Welcome to the Daily Blade. The Word of God is described as the sword of the Spirit, the primary spiritual weapon in the Christian's armor against the forces of evil. Your hosts are Joby Martin and Kyle Thompson, and they stand ready to equip men for the fight. Let's sharpen up.

Great to have you guys back for another day and another episode. This week we are looking at Psalm 136 as we focus on God's steadfast love and mercy. So each day we're looking at a different section of the Psalm, and today we're going to look at verses 10 through 16. I'll read them here. To him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt, for his fed steadfast love endures forever, and brought Israel out from among them, for his steadfast love endures forever. With a strong hand and an outstretched arm, for his steadfast love endures forever. To him who divided the Red Sea in two, for his steadfast love endures forever, and made Israel pass through the midst of it, for his steadfast love endures forever. But overthrew Pharaoh and his hosts in the Red Sea, for his steadfast love endures forever. To him who led his people through the wilderness, for his steadfast love endures forever. So as you read through those passages, you guys have to really reckon with, all of us have to reckon with what God did as described in the book of Exodus. And if we're being honest, I mean, you really might struggle with what you read there because it can be kind of rough, right? I mean, so beginning in Exodus 7, we see the first of the ten plagues of Egypt, right? So that's water turned to blood. And then in Exodus 8, we see the second plague of frogs, the third plague of gnats, the fourth plague of flies. Exodus 9, we see the fifth plague of the death of the livestock, the sixth plague of boils, the seventh plague of hail. And then in Exodus 10, we see the eighth plague of locusts and the ninth plague of darkness. And look, these plagues were not random. I mean, they were targeted strikes against Egypt. It went at their little G gods and little L lords. It took out their economy, it destroyed their land, it attacked the claimed deity of Pharaoh, right? I mean, it really shook the very foundations of their entire society. And then we get to the most severe plague, the tenth, the death of the firstborn. So let's go to Exodus twelve, starting in verse twenty-nine. At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne, to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock. And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead. Then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, Go up, go out from among my people, both you and the people of Israel, and go serve the Lord as you have said, take your flocks and your herds as you have said, and be gone and bless me also. I mean, guys, can you imagine? I mean, this is certainly a rough section of scripture to try and wrap your mind around, but when you do, you can actually really start to see the beauty in it. Because you see, God's ultimate purpose was the salvation and deliverance of Israel. And in order to get that deliverance, Egypt had to be judged. I mean, they had to be judged. The nation of Egypt, led by Pharaoh, had refused to acknowledge and serve the one true God, and they had kept the Israelites in bondage, and God continued to show his steadfast love even after the Israelites left Egypt. So, as referred to in Psalm 136, he separated the Red Sea to provide safe passage for the Israelites who were being chased by the Egyptians, and he caused the Red Sea to come back together in order to destroy the Egyptian forces once they got into that channel. We see that in Exodus 14. His love was certainly steadfast, but he didn't stop there. In Psalm 136, verse 16, to him who led his people through the wilderness, he led them. He didn't just point the way or give them directions at the beginning, he led them, and not for a short period of time either. He led them for 40 years. Now, the journey should not have taken that long, but God wasn't, you know, running them around in circles because God lacked direction or was just trying to mess with them or trying to, you know, figure out what he was going to do next. He was waiting for their unbelief to die. Because they were stiff-necked people. They lacked the faith in God's provision and direction. But again, let me remind you of the repeated theme of this entire psalm and certainly in this section: his steadfast love endures forever. Not for a little while, not over a short distance, for forever. And just like with the Israelites, we may not know exactly what God is up to, but we can know that the destination is good and it is for our salvation and his glory. Amen.

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