"To Show You My Power"

I was reading Exodus this morning in my devotions and this passage stuck out to me. Notice why God has “raised you [them] up,” in order to “show you [them] His power, so that my [God’s] name may be proclaimed in all the earth.”

Exodus 9:13-16
“Then the LORD said to Moses, “Rise up early in the morning and present yourself before Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. For this time I will send all my plagues on you yourself, and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth. For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. [ESV]”

This reminds me of John 9 when the disciples asked Jesus whose sin caused the man in question to be born blind, and Jesus responded, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him [John 9:3 ESV].”

When was the last time you recognized a trouble in your life to be a display of God’s might. Remember Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:7?

“So to keep me from being too elated by the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from being too elated. [ESV]”

Further in 2 Corinthians 12:9 he said, “But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' [ESV]”

Therefore, let us say along with Paul, “I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. [2 Corinthians 12:9-10 ESV]”

Heavenly Father, show us your power today!