my hope in Your hands.

In Jesus Name,

Amen