...do not be stubborn before the Lord...

The First Plague: Water Turned to Blood

“14 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Pharaoh’s heart is hardened; he refuses to let the people go. 15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning, as he is going out to the water; stand by at the river bank to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that was turned into a snake. 16 Say to him, “The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you to say, ‘Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the wilderness.’ But until now you have not listened. 17 Thus says the Lord, ‘By this you shall know that I am the Lord.’ See, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the Nile, and it shall be turned to blood. 18 The fish in the river shall die, the river itself shall stink, and the Egyptians shall be unable to drink water from the Nile.”’  19 The Lord said to Moses, ‘Say to Aaron, “Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt—over its rivers, its canals, and its ponds, and all its pools of water—so that they may become blood; and there shall be blood throughout the whole land of Egypt, even in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.”’

20 Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord commanded. In the sight of Pharaoh and of his officials he lifted up the staff and struck the water in the river, and all the water in the river was turned into blood, 21 and the fish in the river died. The river stank so that the Egyptians could not drink its water, and there was blood throughout the whole land of Egypt. 22 But the magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts; so Pharaoh’s heart remained hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said. 23 Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he did not take even this to heart. 24 And all the Egyptians had to dig along the Nile for water to drink, for they could not drink the water of the river.

25 Seven days passed after the Lord had struck the Nile” Exodus 7:14-25.

Dear friends, in considering the story of this first plague, it is important to remember that the Egyptians understood the Nile to be a god. The ultimate victory of the only true God, Yahweh, over the many false gods of the Egyptians began with the humiliation of the Nile. The nation's great waterway and source of life was turned poisonous and made into a source of death (7:18), demonstrating the sovereign power of the God of Israel and the subordinate impotence of the Nile. I can’t believe that Moses was surprised by the resistance he encountered from Pharaoh or by the further resistance that he was about to encounter. My guess is that the Lord knew well in advance that Pharaoh would resist. In other words, the Lord informed Moses here that nothing had changed — or would change — in his control of Pharaoh's inclinations. That this first confrontation should take place along the banks of the Nile is highly appropriate in light of this plague's nature: a demonstration of God's sovereignty over the river that was Egypt's greatest landmark and special source of life.

But it is verses 22-23 that speak to me so loudly. “22 … Pharaoh’s heart remained hardened, and he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said. 23 Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he did not take even this to heart.” Dear friends, how many times have you and I “remain hardened” with our own stubborn, repeated sins? Are we not all just as sinfully stubborn as Pharaoh was to Moses and Aaron? Today, I feel the call to ask the Lord to help us step away from our stubbornness and instead follow Christ! We should bring this tendency to our prayer today. Come to the Lord in confidence and in genuine sorrow for behaving as Pharaoh behaved!

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.