The Finger of God (Exodus 8:18-19)

2022-08-30

And the magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not: so there were lice upon man, and upon beast. Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God: and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said. (Exodus 8:18-19)

The magicians could mimic the power of God to an extent in the beginning of Moses’ confrontation with Pharoah on the eve of the Exodus. Until they couldn’t. We too can fake spirituality for a while, thinking all is well between us and the Lord. Does that make us not much different from these magicians?

But in our case, the Lord can sometimes show us something we were wrong with all along. Everything “spiritual” was done in the flesh. This revelation leads us to submit to and rest in Him. We cease striving to do spiritual activity. The pretense falls away. Unlike those men in Egypt, we invite the finger of God upon our lives so He will perform what we could never do.

The same finger of God engraved the Law onto the stone:

And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God. (Exodus 31:18)

And subdues the forces of darkness:

But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you. (Luke 11:20)

That same finger of God that wrote down the Law extends grace to those who broke it:

This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. (John 8:6)