Saturday, July 4, 2015

Exodus 1

Ok, so I'm going to try this online devotional thing about the Israelite's journey to becoming a nation.  I was going to start when they were released from Egypt, but then it really started with the plagues, right?  But wait...there was the persecution before that and their initial impression of Moses.  Or was it when their baby boys started being murdered?  So, I decided to just start at the beginning of Exodus and do a chapter at a time and see where that takes us. 

Today's deep thought is from Exodus Chapter 1.  It talks about how Joseph's family was brought to Egypt because of what Joseph had done for the Egyptians during the famine.  The Israelite's grew in number and when a new king came in power he felt that the Israelite's were becoming more powerful than the Egyptians.  The people had forgotten what Joseph had done for them by that point. 

To solidify their power the Egyptians put slave bosses in charge of the Israelite's.  Even still, the Israelite's grew in numbers and obtained more land.  This is when the Egyptians became more cruel, made their lives miserable, and decided to kill their sons.  Even through all of this God's hand was with them.  He sent two women to ignore these orders and let the baby boys live.  No matter what they came against, God was moving in their favor.  No matter how they were oppressed, God was interceding for them.  No matter how broken they felt or what was taken away from them, God had a plan of blessing and restoration far better than they could have imagined.  When they must have felt forgotten, God was very aware and working behind the scenes to create a story that would be told until the end of time.

How does that parallel our lives?  

Jeremiah 29:11 says, "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

No matter who we are or what we are going through, God has created us, we are his children, and he does have a purpose and a plan for us.  The Israelite's were persecuted because someone saw the fruit of God's favor on them and they were afraid and/or jealous.  They tried to put a stop to it.  For every action they took against the Israelite's, God countered it.  At this point in the story the Israelite's didn't see it.  They must have been quite broken.  But now that we know what happened, since we get to peek behind the curtain and see what's really going on, we know that they were never forgotten and that God was very invested in their situation.  I think that's what we can pull from this.  That no matter how we feel and what we see, God is there.  He is doing battle for us whether we see it or not.  

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