Selah Moment – Our world often seems to be ruled by the gods, perhaps not the ones that were thought to have ruled the ancient world, but certainly the gods of power, greed, prejudice, lust, and pleasure appear to control modernity.   The god of the sexually liberated leads to a celebration of a hook up culture and abortion rights; the god of greed exploits the poor; the god of prejudice hates and mistrusts the skin of another; and the god of power violently dominates weaker people. Through the corruption brought on by human abuses, we are tempted to see the world as dominated by the gods of this age.

The account of creation in Genesis 1 and the narrative of plagues from Israel’s time in captivity in Egypt share a common thread. Both narratives demonstrate God’s supreme power over all gods and earthly powers.  Each day of creation highlights an aspect of the created world of which God is attributed to be the Creator.  The nations that Israel had been living in worshipped the created world as gods. Egypt famously celebrated Ra, the sun god, as the creator of the world.  The Canaanites worshipped Baal and closely related Ashram, who were thought to be responsible for fertility in crops and children. The author of Genesis skillfully shows that all the worshipped created world, was created quite miraculously and powerfully by the Word of God.  The sun, moon, and stars – worshipped by the ancients, created by God on day four.  Fertility and productivity, for which men would sacrifice their firstborn child, built into the DNA of this created sphere on day three.
The amazingly large and powerful creatures of the sea, worshipped as agents of power and terror, spoken into existence on day five.

The plagues on Egypt during the ministry of Moses likewise picture a direct confrontation with the gods of Egypt and Yahweh, the God of Israel.  At each turn God stakes a blow into the supposed powers that dominated the imagination of ancient Egypt.  These lessons are so helpful to us in the 21st century, for we to are confronted by gods whom our world worships, and we are tempted to chase in the hopes of having a better life now.  Yet it is into this world, the timeless truth of God’s Word speaks. His reign knows no end.  As Abraham Kuyper winsomely wrote “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!”

Let the truth of God’s sovereign reign, that will be realized in its fullest encourage your heart to trust this Creator and Sustainer.  Let’s worship at His feet and operate as His designated emissaries on this earthly outpost, declaring to everyone that the Creator will come again and take up His rightful place as King.