Sovereign Judge,
You speak before You strike,
giving space for reverence to grow.
You warn of pestilence upon the livestock,
of boils breaking out on flesh,
of hail that will shatter the trees
and strip the fields bare.
Some hear Your warning
and move their animals and servants into shelter
and they live.
Others scoff and leave them in the open
and they fall.
Lord, make me quick to believe You the first time You speak.
You strike the gods of Egypt one by one
Apis the bull,
Isis the healer,
Nut the sky goddess
showing they cannot protect their worshipers.
You show that You alone
rule creation’s health and harvest.
You remind Pharaoh
that You could have ended him in a moment,
yet You have raised him up
so that Your power might be displayed
and Your name proclaimed in all the earth.
Even judgment becomes a stage for Your glory.
Lord, humble my pride
before the hail must fall.
Let me seek refuge in You
while there is still time to enter.
Break my stubbornness before it breaks me.
Where destruction has come,
teach me to confess without flattery,
to repent without delay.
Do not let me say “I have sinned” with my lips
while my heart still calculates rebellion.
Mark me as one who shelters under Your word,
whose obedience is not occasional,
but constant.
Make me a living sign
that You distinguish between those who are Yours
and those who harden themselves against You.
In the name of Jesus,
the greater Deliverer,
who bore the judgment in our place
and is now our refuge from the storm,
Amen.