Exodus 8:22
There isn't a specific distinction made between the Israelites and the Egyptians until the fourth plague. Did the first 3 also affect the Israelites?
Exodus 8:26-27
The reason that the Israelites needed to go out into the wilderness a three days journey was because their sacrifices were offensive to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians would have stoned them.
Exodus 8:19 vs. Exodus 8:32
Pharaoh's heart was hardened as opposed to Pharaoh hardening his own heart. Is there really a difference?
Exodus 9:20-21
Some of the officials have figured out what is going on by now, and they have come to fear and respect the Lord, but some of them still haven't.
Exodus 10:21-23
I would imagine that the difference between the darkness that the Egyptians experienced and the light that surrounded the Israelites was the same difference that C. S. Lewis describes in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. A darkness so all-consuming and oppressive that you can't even move or imagine a way out of it, something that no light could possibly penetrate.
Exodus 12:46
The bones of the Passover lambs in Egypt were not to be broken, just as Jesus' bones were kit broken when he was crucified.
Matthew 17:11-13
When Peter, James and John realize that the Elijah that Jesus was talking about was John the Baptist, was it because what John said when describing Jesus were quotes of Elijah?
Matthew 17:17
Jesus seems really hose and annoyed by the man asking Jesus to heal his son. But who is the 'generation' that Jesus calls perverse and faithless? Is it the disciples that Jesus is speaking to?
Matthew 18:1-5
I think that this isn't so much a passage of Jesus rebuking the disciples, or even one that emphasizes that children are part of God's family, but Jesus trying to get the disciples to wrap their minds around the idea that the Son of Man and the Kingdom of Heaven are NOT about power, but about simple and childlike faith.
Today's ponderments:
I think that I swing back and forth on the pendulum of faith between childlike trust and belief to rationally wanting signs and confirmations of what I believe in. I find that my heart's location on that arc usually coincides with what is happening in my life, although not often in the way that I would have initially imagined.
For example, I seem to have more faith in God and God's presence and affect on my life when things are going poorly, when I have little to no control over what is happening in my life, and when I have no other choice but to rely on God's provision.
The times when I seem to have trouble with the trust and 'faith like a mustard seed' is when things are going okay, and I start to think that I actually CAN take care of myself, provide for myself.
As much as Jesus called his generation, (whether it was the disciples, the Jewish people, the Pharisees, or just everyone around that time), a faithless and perverse generation, I think that our generation has even less faith in God and is even more perverse in our level of arrogance regarding our control over our own lives.
We like to think that with all of our knowledge, technology, medical advancements, and information that we can solve any problem or deal with any situation that comes our way. But looking around our world, our countries, our homes, even our own individual minds, we see that this is not true.
With everything that humanity 'knows', we still have yet to figure out how I 'solve' hunger, guilt, rage, jealousy, loneliness, grief, disease, emptiness, abuse, depravity, lust, doubt, hatred, or greed. The only solution to these, the only way to truly bring about happiness, joy, comfort, love, understanding, compassion, healing, confidence, and generosity is through the love that we first have from God and Jesus Christ.
If we want to learn how to live with each, love each other and learn from each other, we have to be willing to give up the control that we think we have in life to God, putting our trust and faith in Jesus Christ, learning from and following his example in every aspect of our lives. We have to have what is, simply put, a childlike faith.
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