Re: Verse reading–Exodus 5:1-2; 6:1-8; 7:1-5, 14-18; 8:1-3, 16, 20-21; 9:1-4, 8-9, 13-18, 25-26; 10:3-11, 21-22, 28-29; 11:1-5 (day one)
“Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, . . . ‘Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the desert.’ “–5:1.
It was a HUGE mistake that surely seemed small to Pharaoh. Just a SMALL matter compared to his normal pressures. But, it had a huge impact. At first, Moses asked only permission for the Jews to go out in the desert to hold a religious festival. Just a beginning. No great loss for Egypt. Had Pharaoh, at this point, recognized their right to religious freedom, had he bent just slightly the Jews would still have left eventually, but without such cost to himself and his people. Still true. No step of obedience is small. It will lead to more. More obedience, more blessing. No resistance to God’s will is small, either. It hardens the heart and leads to judgment. Obedience may seem small, but it never is.