I Am… - Exodus 7:1-14
Imagine this.
You are God.
And you want to show an entire civilization — a people who worship thousands of different gods — that you alone are the one true God.
How would you do it?
Would you roll into town like Batman in a blacked-out Godmobile?
Would you step into the ring like Muhammad Ali and knock out every false god one by one?
Would you float in on a magic carpet like Aladdin and sing, “I will show you the world”?
It sounds humorous.
But that’s the very tension we encounter in Exodus.
God is preparing to confront Egypt — a culture steeped in polytheism — and reveal that He alone is Lord.
And Moses… well, Moses has questions.
Lots of them.
Moses’ Questions vs. God’s “I Will”
Leading up to Exodus 7, Moses keeps asking:
“Why did you send me?”
“What if they don’t listen?”
“What if Pharaoh doesn’t listen?”
“I’m a poor speaker.”
And then he asks it again.
And again.
And again.
If we’re honest, we’ve been there too.
We fixate on what we can’t do.
Meanwhile, God keeps speaking in first person:
“I will.”
“I am.”
“I will deliver.”
“I will redeem.”
Moses speaks in first person:
“Why me?”
“How will I?”
“What if I…?”
God speaks in first person:
“I will.”
What God is teaching Moses — and what He is teaching us — is simple:
It’s not about you.
You aren’t.
I AM.
You won’t.
I will.
We obsess over our limitations.
God is focused on His power.
“I Will Harden Pharaoh’s Heart”
Then comes the difficult verse.
In Exodus 7:3, God says:
“I will harden Pharaoh’s heart.”
That can sound harsh.
But here’s a theological anchor worth holding onto:
Whenever God hardens a heart, it is not an act of persecution — it is an act of pursuit.
God isn’t just trying to win a battle.
He’s trying to win a heart.
If God only wanted Israel out of Egypt, He could have done it in a single plague.
But His desire was bigger.
He wanted Pharaoh — and Egypt — to know Him.
The plagues weren’t random acts of power.
They were targeted confrontations against the Egyptian gods.
And Egypt had a lot of them.
Historians estimate as many as 1,400 deities were worshiped — gods of the sun, moon, wind, water, fertility, death, order, and even Pharaoh himself.
God was declaring:
There are not thousands of gods.
There is One.
And I am He.
The Staff, the Serpent, and the Swallowing
When Moses and Aaron stand before Pharaoh, they are told to throw down the staff.
It becomes a serpent.
Why a serpent?
Because the serpent symbolized power, protection, and order in Egyptian religion. It was closely associated with Pharaoh’s authority.
This wasn’t random.
This was strategic.
Pharaoh’s magicians replicate the miracle. Their staffs become serpents too.
At first glance, it looks like a tie.
But then comes the moment.
Aaron’s staff swallows theirs.
Notice the text doesn’t say the snake swallowed the snakes.
It says the staff swallowed the staffs.
This wasn’t about reptiles.
It was about power.
God was saying:
You think you have power? I have more.
You think you have protection? I will consume it.
You think you control order? I can undo it.
This was the opening move in a divine chess match.
And God wasn’t playing to tie.
The Question for Lent
Here’s where the story turns toward us.
Egypt was polytheistic.
But what about us?
Maybe we don’t bow to a sun god.
But do we bow to money?
Scripture says you cannot serve both God and money.
Maybe we don’t worship a fire god.
But do we worship fear?
God has not given us a spirit of fear.
Maybe we don’t worship an earth god.
But do we worship earthly things?
Maybe we don’t worship Pharaoh.
But do we treat politics like a god?
There is perhaps nothing that shapes our worldview more powerfully today than politics. And when a political lens replaces a biblical lens, it may have become an idol.
Lent invites us to ask:
Is it possible I’m polytheistic too?
What has subtly taken the place of God in my heart?
What do I trust for power?
For protection?
For order?
Let God Swallow It
In the sermon, we invited people to write down whatever might be replacing God in their lives. To crumple it up. To bring it forward.
Why?
Because the same God who swallowed the staffs of Egypt can swallow our idols too.
He does not expose our false gods to shame us.
He exposes them to free us.
The battle in Exodus wasn’t just about Israel’s freedom from slavery.
It was about Egypt’s freedom from illusion.
And the same is true for us.
God doesn’t just want to win arguments in our lives.
He wants our hearts.
So this Lent, ask yourself:
What am I trusting besides God?
What have I given authority to?
What feels like it controls my peace?
Then place it before Him.
And trust that the true and living God still swallows lesser gods whole.
Let the battle begin.
