Blind To Losses

“And Pharaoh’s servants said unto him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us? let the men go, that they may serve the LORD their God: knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?” (Ex 10:7 AV)

 

It is rather sad those around Pharaoh could see their defeat and all they had lost, yet Pharaoh could not.  As long as Pharaoh had his life, in his mind’s eye, he has won.  God doesn’t win unless absolutely everything is lost.  Rebellion is a funny thing.  Oft times, rebellion cannot see the extent of the damage it has caused.  The question above intrigues me because of who asked it and the suggestion behind it.  Those who surround Pharaoh asked the question.  In doing so, they could imperil their own lives.  If Pharaoh felt the impulse, he could have executed these servants for questioning his governance.  But what did they have to lose?  They lost everything.  In layman’s terms, what the servants were asking is how dense are you Pharaoh?  What more needs to happen before you are willing to admit you lost?  How much more can you take before you come to your senses?  It is unfortunate, but we can be this way sometimes.  Sometimes, we learn the very hard way.

Have you ever watched a depiction of a gambler who is on a losing streak?  Try as he may, slowly he begins to lose it all.  There comes a point when he decides he has lost, but if he is going down, he might as well be all in.  The game starts out ok.  He wins a few.  He loses a few.  As the night wears on and the other players begin to learn the ‘tells’ of their opponents, the group is whittled down to just a few.  That is why most professional gamblers wear sunglasses.  To keep their opponent from reading their eyes.  Hand after hand is played.  Some rejoice, others sorrow.  But there is always that one player who starts out well, but then he begins to lose.  Each hand is a hand in an attempt to gain back what was lost.  If he can just win the next hand and bet big in doing it, then all the losses will be erased.  So on the night goes.  That is until he is down to his last few chips.  The opening bid starts.  He antes, sees, and raises.  However, his opponent has far more than he.  So he tosses in his wedding band.  The adversary sees that bet.  He knows there is nothing left so he could call.  But he doesn’t.  So, the opponent raises.  He is trying to get the loser to fold.  Next, the car keys are thrown in.  Again, the adversary sees and raises.  Now comes the deed to the house.  Why?  What is this poor loser trying to do?  He has lost.  He knows he has.  He is seeing if his adversary will fold.  That is all he wants.  Even if he never recovers what he has lost, he is trying to see if his opponent will give up.  If he never gets back to zero, it doesn’t matter.  At least he won the contest.

This is what Pharaoh is doing.  He is playing chicken with a God greater than he.  According to Egyptian paganism, he really has no choice.  They saw Pharaoh as a god.  If he backs down, then he was no god at all.  The real tragedy is others saw it and lost everything because of the pride of one person.  He could not admit he had been beaten.  Rebellion will exact everything it can.  Stubborn disobedience has no limits.  The cost is overwhelming and because Pharaoh was blinded by his own pride, he could not see the reality of the contest.  If we fight against God, the cost is great.  There will be a cost.  The more we are vested in fighting against God, the less we will see what that cost has become.  Not until it is too late.  At the bottom of the Red Sea lay the entire army of Ancient Egypt.  They would never be great again.  They lay at the bottom because the rebellion of a government would not concede God is greater than they.  The same can happen to any nation.  The same can happen to any organization, family, or community.  The same can happen to an individual.  Fighting against God is a losing proposition.  How much we lose is up to us.