Today's Daily Bread

MOSES’ AND AARON’S MISSION

Date : Monday, January 12, 2026
Passage : Exodus 7:1~13
Keyverse : 5  
1
Then the LORD said to Moses, "See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet.
2
You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country.
3
But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in Egypt,
4
he will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites.
5
And the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it."
6
Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD commanded them.
7
Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.
8
The LORD said to Moses and Aaron,
9
"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."
10
So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the LORD commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake.
11
Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts:
12
Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs.
13
Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said.
Previously, when Moses and Aaron had spoken God’s message, “Let my people go,” to Pharaoh, it only seemed to make things worse (5:22-23). Moses and Aaron were discouraged. So the Lord told them his whole plan. The Lord knew that, even though he displayed many wonders, Pharaoh would only harden his heart. But finally, the Lord would rescue his people by an act of judgment on Egypt (5).

The first sign the Lord gave Moses and Aaron to perform before Pharaoh was to turn Moses’ staff into a snake (8-9). It should have made Pharaoh fear God. But Pharaoh summoned his own magicians, who replicated the miracle by their secret arts. Moses’ staff swallowed up the Egyptian magicians’ staffs, showing the Lord’s superiority over the gods of Egypt. Still, as predicted, Pharaoh only hardened his heart.

Sometimes the way God wants to use us doesn’t produce visible success, at least not at first. But if we let him lead, we can be sure he is using us to reveal his glory as well as save his people. Prayer: Father, thank you for using faithful people to reveal your glory. Help me trust you and keep speaking your words, even when I don’t see visible success.
One Word: The Lord will work through us