"Out of Sorts"

"He turned their heart to hate his people, to deal subtilly with his servants." (Psalms 105:25)
In case you might be wondering about this strange title, it is not based upon any condition that I might be feeling. I think it does fit the mood of Egypt's people at this time, as they were feeling a little nauseous and irritated by the children of Israel and their God. As we shall see, the people of that land had many gods that they worshiped; none of which were the Creator, all of which were created beings; some of which, if not all, were connected to spiritual darkness. You really cannot worship false gods without somehow being influenced by or connected to satanic forces. The word "subtilly" is a word that is pretty much only found in the King James Bible; if it were to have an origin, you could place it back in the Garden with the description of the serpent: "Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast." I pretty much means crafty, and the only difference between this word and the other is the origin of the deceit. The people of Egypt had no idea who they were messing with, yet their fraudulent treatment of God's children would be their own demise. But that force which was behind the treatment of Israel knew perfectly well, and had really no concern for the welfare of Egypt's people; only that he might tear down and destroy God's people. The funny thing was, the joke was on him! Based upon the beginning of verse 23, "God prevails" is the moral of this story; so it really does not matter what the devil or the people of Egypt might do, God will have the last word. If you wanted to put this into a perspective that might connect to our every day life, you could go back to the title that is shown above this Psalm in my Bible, "God Takes Care of His People." It is pretty much the bottom line to what trusting God is all about, you trust that He will always take care of you, no matter what circumstance or situation you might find yourself in. Besides, as was stated in the closing verse from yesterday, "That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God." It was the children of Israel's worship of God that irritated the people of Egypt. If the Christians in this country outnumbered the nonbelieving population, or if it were even close, then there would be a serious threat felt among those who live in spiritual darkness; but we don't, so they really do not feel any real pressure at all. When you look at this from a spiritual point of view, God turned the heart of Egypt's people by the light demonstrated in His people. I do not think God will actually make people evil, but it is the goodness of God that brings out the evil in man; but he will harden their hearts, and it is the hardness of their hearts that will bring them into destruction. Jesus explained that to Nicodemus, saying, "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." So, it really comes down to the people of Egypt being the out of sorts people, not the children of Israel. They were the ones who were in for the real deception, not God's people. God prevails, always...
"So you see, God chooses to show mercy to some, and he chooses to harden the hearts of others so they refuse to listen. Well then, you might say, "Why does God blame people for not responding? Haven't they simply done what he makes them do?" No, don't say that. Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who created it, "Why have you made me like this?" When a potter makes jars out of clay, doesn't he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and another to throw garbage into? In the same way, even though God has a right to show his anger and power, he is very patient with those on whom his anger falls, who are destined for destruction. He does this to make the riches of his glory shine even brighter on those to whom he shows mercy, who were prepared in advance for glory."
(Romans 9:18-23) NLT