During these days it is worth remembering what tragic things happened in Egypt, and how the Lord, with all this, kept His children, for whom He was preparing the Exodus. Of course, God loved everyone—he loved the Egyptians, he even loved the Pharaoh. It was the love of God that gave Pharaoh the freedom to choose. Again and again, God admonished, warned the pharaoh, sent executions and showed him that the path that the pharaoh is walking is the path of defeat, damnation and ultimately death.
And Pharaoh made his choice, confirming it again and again. Even if he seemed to repent from fear, he never repented. We must clearly understand the difference between true repentance and simply regret, the repentance of a person who is frightened not even by sin, but by its specific, real consequences that he wants to avoid. Such repentance can theoretically be the beginning of repentance, but very often it even leads away from repentance. The man says, “See, I admitted that I was wrong. Of course, I will let you go, but with certain conditions. I did everything I could.” So a person calms his conscience, convincing himself and others that he is doing well.
But God loved Pharaoh as He loves every person. God loves people who are kind, from a human point of view, unkind and even villains. He even called out to the pharaoh! According to the calculations of the ancient Jewish sages, a year passed from the first to the last execution. Imagine how much time God gave this Egyptian guy to repent. It would seem, what is easier? If you are ready to fully repent after the first trial, bring the fruits of repentance, and we will spare. If not ready – the final verdict. But God is often not the way we imagine Him to be. We sometimes try to fit God into our spiritual patterns, which have little to do with the Word of God.
We often resent God’s patience with bad people: “Why doesn’t God punish the bad guy? Why doesn’t God stop this or that villainy?” We forget that our Lord is long-suffering and merciful. And not only to us, but also to those people who, from our point of view, must be immediately punished. To all! God also appeals to those who seem to us unworthy of His long-suffering.
Can you imagine what would have happened if God had immediately punished Shaul (Saul) when he was one of the key figures in the martyrdom of Stephen? Such a terrible crime, such cruelty. It would seem that you need to immediately put an end to it. But somehow God shows patience. Not only that, Shaul continues to commit excesses. He, like the chain dog of Satan, pounces on the Messianic Jews in Jerusalem, torments, hunts down, grabs, throws them into prisons. According to his instructions, they are beaten, some are killed. And it feels like God is silent, does not hear.
Do you really think that the apostolic Jewish community of Jerusalem did not pray, did not cry out to God, and did not insist that God intervene? I don’t know exactly how they prayed for Shaul/Paul, but I do know that at least they didn’t curse him despite his villainy and excesses. And they didn’t want him dead. They blessed him and prayed that the Lord would send him an epiphany. They prayed that the Lord would intervene, but in such a way that it would be for the good not only of the community of God, but also for the persecutor of believers himself. And ultimately the answer came in that great miracle on the road to Damascus, which was a turning point in the history of all mankind.
Can you imagine what would happen if God corresponded to our ideas about justice, about the correctness of His actions, about punishing the villains in time and quickly, if He neutralized Saul before that? The situation was similar with the pharaoh.
Now in Ukraine we hear from different sides: “Where is your God? If God hears prayers, then pray for it to stop.” Of course we want this to stop immediately. And it is clear that God must punish those people who really deserve it. But we don’t know the future. We do not know all God’s plans for our country, for Russia, for Belarus. And God grants freedom of choice, freedom of will to everyone. I know He is calling. He appeals to the authorities of Russia, He knocks on their hearts, he appeals to the President of Russia. He can do it in different ways.
And I want to say that our prayers are very important. Our prayers open doors that no man can open. And in the end, according to our prayers, some doors are closed through which the enemy creates his lawlessness. We are called to fight in the spiritual world so that radical changes can take place in this visible world according to God’s plan. And the condition “according to God’s plan” is very important!
Boris Grisenko, rabbi of KEMO
Source: https://ieshua.org/boris-grisenko-pochemu-bog-medlit-nakazyvat-zlodeev.htm
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