THE CHRISTIAN WALK: TARGETED

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and confront Pharaoh as he goes to the river and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they may worship Me. If you do not let My people go, I will send swarms of flies on you and your officials, on your people and into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies; even the ground will be covered with them.”

“‘But on that day I will deal differently with the land of Goshen, where My people live; no swarms of flies will be there, so that you will know that I, the Lord, am in this land. I will make a distinction between My people and your people. This sign will occur tomorrow.’”

And the Lord did this.

Dense swarms of flies poured into Pharaoh’s palace and into the houses of his officials; throughout Egypt the land was ruined by the flies.

Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God here in the land.”

But Moses said, “That would not be right. The sacrifices we offer the Lord our God would be detestable to the Egyptians. And if we offer sacrifices that are detestable in their eyes, will they not stone us? We must take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God, as He commands us.”

Pharaoh said, “I will let you go to offer sacrifices to the Lord your God in the wilderness, but you must not go very far. Now pray for me.”

Moses answered, “As soon as I leave you, I will pray to the Lord, and tomorrow the flies will leave Pharaoh and his officials and his people. Only let Pharaoh be sure that he does not act deceitfully again by not letting the people go to offer sacrifices to the Lord.”

Then Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord, and the Lord did what Moses asked. The flies left Pharaoh and his officials and his people; not a fly remained. But this time also Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not let the people go.

Exodus 8:20-32

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

A week of experiencing blood-filled waterways followed by a frog invasion and gnat infestation, each lasting a day.

This was what the Egyptians had to endure as God brought targeted judgment on them after their ruler, Pharaoh, refused to honor the Lord’s command to let the Israelites go so to offer sacrifices and worship Him outside of Egypt.

You’ll recall that while the magicians of Egypt were able to replicate turning water to blood and producing frogs, they were unable to make sand turn into gnats, something they attributed to the finger of God. Indeed, there was much more that God could do that couldn’t be produced by the mystical, dark arts of the Egyptian sorcerers and we see this play out as the fourth curse (or plague) is unleashed. Look at these closing verses from Exodus, chapter 8:

And the Lord did this.

Dense swarms of flies poured into Pharaoh’s palace and into the houses of his officials; throughout Egypt the land was ruined by the flies.

Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God here in the land.”

Pharaoh said, “I will let you go to offer sacrifices to the Lord your God in the wilderness, but you must not go very far. Now pray for me.”

In what had become a pattern, we find God using Moses to deliver His message to Pharaoh. In this instance, Moses was to “get up early in the morning” and then go to “confront Pharaoh as he goes to the river”. He was to tell him the following:

"This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they may worship Me. If you do not let My people go, I will send swarms of flies on you and your officials, on your people and into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies; even the ground will be covered with them.”

Note here that this fourth curse would further display God’s work as He promised to “deal differently with the land of Goshen”, the land that had been given to the Israelites back when Joseph was the second in command to the Pharaoh of that time, a Pharaoh who was far more willing to treat the Israelites with honor and dignity.

What would the differential treatment involve?

Well, God would send swarms of flies to overrun the entire nation of Egypt with the exception of the Goshen region. The Israelites there would remain completely fly-free.

And so just as God was targeting the Egyptians with judgment, He also targeted His people with safety and protection. In His own words, this distinction between the Israelites and Egyptians would let Pharaoh know that the Lord was in the land of Egypt and moving in power.

With the stage set, we know that Pharaoh still refused to allow the Israelites to leave Egypt because the Lord did what He said He would do. For we read where “dense swarms of flies poured into Pharaoh’s palace and into the houses of his officials” as well as all of Egypt except Goshen as “the land was ruined by the flies”.

This prompted Pharaoh to once again call for Moses and Aaron where we see him make an offer, saying:

“Go, sacrifice to your God here in the land.”

The absolute stubborn nature of Pharaoh to oppose the will of Israel’s God is on full display. For his request is nothing short of believing he can negotiate with God, like he had some position of power to play from.

Well, we see where his proposal was a solid no-go from Moses, right out of the gate as he says this to the Egyptian leader:

“That would not be right. The sacrifices we offer the Lord our God would be detestable to the Egyptians. And if we offer sacrifices that are detestable in their eyes, will they not stone us? We must take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God, as He commands us.”

Moses spelled out two reasons why the suggested compromise wasn’t a good idea.

First, if the Israelites sacrificed in the presence of the Egyptians, they would be at risk of being attacked and stoned because the sacrifices would be “detestable in their eyes”.

And secondly, as well as more importantly, God had commanded them to leave Egypt to make a “three-day journey into the wilderness” and it was there that the sacrifices were to be offered up to Him.

How did Pharaoh respond to Moses’ rebuttal?

Well, as we have seen previously, he pretends to surrender on the outside although he had no intention of doing so on the inside.

First, he makes another false promise, saying:

“I will let you go to offer sacrifices to the Lord your God in the wilderness, but you must not go very far. Now pray for me.”

As Moses responds, we find him giving Pharaoh an assurance but also a warning.

The assurance was this:

“As soon as I leave you, I will pray to the Lord, and tomorrow the flies will leave Pharaoh and his officials and his people.”

And this was followed by the warning:

“Only let Pharaoh be sure that he does not act deceitfully again by not letting the people go to offer sacrifices to the Lord.”

So Moses carries out his assurance, praying to the Lord and asking for the flies to be removed. We read that “the Lord did what Moses asked” and the “flies left Pharaoh and his officials and his people” with not a single fly remaining, a miracle in its own right.

But as we have seen prior, Pharaoh once again failed to make good on what he said he would do because of his hardened heart that “would not let” the Israelites go.

Friends, in our message today, we find several important takeaways that we can apply to our everyday lives.

First, God can move in whatever way He so chooses, often times surgically.

In this message, we saw Him display the power to afflict a nation with a blanket of flies but deny those flies access to an entire region, in this case, Goshen. It’s believed the area was around 900 square miles and only a wonder-working God would be able to set divine boundaries that wouldn’t permit a single fly into that area. Call it a biblical (and literal) “no-fly” zone.

If the Lord can move in these ways, we shouldn’t ever rule out how He might afflict one place in the world while blessing another within the same immediate proximity. We also shouldn’t underestimate His ability to move within any sinner to precisely pinpoint and target an area of needed spiritual improvement.

The second takeaway is that God will continue to be patient in allowing us to change our ways, despite our prior track record of disobedience.

On three prior occasions, God demanded that Pharaoh allow His people to leave so they could go and worship Him, and on all three occasions, Pharaoh failed to honor the Lord’s demand. And yet, as we see in our passage today, God gives Pharaoh yet one more chance to be a man of his word.

I think we can see the patience of our Lord in these Pharaoh encounters and if we’re honest, we can see that we have exhibited Pharaoh-ish behaviors in the past where He was patient with us as well. Let’s give thanks for that, knowing that God will stay with us and strive to help us overcome our stubborn disobedience.

Finally, we need to be careful not to try and negotiate any compromise with God when He commands us to do something.

God had made it clear that Pharaoh was to let the Israelites leave Egypt so to travel for three days into the wilderness and worship Him with offerings.

But what did Pharaoh try and do? Didn’t he try and alter God’s plan so it would suit him better, telling Moses to have the Israelites offer the sacrifices in Egypt?

You know, I’m afraid we do this too often ourselves. God tells us to do or not do things, and we try to look for places of compromise so that we can satisfy His desires as well as our own.

Unfortunately, that’s not the way it works. Not even close.

When God demands something, the person or persons He is demanding that something from are expected and required to respond in exactly the way the Lord commands, without deviation or concessions.

In the end translation, no one has the right to ignore God, override God, or make demands of God as if He is somehow subordinate to a sinful man or woman.

When God calls us to think in a certain way, we need to think that way.

When God calls us to speak a message a certain way, we say just what He wants.

And when God calls us to do anything, we do it at the time, in the place, and exactly the way He wants.

Nothing else is acceptable outside of absolute obedience to the Lord.

Do otherwise, and rest assure, you can be targeted by Him for punishment and correction.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

THE CHRISTIAN WALK

Thursday, July 17, 2025

TARGETED

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