What if...?

Have you ever read through scripture and as you read it, you get excited because in new ways and by different plans, God comes out on top and the enemy has been defeated? I want to look at a story in scripture from the eyes of the enemy and try to imagine what was going through their heads as the events unfolded. Imagine with me that during the freeing of the Israelites from Egypt,we get a glimpse of what was going on in Pharaoh's mind. I would imagine it would be something like this.
"Moses, you're not going to beat me at that pace. Oh, That is where you are wrong brother. See, I win. Alright, lets go back to the palace. Hang on Ramses, there is a fight over here, I am going to see what's up. Well make it quick Moses. The next day, Moses' father finds out what he has does and puts out a death threat for Moses. Great, Ramses thinks to himself, Now who is going to do chariot races with me. The story then picks up 40 years later. Ramses himself is now the Pharaoh after his father and suddenly, who comes walking into town, why it is none other than my brother Moses with one of the Hebrew slaves. What is this he is telling me, to let his people go, he can't be serious. He must be serious. He just threw down his staff and it became a great snake. So of course, I call on my magicians and they are able to do the same with their staffs. Now what, Moses. Oh, wait, the slaves staff just ate my magicians staffs, then Moses picks it up and it turns back into solid wood. No matter. Two can play at this game. Take away their straw, I say to the head taskmaster, but keep the quota the same. Good, now that problem is solved, wait, here is Moses again, when I am bathing in the Nile no less, and that slave touches the water with his serpent-staff and the water begins to turn to blood. The water has been turned to blood all over my great nation, so much that the water is undrinkable. I was a bit taken aback at first, but then my magicians did the same thing, so I did nothing. A week goes by and the water is still blood red. Then Moses comes to me again and says to let his people go our frogs are going to cover the whole land. With a wave of the slaves hand, frogs by the thousands come up out of the Nile and get into all of our homes, even into the bedrooms. My magicians do the same, to impress me I guess, but that only makes more frogs. So I call Moses and the slave and tell them that if they call back the frogs, I will let your people go. So the next day all the frogs either died or returned to the river and oh, how the nation stunk after that. Besides the stink, we were no longer in danger, so naturally, I had no reason to let my workers go free. If I thought that the blood and frogs were bad, I had another thing coming. 7 other plagues came upon my people. By this point, I had had it up to the neck with these people. But then one night everything shifted. My taskmaster had informed me that the Israelites had taken lamb's blood and covered their doorposts with the blood. I told him to just dismiss it and let them go about their business. Not even a few hours had gone by, and I had just tucked my oldest boy in bed. I woke to the sound of the nursemaid screaming and I ran in to find my boy was dead. I didn't take me long to realize that cries were coming from every Egyptian household because they too had lost a loved one, from the rich in palaces, to the poor in the slumps. I called Moses and the slave in, and told them to get out. take their wives and their children and their livestock and everything that belonged to them and to get out of my nation. They gathered up their belongings and I watched as they all exited out of the city. It didn't take me long to come to my senses and realize what I had just done. So I gathered together 600 of my best chariots and foot soldiers and we pursued the Israelites as far as the Red Sea. Even from my distant viewpoint, I could tell that the people were getting scared. So I told my men to pick up the pace, but as we were nearing close, a streak of fire spread in front of the horses, so as to slow us up I presume. Then the fires receded and the chariots pursued with all the gusto my men had. It took me about 2 minutes before I realized that the people were crossing on the floor of the sea on dry land, but I had no time to wonder about that. I had a people to recapture. I watched as the last of the stragglers got onto the other side of the river and then it hit me. The waters that had been congealed on both sides suddenly lost its congealed consistency and my men and all of their chariots were being drowned by the waters that came upon us like a mighty rushing wind and the last thing that went through my mind was Moses looking down at me with a look of anguish and hurt."

As must of us know, God had a plan in place from the very beginning, even before Joseph brought the sons of Israel into Egypt 400 years before, and God has a plan for each us as well. I is very cool to me that in those times when the enemy is fully confident that the bad guy will win, God comes in and turns their plans upside down and still allows his people to come out on top. That is the God that I serve, and that is the purpose set before us for our lives. The God who knows the plans he has for us, and what we must do to bring it about, even when the majority of the time is just being obedient and watching him work.
Thanks for stepping into my imagination with me of What If... and for being on the side that has God fighting for them, not against them.
Adam Semple- a young man on a mission from God
 
*photo credit- Prince of Egypt