Readers Guide: “The Word for Today” Friday, October 5, 2012 Read – Exodus 7 & 8 Chapters 7 & 8 begin the story of the plagues through which God will deliver his people. The story is really a contest between the power of God and the power of Egyptian gods represented by Pharaoh who was thought of as a god by many – probably himself included. That may be helpful for us in dealing with that troubling business of Pharaoh’s hardened heart. This is not merely a human struggle. That kind of language is somewhat foreign to most of us and perhaps challenging to our “scientific” world view. We are who we are – but maybe we need to look beyond what shapes us to think “outside the box” in these stories. If we attempt to see them through the lens of our “scientific” world they will be troublesome for us. Of course we can insist that God can do anything which is true but in our “scientific” world view we will then need to claim that most of what happens here is purely an exception to everything else that is knowable in our “scientific” understanding. In the end I don’t think we can reconcile these stories with our “scientific” way of thinking. They are from a different world and we will need to suspend our way of reasoning to hear and understand the story. It does little good to try to explain any of these stories “scientifically.” Of course the question the looms up for us is “did they really happen?” I would say yes but probably not in the way our “scientific” mind forces us to understand them. God did bring plagues through which God did do battle against the forces of Egyptian gods represented by Pharaoh and God did miraculously set his people free from Egyptian bondage. We can confess that – God’s people always have – but after that we simply need to admit that our “scientific” world view comes up short for us.