This morning my Old Testament reading was in Exodus. I read about the plague of hail. It did not read as I remembered it. The plagues, of course, were punishments on the Egyptians because of Pharaoh’s hardness of heart. The Egyptian people suffered because their leader failed to bow to the Lord. In the plague of hail, however, we see that God is merciful even to those He is punishing. He announces the hail in advance. Any Egyptian who heard and heeded Moses’s warning could save his livestock and his servants. God’s judgments discriminated not just between His people and their captors. It differentiated between Egyptians that would heed God’s word and those who would reject it. In reading through the plagues, it is harrowing to see the judgment of God and to consider what judgments He can bring against a nation. It was wonderful to see, however, that His wrath is not like ours. Even in His judgment He does not forget mercy.