Psalm 136:10

to him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt
His love endures forever.
(NIV)

In ancient Egypt, the other plagues could almost have been dismissed as natural occurrences. We know that they are not, but the blood water, the locusts, the darkness, the boils... even though each can show how vain and empty the Egyptian religion was, the pharaoh wasn't swayed by any of them. He was a god, both to himself and to his people, and there was no way that he was going to bow before the God of the slaves.

Most of us are like that. We are our own god and the god of our own little world, but The God of Heaven and Earth will have His rightful place. One day, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord.

For some, it won't happen until the end.

For others, the trials (or for the Egyptians, the plagues) that are always pointing to God, will bring them to God. The Pharaoh recognized, at least temporarily, that the death of each first born could not have been a natural occurrence. At least for a moment he let go of the reigns and realized that he could not fight this God. Unfortunately for the Pharaoh and his army, this was only temporary, and true Lordship was never acknowledged.

The question is, will you be like the pharaoh? Will you dismiss all things, both good and bad, as random natural occurrences? Will it take the loss of something big to get your attention or will you turn your eyes to Him now?

On a side note:
Francis Schaeffer uses this passage in his book titled Genesis to illustrate how the Bible speaks of the creative acts as real events that occurred in a real space-time situation. He points out that this chapter starts with these events, and moves through other events that are considered true history, and there is no transition that would lead you to believe that all of it isn't true history. This chapter is a powerful support of a literal creation, just as Genesis describes it.