Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts. – Exodus 7:11

Today's Scripture Reading (September 24, 2021): Exodus 7

Every magician has their skills and secrets. The magician's skills allow him to figure out how to do something and complete the trick. The secret of how it's done, especially for a trick that a magician has developed for himself, is usually carefully guarded. And if it is really good, even other magicians won't be able to figure out how the magician does the trick. But the real secret is this; magic doesn't exist, not really. All magic is really just an illusion performed by a skilled practitioner. And, at least in theory, if you could learn the secret, you could learn to do the trick. At least, that is usually the truth.

Egypt was well known for its magic. The magicians of the nation worked hard at their craft, and they were so good that they made the people believe in the reality of magic. For the magicians, they possessed the secret of the trick. As far as the people were concerned, the trick was a gift from the gods, proof that the gods were with Egypt.

But Moses wasn't a magician. He was a shepherd. And before he was a shepherd, he lived as part of the privileged class in Egypt. But Moses was not a magician. He hadn't learned either the secrets or the skills that the magicians of Egypt possessed. All of this meant that there was no trick when Moses stood up to do a magic trick. His magic was the exception; it was real and performed by God. But that didn't mean that the men who practiced their magic couldn't approximate the trick. As Moses turned his staff into a snake, that happened to be a trick the magicians of Egypt had also perfected. So, they echoed the actions of the Prophet. That does not mean that they did the trick the way Moses did. All the magicians could do was imitate the movement of God through Moses.

But it also stresses another truth. Whatever God does in this world, Satan will try to imitate. When Moses turned his staff into a snake, there was an actual change in matter; dead wood became a living reptile. When the magicians did it, it was a trick that they had repeatedly practiced, and no change of nature was involved. But that is the nature of Satan. Satan always tries to make it look like he is God, always pressing to imitate what God is doing. He will never come into our lives and announce that he is evil incarnate and invite us to follow. Satan's ways are much more subtle, and his message, and his lie, is that whatever God can do, he can do better. But in the end, whatever Satan does is nothing more than a cheap imitation of a genuine move of God.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Exodus 8