Exodus 8

“Then he said, ‘Tomorrow.’ So he said, ‘May it be according to your word, so that you may know that there is no one like the Lord [Yahweh] our God.” (Exodus 8:10). 

The plagues are intense, and it’s easy to walk away thinking, “well shoot God, ain’t no messing with you.” Yet, this is not the point - God isn’t revealing just his power here in these plagues. He is revealing his character. He is revealing that there is no other God like our God! We should take comfort, along with fear and reverence, in our Mighty God. 

Yet, Pharoah was not getting who Yahweh actually was, as we see at the end of Exodus 8, “The Lord did as Moses asked and removed the swarms of flies from Pharoah, from his servants, and from his people; not one remained. But Pharoah also hardened his heart this time, and he did not let the people go” (Exodus 8:31-32). Pharoah historically held not only the position of King but god to his people. It was god versus God, and we know who is swept up in the waves of the Red Sea (sorry, spoiler alert!); it was surely not Yahweh and the Israelites. 

Here is what I want us to notice through the rest of the plagues and through, Exodus, and the whole Bible - God is all about his glory. Why? Because his glory is our greatest satisfaction, and he knows that. God promises that he will be exalted amongst every tribe, tongue, and nation, and no hard-hearted king, Pharaoh, president, or human can stop him from displaying his glory - his holy character to every nook and cranny of this earth. When we read the events of the Bible, such as the plague, let us remove the lens of our finite brains and limited knowledge of the world and God and pray to understand his glory and the lengths of his mystery, knowing that the plagues are good because God is good and he is doing something marvelous even through frog and gnat infestations.