Ozymandias of Egypt by Percy Bysshe Shelley

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said:—Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter’d visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp’d on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock’d them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

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Exodus 7 – Revealing God

Why did God harden Pharaoh’s heart? That’s a question I have heard many times. The answer appears two verses later. “The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand on Egypt and bring out the sons of Israel from their midst.”

Throughout the process of God leading the Israelites out of Egypt and into the Promised Land, God intended to become known to the nations of the world. If Pharaoh had immediately allowed the Israelites to leave, would the headline of the story be God’s sovereignty or Pharaoh’s benevolence. God wanted to be known.

Today God still wants to be known. But, rather than hardening the hearts of men so that God can overcome, God uses us. God uses those people who have a relationship with Jesus Christ to reveal God to the world. God is revealed through our actions, words, attitudes, humor, associates, and a myriad of other ways.

In everything we do we reveal some aspect of our relationship with God and the revelation of God to the world around us. When we fail we reveal God’s faithfulness, when others fail we reveal God’s forgiveness, when we succeed we reveal God’s power, when others succeed we reveal God’s encouragement. These are only a few examples, but in everything we do, we reveal God to the world.

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