Note: This article is an AI-generated adaptation of a spoken transcript and may not fully capture the nuances of the original presentation.
The passage from Exodus 7:1-13 begins with a striking declaration from the Lord to Moses: “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of this land.”
God warns Moses that He will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though He will multiply signs and wonders in Egypt, Pharaoh will not listen. God declares that He will lay His hand on Egypt and bring His people out through great acts of judgment, so that “the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.”
Moses and Aaron obey. At ages 80 and 83 respectively, they go before Pharaoh. When Pharaoh demands proof through a miracle, Aaron casts down his staff and it becomes a serpent. Pharaoh summons his wise men and sorcerers, and they replicate the feat through their secret arts—each man’s staff becomes a serpent. But then Aaron’s staff swallows up their staffs.
Still, Pharaoh’s heart remains hardened, and he refuses to listen, just as the Lord had predicted.
The Main Message
The central truth of this passage is that God displays His power and glory through His weak servants, proving that no human pride or false power can stand against Him.
This profound theme unfolds through three key truths that have direct application to our lives today.
1. God’s Strength Works Through Human Weakness
God tells Moses something remarkable: “I have made you like God to Pharaoh.” This is an astonishing statement, especially when we remember that this is the same Moses who repeatedly doubted himself, who protested his inadequacy, who claimed he couldn’t speak well.
Now Moses stands as God’s representative before the king. He has been made “like God” to Pharaoh—who, in ancient Egypt, was considered divine. Moses’s weakness, his inability to speak eloquently, his reluctance to serve—all of this actually becomes the stage on which God’s power is displayed before the mighty Pharaoh.
The application for us is clear: We don’t need to be impressive for God to use us. We just need to be available.
God’s calling on our lives is not limited by our limitations. Most of us have areas where we’re not particularly gifted, and perhaps that indicates God isn’t calling us in those directions. But if God has called you into an area where you don’t currently feel equipped, He will nevertheless equip you to do His work.
It is precisely through our weakness that His glory is most visibly displayed. What God requires from us is trust and obedience to His calling—not natural ability or impressive credentials. Ultimately, it’s often our weakness that glorifies God the most, because it makes clear that the power at work is His, not ours.
2. God’s Purposes Stand Even When Hearts Are Hard
By this point in the story, God has already predicted to Moses that Pharaoh’s heart will be hardened and that Pharaoh will not listen. But Pharaoh’s refusal doesn’t stop God’s plan—not even for a moment.
In fact, the hardness of Pharaoh’s heart only makes God’s glory more visible. It’s against the backdrop of Pharaoh’s stubbornness that God’s power is most dramatically displayed. All the miracles that follow, the plagues that will unfold in subsequent chapters—these are mighty signs and wonders that demonstrate God’s supremacy.
This means we should expect pushback when we walk in obedience to God’s calling.
Now, we must be clear: we are not Moses and Aaron. We don’t occupy their unique place in God’s redemptive story as those who led the people out of slavery, prefiguring Christ. Nevertheless, when we follow God’s commandments and calling on our lives, we should expect resistance.
The world will not appreciate that we’ve given our obedience to God and placed our trust in Him rather than adopting the worldview of those around us. We shouldn’t mistake resistance for failure—God is still at work even when people resist Him. His purposes will not be thwarted.
Moreover, no one’s heart is beyond God’s reach or control. Even if someone’s heart seems hard today, it doesn’t mean it will remain hard forever. Over time, many people come to see Christ in us as we faithfully and diligently serve them throughout our lives. So we shouldn’t give up on people just because their hearts seem hardened against God’s truth.
3. God’s Victory Consumes Every Imitation of Power
Notice the dramatic confrontation in this story: Aaron’s staff becomes a serpent, and the Egyptian magicians seem to match this feat—their staffs also become serpents. But then comes the decisive moment: Aaron’s serpent swallows theirs completely.
God’s power doesn’t just compete with Egypt’s power—it completely overcomes it. It doesn’t merely win by a narrow margin; it consumes the opposition entirely.
This echoes an earlier story from Genesis, when Pharaoh dreamed of seven fat cows and seven skinny cows (representing seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine). The skinny cows ate the fat cows but remained just as skinny. Similarly here, just as the famine completely swallowed up the years of plenty, the power represented by Aaron’s staff—which is God’s power—completely overpowers the imitation powers of the magicians.
The world will always offer us counterfeit versions of God’s truth and power.
These counterfeits may look impressive. They may seem to match what God offers. But they are really idols, and they will never last. God’s power is infinitely greater than any substitute this world can offer us.
The call for Christians is to stand firm on Jesus’s finished victory over sin and death. We don’t need to buy into the shallow powers of this world. We can live fully trusting in God’s power because He has shown us that He has already won—even claiming victory over death itself.
That’s an incredibly powerful place from which to live and work. We’re not fighting for victory; we’re living from victory. The battle has already been decided at the cross and the empty tomb.
Living in Light of God’s Power
This passage reminds us that:
God chooses to work through our weaknesses, making His power unmistakable
Opposition doesn’t mean we’ve failed; God’s purposes advance even through resistance
God’s power completely eclipses every counterfeit this world offers
As we navigate our daily lives, facing challenges and opposition, we can remember Moses and Aaron standing before Pharaoh. They weren’t there because of their own strength or eloquence. They were there because God had called them and promised to work through them.
The same is true for us. Whatever God has called you to do, He will equip you for it. Whatever resistance you face, God’s purposes will not be thwarted. Whatever counterfeits the world offers, God’s power is infinitely superior.
We can walk forward in confidence, not because of who we are, but because of who He is and what He has already accomplished through Christ.
Prayer: Father, we thank You that Your strength is made perfect in our weakness. Thank You that You use fragile people like Moses and Aaron to show that power belongs to You alone. Help us to trust You when we feel unqualified, when we feel afraid. Help us to know that You will supply what we lack. Thank You that Your purposes never fail and that as people who have been bound with Christ, we can trust in Him. Help us to remember that Jesus already swallowed death and triumphed over every false power in this world, and so now we can have confidence in Him. We pray this in Jesus’ mighty name. Amen.