G'day and welcome to stories of a faithful God for kids, the podcast where we can relax

knowing that God's in charge.

I'm Dave, your host.

I hope you've been enjoying our Exodus series so far.

Have you ever heard anyone say, why are you doing that?

And the person replies, they started it.

Or they did it first.

Like, why are you pouring egg all over your sister's hair?

Because she stuck her tongue out at me? Or why you jumping up and down on that little

boy's feet? Because he laughed at me.

Or why did you steal your dad's socks, fill them with red paint, spin them around your

head and throw them at the security guard, point to your dad and say it was him, have him

locked up in jail, then steal his car, drive it into the ocean, let it roll into the water,

hide a fake skeleton in it, and then sell tickets to scuba divers to show them the

magical lost car of the dread pirate Bob.

Umm, because dad wouldn't do my homework for

me.

Those are silly excuses, aren't they?

We shouldn't let what other people do be an excuse for us to do the wrong thing.

Imagine if God did that.

Imagine if God said, I don't have to do what's

good.

I don't have to keep my promises if humans

don't treat me properly, if they sin.

If that was how it worked, God wouldn't keep

any of his promises because we all sin, all of us, every single human.

And so we'd all be in serious trouble.

Thankfully, God doesn't keep his promises

because of what we've done, but because of who he is, the faithful promise keeper.

And we're going to see that in today's story.

Get ready for our next episode of stories of a

faithful God for kids.

At the end of the last episode, no one was

listening to God.

No one was trusting God.

Pharaoh, king of Egypt, said, I don't know your God, so I'm not going to obey him.

The Israelites were angry at Moses and Aaron for doing exactly what God had told them to

do.

And Moses was blaming God for all the nasty

things that Pharaoh was doing to the Israelites.

When God told him not to panic and to go back to Pharaoh so God could start showing his

power, Moses started making excuses again.

He said, the Israelites will not listen to me,

so surely the king will not listen to me either.

I am not a good speaker.

The Israelites and Moses have given up on God

so quickly.

They were excited about him.

But when things are hard, they quickly forget.

They forget his power.

They forget his faithfulness.

They ignore him.

Wouldn't it be horrible if God just decided to walk away?

Oh, they're so frustrating.

They don't care about me.

I'm not going to care about them.

Thankfully, that's not what God's like.

If he says something, he means it.

And no one and nothing can stop him doing what

he said he'll do.

And so what's God gonna do?

What's he gonna do now? What amazing thing is he gonna tell us about?

Is it a miracle? Is it saving someone?

Oh look, he tells us a big long list of names.

Umm, that's not quite what you might expect.

Why would you tell us about big long list of names?

Well, it's because names tell a story.

If you said my grandfather's name, I wouldn't

just think about his name.

I'd think about all the amazing stories from

his life.

How he grew up in a tiny mining village in

Arizona in America.

How at a time when it seemed like the whole

world ran out of money, his family had to go back to their home in England.

They even had to leave their car behind at the train station because no one could afford to

buy it.

I could tell you how when World War Two was

about to start, he lied about his age so he could join the English Royal Air force.

How he had to escape from France, hiding out at night, dodging enemy soldiers, stealing a

tiny boat, rowing out into the English Channel, hoping that someone would pick him

up.

I could tell you how he flew spy missions and

had crazy adventures.

And I'd think of all that just by you saying

his name.

Well, here in Exodus, chapter six, God says a

lot of names.

And although they can remind us about all the

different people, they actually remind us even more about God.

Just at this moment when God could easily give up on his people, he tells us these names to

remind us that he never gives up.

He always keeps his promises.

The names are all from the israelite family.

One of the things they remind us of is how

God's kept his promise to make the family huge.

Remember, God had promised Abraham that his family would be like the number of stars in

the sky.

And God's been keeping that promise while

they've been in Egypt.

Let me give you a taste of it from Exodus.

Chapter six, verse 14, it says, these are the leaders of the families of Israel.

Israels first son, Reuben, had four sons.

They were Hanok, Palu, Hezron and Kami.

These are the family groups of Reuben.

Simeon's sons were Jemuel, Jaman.

Ohad, Jakin, Zohar and Sha'ul.

I won't read them all, but there are lots

more.

Because God's been keeping his promise to grow

his people.

He's also been using his power to save his

people.

Sure, they're still in Egypt.

But remember right back at the beginning of Exodus, what had Pharaoh wanted to do?

He'd wanted all the baby israelite boys to be thrown in the river, killed, destroyed.

We heard how God saved Moses.

But actually, God's protected lots of boys.

This list tells us the names of lots of boys who were born around a similar time to Moses.

There's Aaron and Moses and Korah and Nepheg and Zikri and Mishael and El Zaphan and

Sithri.

God's powerfully made sure that his people are

not destroyed.

They're not wiped out.

God's looked after them.

The list of names also tells us that God will

keep his promise to save his people.

The last name on the list is a guy named

Phinehas.

He's Aaron's grandson.

And if you read later in the Bible, Phineas is a hero.

He makes strong decisions and helps God's people obey God.

But all that's still to come.

It all happens after God's rescued his people

from Egypt.

When they're on the way to Canaan, the land

God had promised to give them.

And when they're in Canaan.

Because God keeps his promises.

Even when people don't believe him, even when

people aren't faithful to him, hes always faithful.

Nothing can stop him from being faithful.

And so when Moses starts complaining about

himself that he cant speak very well, and so Pharaoh wont listen to him.

God stops him.

Just like he did at Mount Sinai.

He reminds Moses what he God has done and what he will do.

Nothing can change it.

In chapter seven, verse one, God says to him,

I have made you like God to the king of Egypt.

And your brother Aaron will be like a prophet

for you.

Tell Aaron, your brother, everything that I

command you.

Then let him tell the king of Egypt to let the

Israelites leave his country.

But I will make the king stubborn.

Then I will do many miracles in Egypt.

But he will still refuse to listen.

So then I will punish Egypt terribly.

And I will lead my divisions, my people, the

Israelites, out of that land.

I will punish Egypt with my power.

And I will bring the Israelites out of that land.

Then they will know I am the Lord.

And that is the last time for a very long time

that Moses even looks like he might disobey God.

God's helped him to see that it isn't about Moses and his strength.

It's about God and his strength and faithfulness.

And so now it's time for action.

Now it's time for Pharaoh and the Egyptians

and even the Israelites to learn who this God is, who they're dealing with.

In chapter seven, verse nine, after God's told them to go back to Pharaoh, he says this to

Moses and Aaron.

The king will ask you to do a miracle.

When he does, Moses, you tell Aaron to throw his walking stick down in front of the king.

It will become a snake.

So Moses and Aaron went to the king as the

lord had commanded.

Aaron threw his walking stick down in front of

the king and his officers, and it became a snake.

Whoa.

How's that for some power?

Check that out.

Pharaoh, who's the most powerful God now?

But actually, Pharaoh's not that impressed.

Instead, he calls over his wise men and

magicians.

Now, these aren't guys who do cool card

tricks.

These are guys who work for the egyptian gods,

just like Moses works for the God of Israel.

With their tricks, the egyptian magicians are

able to do the same thing.

They throw their walking sticks on the ground

and their sticks become snakes as well.

Oh, no. This seems like a disaster.

It seems like the egyptian gods are just as strong as the God of Israel.

And there are a lot more of them.

God didn't change his mind about what he'd do

even when no one trusted him.

But maybe, maybe God can't actually do what he

said he'd do.

It's nice wanting to do something good, but

it's useless if you don't have the power to do it.

Maybe God won't be faithful because he isn't powerful enough to be faithful.

Don't panic, though.

As all the egyptian snakes are slithering

around on the ground, something happens.

God snake attacks.

One by one, it swallows the egyptian snakes.

Whoa.

You can just imagine the embarrassment as Aaron picks up his snake and it turns back

into a stick.

The Egyptians can't do the same thing.

Their sticks are gone.

You might remember from our Jonah series, when

the Bible talks about things being swallowed, it means they've been beaten, destroyed.

Well, here, right at the beginning of the battle between the God of Israel and the gods

of Egypt, God's snake swallows the other ones.

The God of Israel's already won the battle.

Do you know what? I mess up heaps.

I don't love God like I should.

I don't love and care for other people like

God wants me to.

It wouldn't be surprising if God just gave up

on me.

Except that's not how God works.

When God says he'll do something, he means it.

When he says he'll do something powerful, he

has the power to do it.

And me messing up isn't going to change that.

God says that if we trust Jesus as our king and saviour, he has forgiven us for our sins.

He has made us a new person in his family.

He has put his holy spirit in us to help us

keep trusting, to help us change, to be more and more like Jesus.

He is with us every day of our lives, the good days and the hard days.

And Jesus will come again to take us home, to be with him forever.

Not because we're great and serving him, but because he's faithful to his promises.

There's no person on earth, there's no power on earth that can beat him, stop him, or make

him change his mind.

Back in Egypt, after God's snake swallowed up

all the others, verse 13 tells us.

But the king was stubborn.

He refused to listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said.

You see, even when the king refuses to listen to God, it doesn't mean that God's plans

failed.

In fact, it's all part of his plan.

God said this would happen.

Which means it's time for a war between the

gods of Egypt and the gods of Israel.

A war that God has already won.

A war that'll show God's power so spectacularly that everyone will know that he

is the one true God.

But thats a story for next time.

I hope youve enjoyed this episode.

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for now.

Me?