Being the Observer

    Watching movies from the safety of your own home can make things a little less horrific to watch like movies based on real life.  When it happens in your neighborhood it becomes a little more real.  It can make your emotions raw. 

    The Hebrews were slaves.  They wanted their freedom.  They wanted to be allowed to worship God.  I think some probably truly hated the Egyptians and most probably held resentment or bitterness in their heart.  When we are angry we sometimes want or say things that are out of character.  It is in the heat of the moment, but when the intensity passes, so do some of the evil desires.

    It could not have been easy to watch what was happening to the Egyptians.  It does not matter what they had done, it would have been hard to sit by and observe what was happening to them and not care, but they did as God commanded.  They knew if they did not observe His power, then they too would be caught in the intensity of that power.

    When they got the news of the last plague, they followed His instructions to the last detail.   They took a perfect male yearling lamb and brought him into each home for two weeks loving on it and taking care of it to make it a true sacrifice.  They used his blood to put on the door frames, so the angel of death would pass their home when he took all the first born.  That night they cooked the lamb with bitter herbs and he had to be completely eaten by dawn.  If any remained they had to burn it.  They had to dress for travel for dinner and stay that way all night.  

    That night the angel of death passed each house that had the mark, but any house that did not the firstborn was killed: animal and human.  This was judgment against all their gods.  The following morning all a person could hear was the loud morning of all the Egyptians.  Every household had at least one dead.  Parents could be firstborn too.  This became a remembrance holiday, so that God's people would never forget.  It was a holiday to remember what they had observed.  

    No matter how angry, resentful, or bitter you are, something like this has to affect you.  How do you watch and listen and not be affected?  How does it not break your heart for the people in pain?  The people who suffer no doubt have it the worst.  However, it is not easy to be an observer either.  When we see horrible things, justified or not, we have a choice.  We can turn away and pretend we do not see.  Or we can do something.  In this case, it was God at work, so all you could have done was pray.  However, prayer is the strongest action you can ever make in life.

Exodus 12: 1-28