And the next day the Lord did this thing. All the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one of the livestock of the people of Israel died. And Pharaoh sent, and behold, not one of the livestock of Israel was dead. (Exodus 9:6,7 ESV)
Avoiding Plagues
One of my favorite jokes goes like this: There are three kinds of people in the world… those who can count, and those who cannot count.
But in fact, there ARE two kinds of people in the world. Those who, in Christ, are God’s people. And those who, rejecting Christ, are not God’s people.
While we usually think of the primary difference between Christian and non-Christian being eventual heavenly residence, the difference is actually sensible now.
Paul writes that He acts in such a way that what He does is the best for His people. But this is not the case for those outside of Christ.
The Egyptians and their slaves, the Israelites, would have noticed the difference.
And we can notice the difference, too, if we have eyes to see.
No, everything is not always pleasant for Christians. But God treats us differently. He already punished Christ on the cross or our guilt, so we can absolutely be sure any troubles we have are not punishment from God. He might be teaching, disciplining, admonishing, or guiding through our troubles, but we know that the Master Planner is doing what HE knows is best for us, even when we can not understand yet.
We can not avoid God’s wrath, anger, and punishment, but in Christ, we already have.