“Who is the LORD that I should obey him?”
-Pharaoh to Moses, Exodus 5:2
As I sat down to prepare for this weekend's services, I began to think I had bitten off much more than I could chew. We're going to try to cover the five chapters that describe the ten plagues that God brought upon Pharaoh and his people in order to get Moses' people out of slavery. Yes, all five chapters. And yes, all ten plagues. We're going to cover it all in one sermon!
On Tuesday morning, as I was about to write this Worship Folder message, I felt overwhelmed. I couldn't remember why I had sensed that God would have us look at so much in the Bible in such a short amount of time. So, I did what I think I would encourage all of us at LAC to do when a task like this is at hand; i.e., I sat down and began to read through the Scriptures again and took time for prayer. Slowly but surely, the deep conviction returned to me that there is a central message permeating these five chapters that we need to hear if we will learn to know and obey God in our own world. I remembered how, one day in my Bible study and prayer time, I saw that all of the plagues God sent in Exodus 7–11 were God's response to Pharaoh's question "Who is the LORD that I should obey him?"
Pharaoh lived in a world in which people believed in many gods. And, as much as anything, Pharaoh believed that he was a deity. So, why in this world would Moses think that Pharaoh should obey—yes, mark the word "obey"— this God of a group of enslaved immigrants? Pharaoh was really saying, "You and your people need to learn to obey me! Who do you think you are to ask me to believe that your God is God and that the people who rule over you should obey him?"
So, this weekend, we will see what God says and does to answer the question of who he is and why people...all people...should obey him. And, I'll ask whether this has anything to say to the world in which we live. It does seem to me that the same question is being asked constantly in our world. Who is the God of the Bible that we should obey his morality, his ethics, and his commands?
I doubt that we have ever dealt with a more-relevant topic for our culture. May God speak to us as he did in Moses' day. May our hearts be open to his answer.
To His Glory,
Dr. Greg Waybright
Senior Pastor