Devotional for December 12th
Israel, listen to me. Here are the rules and laws I’m announcing to you The Lord will go through the land to strike the Egyptians down. He’ll see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe. He will pass over that house. He won’t let the destroying angel enter your homes to kill you.
Exodus 12:3
PAUSE: The Israelites grew to be great in number in Egypt. But a new Pharaoh came into power and made all the Israelites slaves. God wanted to rescue the Israelites. Just as God promised Abraham that He would make his family into a great people, He was now going to prove faithful once again. He would set His people free and He would use a man named Moses to do it. God showed Himself to Moses in a burning bush to get his attention. God spoke to Moses out of the bush and told him he must go and rescue his people from the Egyptians. Moses was afraid but God promised to help him. Moses and his brother Aaron went to Egypt and spoke to Pharaoh. Moses told Pharaoh it was the Lord’s command that he let the Israelites go. Pharaoh didn’t believe Moses and got very angry. He treated the Israelites even worse than before.
So God gave Pharaoh ten “plagues” as warnings.
- He turned the Nile River into blood.
- He caused a large number of frogs to run over the land doing great harm.
- He sent gnats and other flies to pester the people.
- He caused important animals to grow sick and die.
- He sent boils.
- He sent millions of locusts.
- He sent huge hail storms.
- He sent a plague where the land was dark for many days.
Pharaoh still refused to free the Israelites. So God sent the absolute worst plague. He said that during the night, the first-born son of every Egyptian family would die. But God had a plan to save His people. God told the Israelites to kill their best lamb and to paint the front door of their house with its blood. When the angel of death came in the night and saw the blood, he would know that a lamb had died there and would pass over the home and spare the first born. That night it was just as God said. Pharaoh’s oldest son died. Finally, he did what God commanded and let the people go! They were free! Moses led his people out of Egypt. The people of Israel remember this great rescue as the “Passover.” Years later, God would send Jesus as the human lamb sacrifice to rescue His people again from the bondage of sin.
PRAY: Thank you God for always being there to protect me. I praise you Lord for Your power and strength. Thank you for sending your son to rescue me from my sins.
FAMILY ACTIVITY: Draw a large door on a piece of paper. Using red paint or marker, let your children paint around the doorframe as a symbol that Jesus has passed over their sins!
