Exodus 7:25-8:19
Our reading from Exodus today continues the account of the plagues laid upon Egypt by God. “Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the earth, and gnats came on humans and animals alike; all the dust of the earth turned into gnats throughout the whole land of Egypt… There were gnats on both humans and animals” (Exodus 7:17b, 18b). What isn’t mentioned in this account is that while the land of Egypt was beset by the various plagues, the Hebrew people who resided there would have been suffering right along with everyone else. Any plague, like gnats, that God sent to Egypt must have affected the people of God as well. This shouldn’t surprise us.
Remember God’s words to Abram. “I will make of you a great nation…so that you will be a blessing…and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:2, 3b). Sometimes the greatest blessing that God’s people can offer is to stand with others as they suffer, to share in their grief and loss, to endure the frogs and the gnats and the rivers of blood.
The Apostle Paul understood hardship to be a part of his ministry. “Three times I have been shipwrecked -- and adrift on the deep night and day. I have been on the road constantly, facing dangers in the cities, dangers in the wilderness, and dangers at sea. I have endured beatings and hardship, and often lost sleep, I have endured hunger and thirst, I have been cold and exposed to the elements...”
(2 Corinthians 11:25-27). Paul did these things because he had been called as an ambassador for Christ (5:20). To be a blessing to the families of the world, then, meant making himself vulnerable to conditions that he might otherwise have avoided.
Today we are called to be a blessing to the world. In joy or sorrow, in times of light or in periods of darkness, when hope is abundant and when despair seems to overwhelm, we are the ones called to bless those around us.
Prayer: Lord God, may we be a blessing to the world, this day and all days. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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