Power Struggle

Based on Exodus 7-9

"And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt. And the magicians did so with their enchantments, and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt." Exodus 8:6‭-‬7

It's not really clear what evil & wicked ways were used by the magicians to try to compete with God, but somehow, they made it look as though they could bring forth the same plagues as Moses, but obviously, not by the same power! The forces of darkness can NEVER defeat the forces of Light, and it's clearly evident as we go on in these chapters...the magicians may have been able to mimic some of the plagues, but their "power" only went so far-God was able to do so much more through Moses than Pharaoh's magicians were ever able to do! The power struggle between us & God is only on one end...God is never in competition with people! He is never in a struggle! Knowing this, it's always best to submit & surrender to God so we are no longer in a losing game of tug-of-war, trying to steal power & glory from God instead of letting Him work through us!

"And they did so; for Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and smote the dust of the earth, and it became lice in man, and in beast; all the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt. And the magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not: so there were lice upon man, and upon beast. Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God: and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said." Exodus 8:17‭-‬19

The magicians realized that where their manpower ended, God's power kept going! They admitted they could not compete! Lice is so small, yet so invasive. It gets everywhere. Only GOD is able to reach everywhere! He reaches into areas that we cannot reach! Yet the heart of Pharaoh could not be reached...but is that because of a power struggle? Was God losing the battle? No way! God was hardening Pharaoh's heart! He is in control, even when it looks like the world's against us!

"We will go three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the LORD our God, as he shall command us." Exodus 8:27

Pharaoh urged Moses to stay in the land & sacrifice instead of leaving to the wilderness, but Moses knew there had to be some sort of separation from Egypt & evil in order to do it right. We need to do the same in breaking away from influences which urge us to compete with God or break away from Him. We need to distance ourselves from temptations which cause us to give up our time with The Lord in prayer & devotion. We need to give it up to God and His victorious power!

"And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils; for the boil was upon the magicians, and upon all the Egyptians." Exodus 9:11

No one can stand against The Lord!

"And Moses said unto him, As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto the LORD; and the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail; that thou mayest know how that the earth is the LORD 's." Exodus 9:29

We should only hail God alone! He is all-powerful...it's not bad to admit we can't-just like those magicians! If they could have the humility to admit it, then so can we! We can't do it without God! Let's stop the struggle and start to take strides walking with The Lord!