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Pandemic

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

Shipping “The Ten” (Important things to know)…

Posted on August 27, 2020
...my dining room

…my dining room

As you might imagine, without the PTP convention that annually brings hundreds of us together at Digging Deep kick-off time, the shipping this year is a mammoth operation. Lots of hours are going into sorting, boxing, enveloping, loading and mailing. Here are a few things you need to know, if you’ve ordered DD materials this year:

  1. Although we are working just about every spare minute to get them to you and shipping large quantities each day, we hope you will be patient with any errors and delays. You’re some of the meekest women on the planet, for which we are very grateful. (You must have been in the Word!)
  2. You may get a box of books that does not include the shirts/hoodies that you ordered. Hoodies were extremely popular and we’re already having to reorder. Shirts are now in short supply, as well, so be especially patient with the shirt orders. They are coming. We did not want to hold up the study materials you are needing to wait on your shirts. We will send them separately.
  3. The ONLY hoodie/shirt reorder will happen on September 4th; so if you want a t-shirt or hoodie, your final orders must be placed by midnight on September 3rd. The turn around is quick, so you should then have them in your hands by around the middle of September.
  4. I’m sending out the free tote bags today, Lord willing, to those who claimed them from the August podcast/video. I’ll post a list on the DD wall to those who claimed them first and are receiving them, so you can watch for them in your mail. I’m sorry that there are not enough for everyone to have one this year.  If you claimed one, try to remember to send the actual shipping cost on the box to the return address on your package. OR you can PayPal the shipping cost to colley@westhuntsville.org. Thanks.

    …the kitchen floor…they’re everywhere!

  5. Several have asked about the differences between the free download and the study books this year. They are basically the same, but without limited design graphics (artwork) and spaces for writing answers and notes. You do not miss any real content; just convenience and writing room.

So, there you go. I could not be more excited about this journey together. I think we’ll grow and I have to believe, at the end of this study, we are going to look back and reminisce about the pandemic and chaos during which this study was born. I think we are going to REMEMBER it (yes, like a thing of the distant past) as a somewhat dark and defining time for us. Those of us who are searching His Will and His commandments this year are going to feel like we persevered and became stronger in spite of the distance between us at times, the sadness of not getting together in large numbers, the wretched cultural and  political scene that is unfolding daily, and the abnormality of many of our routines. I believe, when you have finished this dig, you will be spiritually enabled to better fight the devil and his troops here on earth. I believe you will find great motivation in the law that is holy, just and good (Romans 7:12) Seven teen girls have already told me that they are determined to complete the study this year. That little team alone is a powerhouse prospect for the future of the church.  Praise God!

May I somewhat parenthetically say here that making huge decisions for your futures during this uncertain time is, in my judgment, not a good idea. I know I cannot speak in accuracy about every situation and I know my judgment doesn’t matter at all in the grand scheme of things. But ending marriages, switching congregations, moving across the country, and switching careers unnecessarily are all things I’m witnessing some doing.  I believe when the masks are off and the hugs are happening, many life-changing decisions will leave us with regrets. Love your family in Him. Support and respect your local elderships. (They are probably in earnest about your souls and making decisions to the very best of their mortal abilities) Strive for the unity for which our Lord prayed. Persevere. Look for ways to serve and let’s all be bold before His throne.

Thank you. Thank you for being stellar examples of patience and perseverance. Thank you for encouraging me. But most of all, thank you for caring about the Word of our God enough to spend the time to ingest it–in big groups in classrooms and pavilions, and singularly from your kitchen tables and porches.

You will begin with “having no other gods before Him.” Study that one with all your might. If we embrace this first one for our lives, shutting out all worldly competition for our hearts’ first allegiance, we cannot help but to keep every other commandment He’s given for our ultimate benefit.

Remember: When He says “Thou shalt,” He is really saying “Help yourself to happiness!” When He says “Thou shalt not,” He is really saying “Prevent disaster!”

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

Q and A: About the Scope of the Ten Plagues…

Posted on April 15, 2020

Question: Which, if any, of the plagues were experienced in the land of Goshen, too?

Answer:

I’m not sure that we can definitively know. But I believe there are some strong scriptural indicators of the precise moment when God partitioned off Goshen in divine providence and protection.

It seems to me that the first plague rendered the Nile River, all across the land (which would include Goshen), a river of blood.  The text indicates that the magicians of Pharaoh did turn water into blood to try to downplay the power of God at work in this plague (7:22), but I do not believe, as some scholars do, that the magicians turned the localized Goshen part of the Nile into blood, so the Egyptians would suffer as well. I believe the entire Nile had already been rendered non-potable. After all, God had said “…the fish that are in the river shall die and the river shall stink, and the Egyptians shall loathe to drink of the water of the river…” I also believe that God could have provided pure water from any rock or well that he chose over in Goshen, during this time, for His people. I believe he cared for Israel.  I do not believe they were digging trenches, to no avail, around the Nile. While I would not be dogmatic about this,  I also believe that the Israelites woke up to a red river, just as did the Egyptians. The difference was that Israel had a prophet in Moses, to explain to them the purpose and the hope that lay in the river of blood. He was  somewhat like our prophet, Jesus the Christ who explained our hope in the blood. 

Similarly, the second plague of frogs was to be a plague for all the borders of Egypt. I believe this plague effectively shut down the economy of Egypt, just as the water-to-blood plague had done for seven days. Though the scripture says the magicians “made” frogs, too, I think, to believe that they could make frogs populate Goshen would be a gross overstatement of the power of tricksters. I believe that there were already frogs in Goshen. I believe Israel was witnessing the power of God, even as their leaders (Moses and Aaron) were being raised up for their deliverance. Goshen was situated right in the fertile delta of the Nile, in Egypt, and it seems a sure thing to me that these first two plagues were affecting all of Egypt. 

And so, it would seem from the text, the Israelites also experienced the lice, as well. In all of these first three plagues, God could have done whatever he wanted to provide cleansing, solace and healing, but it is my judgment, because of what is about to happen in plague number four, that they witnessed in Goshen, the destructive power of Jehovah, along with His protection. Work in Egypt would have been effectively shut down, during all of these first three plagues. I think it was a divine benefit to the people of Israel, for them to see these first three plagues, from the windows of their own homes, from their fields, and even perhaps in their homes, as Moses was leading them to trust in the delivering power of God. 

But then God did an amazing thing. 

And in that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, in which My people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there, in order that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the land. I will make a difference between My people and your people. Tomorrow this sign shall be. (8:22).

For the fourth plague of flies, God partitioned off his people, making a distinction. Can you just imagine the amazement of a man looking out to see a massive swarm of flies—a swarm that just had a miraculous  boundary and could not pass over into Goshen? Can you imagine the “talk” that God’s people had that day with Moses, who was speaking for God to them at this time? I think it’s possible even that God was humbling the people of Israel in the first three plagues, urging them to stop the groaning and the bitterness against God and look around at what He was doing. Then, in plague four, He just showed them a vivid distinction. I do think it is important to remember that they had a liaison in Moses who was speaking with God and who was also appearing in the palace of Egypt. He knew what was going on with all those flies in the palace and he could have been relating this disparity back in Goshen. I believe Moses, the one who relays this information to us through inspiration, could surely have been relaying it to the Israelites. I believe God drew a line in plague four that he had not drawn prior. 

Similarly , we have an explicit statement about the safety of the cattle in Israel. None of their cows died, while those cows that were considered sacred in a land of idolatry were destroyed. What a powerful lesson for the Israelites, who were, a short time later, to build a calf and worship it. Surely, in their punishment of Exodus, they were called on to remember the disparity between the cows for food and the cows of Egypt which, while a source of food and leather, were also idolized and worshipped. 

The boils were on the magicians and on all the Egyptians (9:11). This specific statement lends itself  strongly to our assumption that the boils were not affecting God’s people. In fact, the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils (9:11). But Moses had no trouble going to bed and getting up early to stand before Pharaoh (9:13) What a distinction!

The hail, interestingly, did not harm the cattle or personage of even the Egyptians who feared God. Verses 17-20 of Exodus 9 says that the Egyptians who did not exalt themselves against Jehovah, but rather feared God (and I bet there were getting to be a lot by now) were given warning and brought their cattle into the shelter before the hail came. In this plague, we see God providing for all who obeyed. (This seems a bit prophetic of the way that Gentiles will be given access to the warning and the saving place as the gospel would finally be revealed to us, as well.) 

Next, in the account of the locusts, there’s no definitive statement about the limit of the plague. The Scripture does say, though, that the locusts were going to finish up the crops that had not been destroyed by the hail (10:5). Since the hail had not even fallen in Goshen (9:26), we may assume that there was no damage in Goshen to “finish off.” Simply put, I think Goshen was protected fully from the time of the clear distinction God made in 8:22. He made a difference there, a distinction, a “setting-apart” that would be so faith-inducing that it would be a powerful preparation for the trust it was going to take to get out of that land of Goshen and be a different, a distinctive,  and a set-apart people of God through which the Messiah could come. 

Then there was darkness. In the darkness, we have a specific statement that there was light in all the dwellings of Israel, while the Egyptians could not see one another (10:23). I think Family Bible time must have been very powerful in those homes in Israel on the first day of this blackness. Imagine teaching your children the power of God in a pitch black environment where you were able to see each other in brightness and declare His glory in His specially provided light. I’m glad we can teach our children about the specially-provided Light, too, while the world around us is tripping all over itself in darkness (John 8:12). (I hope we are all being sure, during the great pandemic of 2020, that we are using this great trial to put into our children’s hearts that we are not stumbling around the darkness. Whether the world takes anything from this dark time or not, we, as Christians, take that we are totally dependent on our God and that true health and wealth and success can never be taken from His people! We are still walking in the light! Even if the pandemic should take our physical lives, it cannot keep us from leaving the slavery and entering the promised land!)

Of course, the last plague was reserved for those who disobeyed, too. The power of the blood on the doorposts was to begin an everlasting memorial that still occurs with God’s people each Lord’s Day. When we take the Lord’s supper we should remember that the Passover lamb distinguishes us from those who are in that spiritual darkness without the Lamb that takes away the sins of the world ( John 1:29).We’re rejoicing when we eat it, because of a great deliverance from slavery. 

While I cannot be absolutely sure about this answer, it seems most reasonable and verifiable from the Scriptures to me. I do not know all the answers But this one thing I know: He is glorious, even in the plagues. He is glorious, even in a pandemic. And I am glad that he has set us apart. 

Keep praising Him.