“When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Perform a miracle,’ then say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,’ and it will become a snake.” – Exodus 7:9

Today’s Scripture Reading (August 17, 2018): Exodus 7

I have never been very adventurous. I am not the one who will take a trip to unknown lands and eat unknown foods. I am quite happy going to places I have been and eating at restaurants where I have already eaten. My wife gives me a hard time (not really) because, while she explores the menu at a restaurant looking for that dish that she wishes to consume, the act of giving me a menu is often symbolic at best. I know before I walk into a restaurant what it is I am going to order. I have ordered it before.

It is not that I never order the unfamiliar. But the reality is that too often when I have ordered something new; I have ended up wishing that I had stayed with the tried and true. For me, the question is why waste money on something that you may not enjoy when there are favorites available on the menu that you know you are going to enjoy. And the reactions of my more adventurous friends has only served to strengthen my conviction. Too often, in my experience, the adventurous leave disappointed. Life gives me enough disappointment; I don’t need to order it off of the menu.

Also, staying with what you know is easy. Experimentation is sometimes hard, especially if the result is not to your liking. So, when we vacation in Canada, we like Kelowna. We know what we are going to get there, and the summer weather has always been nice, usually sunny and warm. It is the same logic that we follow when we go to Hawaii. Maui is our preferred landing spot. It is a little quieter than Oahu, and the weather is consistent, no matter when we decide to go. (The fact that the major volcano is largely silent is just another plus.) Admittedly, there are some places I would like to explore, but when the time is limited, I want to stay with the experiences that I know, and that I can be reasonably sure that I am going to enjoy.

So it is probably not a surprise that when Moses goes before the Pharaoh for the first time, God doesn’t give him something new. That will happen, but to start off the process, Moses does a trick that he already knows. God turned the staff into a snake and then back into a staff in the wilderness when he first attracted the attention of Moses. Moses has already had practice at the trick. So this was something that Moses was already comfortable in doing, and that he trusted God could do.

Things would get harder. But God seems to understand the way he created some of us. And, sometimes, before we attempt what is hard, we need to start with what is easy.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Exodus 8