Daily Reflections From God's Word

Tag: Old Testament Lessons

  • Divine Disruptions – Day 4

    Divine Disruptions – Day 4

    Pharaoh: When Pride Outlives the Plagues

    📖 “But Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also…” — Exodus 8:32 (NKJV)

    Pharaoh didn’t miss what God was saying.
    He just didn’t like what it required.

    And that’s what makes his story so dangerous—it shows us that spiritual blindness isn’t always about ignorance. Sometimes it’s about arrogance.

    God didn’t start small with Pharaoh. He sent Moses with a simple but loaded message:

    “Let My people go.”
    Pharaoh’s response? “Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice?” (Exodus 5:2)

    And right there, the line was drawn.
    Pharaoh didn’t just reject the message—he rejected the authority behind it.

    🔥 Then the disruption began.

    God sent plagues.
    Not just natural disasters, but direct attacks on the Egyptian gods—each plague a divine dismantling of Egypt’s pride, power, and control.

    • The Nile turned to blood—a death blow to Egypt’s economy and spirituality.
    • Frogs swarmed their homes.
    • Dust became lice.
    • Disease struck their livestock.
    • Boils covered their bodies.
    • Hail pounded their crops.
    • Locusts devoured what was left.
    • Darkness covered the land.
    • And finally, death entered every Egyptian home.

    Nine chances to bow.
    Nine divine warnings to surrender.
    And yet… Pharaoh hardened his heart. Again. And again. And again.

    “And the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart…” (Exodus 9:12)

    That verse shakes me. Because it’s not just that Pharaoh resisted—God eventually confirmed it.

    God gave Pharaoh opportunity after opportunity to repent.
    But Pharaoh was more committed to being right than being righteous.
    He didn’t want to lose control.
    He didn’t want to look weak.
    He didn’t want to give up the throne.

    So God gave him over to the very pride he refused to let go.

    ⚠️ Here’s the warning that hits us today:

    You can be surrounded by miracles… and still choose rebellion.
    You can feel conviction… and still ignore it.
    You can see God working… and still harden your heart.

    Divine disruptions are supposed to wake us up.
    But if we resist long enough, they stop being invitations—and become judgments.

    Pharaoh’s stubbornness didn’t just cost him personally.
    It broke a nation.
    His army drowned. His people suffered. His name became synonymous with rebellion.

    And here’s the moment that seals it:

    Pharaoh’s story doesn’t end in repentance.
    It ends in a watery grave—at the bottom of the very sea those he pursued had just walked through.
    Because sometimes, what we chase in rebellion… becomes the very thing that destroys us.

    He watched the people of God walk through freedom—and followed them into judgment.

    🙏 Reflection:

    • Have I confused God’s patience with His approval?
    • What repeated disruptions have I been writing off as coincidence?
    • Is my pride blinding me to the cost of disobedience?

    When God doesn’t have your attention, He’ll disturb what does.
    Just ask Pharaoh.

  • Divine Disruptions – Day 2

    Divine Disruptions – Day 2

    Dagon Falls: When God Topples What You Worship

    📖 “And when they arose early the next morning, there was Dagon, fallen on its face to the earth before the ark of the Lord.” — 1 Samuel 5:4 (NKJV)

    When the Philistines captured the ark of God, they thought they had won.

    They carried the symbol of Israel’s God into their territory, placed it inside the temple of their god, Dagon, and essentially said:
    “We’ll just add Him to our collection.”

    They didn’t deny God’s power—they just tried to place it alongside their own preferences. Their own comfort. Their own familiar system of worship.

    But the next morning?

    Dagon was face-down on the ground.

    So what did they do?

    They stood him back up.

    The next morning?

    Dagon was face-down again—head and hands broken off.

    This is what happens when we try to mix holy and profane.
    This is what happens when we treat God like He’s one of many options.
    This is what happens when we think we can contain the presence of the Lord on our own terms.

    God does not share space with idols.

    He never has. He never will.

    💥 And today?

    Dagon still falls.

    When you invite God into your life for real—for more than comfort, more than Sunday service, more than lip-service—He will challenge what you’ve propped up in His place.

    He’ll disturb your routine.
    He’ll expose your idols.
    He’ll topple what you’ve been relying on instead of Him.

    Maybe it’s a toxic relationship.
    Maybe it’s a career that became your identity.
    Maybe it’s money. Or pride. Or control. Or convenience.

    And when it falls—don’t rush to prop it back up.

    Let it fall.
    Let the idol die.
    Let God show you that He alone is worthy of the throne.

    🙏 Questions to Consider:

    • What “Dagon” have I allowed to stand beside God in my life?
    • Am I angry that it fell—or relieved that God didn’t let me keep it?
    • What would happen if I finally let the idol stay broken?

    When God steps into a place, the false gods don’t get to keep standing.

    He’s not cruel. He’s holy.
    And holiness will always confront compromise.

    📌 Closing Line:

    “When God doesn’t have your attention, He’ll disturb what does.”
    Just ask Dagon.

  • Divine Disruptions – Day 1

    Jonah: When God Sends a Storm

    📖 “But the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea…” — Jonah 1:4 (NKJV)

    Jonah didn’t misunderstand God. He wasn’t unsure about his calling.
    He just didn’t like it.

    God said, “Arise, go to Nineveh…”
    Jonah said, “No thanks,” and ran the other way.

    This wasn’t fear—it was flat-out rebellion. Jonah didn’t want Nineveh spared. He didn’t want them forgiven. He hated them. He knew God would be merciful, and he didn’t want mercy for people he couldn’t stand.

    So he fled. Booked a ship. Headed to Tarshish like he could outrun the voice of God.

    But when Jonah ran, God didn’t chase him with silence.
    He chased him with a storm.

    “But the Lord sent out a great wind…”

    That one line says everything.

    The storm wasn’t from Satan. It wasn’t from sin.
    It was from God.

    A holy disruption. A divine intervention.
    A perfectly timed, unavoidable wake-up call.

    Jonah’s rebellion didn’t just affect him. His disobedience threatened the lives of everyone on that boat. That’s the thing about sin—it’s never private. It always has fallout. Always spills over onto the innocent. Always causes someone else to wonder, “Why is this happening?”

    But even as the boat rocked and the crew panicked, Jonah knew.
    He said, “I serve the God who made the sea.”
    He knew who was behind the wind.

    And here’s the grace in it all:
    God had already prepared a fish.

    The fish wasn’t judgment. It was protection.
    It was messy. It was uncomfortable. It stank. But it kept him alive and brought him back.

    That’s what God’s disruptions often feel like:
    Unpleasant. Inconvenient. Humbling.
    But merciful.

    He’ll interrupt your plans to protect your calling.
    He’ll break your boat before He lets you self-destruct.

    🙏 So here’s the question for today:

    • Are you running from something you’ve been clearly called to do?
    • Have others started to feel the weight of your decisions?
    • Could it be that the storm isn’t meant to crush you—but to bring you home?

    Jonah’s story reminds us that God doesn’t give up just because we do.
    He’ll shake the sea. He’ll send the storm. He’ll even prepare the fish.
    Because the call doesn’t get canceled just because you ran from it.

    He still wants you.
    Storm, scars, and all.

    📌 Closing Line:

    “When God doesn’t have your attention, He’ll disturb what does.”
    Just ask Jonah.