Reading

• Ex. 9:1-11:10

Devotional

Thus far, GOD had sent six plagues upon the Egyptians and each time Pharaoh had asked Moses to stop the plague and he would allow the children of Israel to leave. Six times Pharaoh then hardened his heart and changed his mind.

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Rise early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh, and say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD God of the Hebrews: “Let My people go, that they may serve Me, for at this time I will send all My plagues to your very heart, and on your servants and on your people, that you may know that there is none like Me in all the earth. Now if I had stretched out My hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, then you would have been cut off from the earth. But indeed for this purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.
(Ex. 9:13-16 NKJV)

GOD had a specific purpose for Pharaoh’s life. Unfortunately for Pharaoh, his legacy would be as one who resisted GOD with a hard heart. Pharaoh isn’t the only individual that the Bible tells us had a specific purpose. Consider Esther, as she faced the decision of accepting the role that GOD had apparently given to her:

And Mordecai told them to answer Esther: “Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews. For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
(Est. 4:13-14 NKJV)

Jesus also had a specific purpose. Consider His words in the Garden of Gethsemane just before his crucifixion:

“Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour.”
(John 17:27 NKJV)

GOD knows each of us perfectly. He has known us even before we were born (Jer. 1:4-6). GOD has a plan for each of us. He wants to bless us and give us abundant life (John 10). Our job is to make ourselves a willing servant, looking for, and taking advantage of, the opportunities to serve as we see them. Don’t miss your purpose. Only GOD gives a person true purpose!