Blessings on Blessings
Exodus 1
There are times that we are too busy counting the bad in our lives, not realizing that God is still doing all the good. The Israelites had been in Egypt for 400 years and had become and oppressed people. But even in the midst of them living through oppression the Lord was blessing them. He continued to multiply them as a people although they were living “in hard times.” I think that God allowed the Israelites to go through these difficulties because He wanted them to see His hand in their lives and feel the freedom that was to come (as He had promised). God will put you through hard times to force you to turn your focus on Him.
God is My All and All
Exodus 3-4
Moses was delivered from death, raised in royalty and lost it all by trying to do what was right in the wrong way. Moses was an imperfect man - and honestly God will reveal Himself in imperfect situations. Again, God does not call the qualified but qualifies the called. Moses was raised at the table (unlike Joseph) and was able to get the ear of Pharaoh because he was raised in that home. This is what the community means by “it’s not what you know but who you know.” Moses, however, was not confident in the “God who was in Him.” (Greater is he who is in me than is he who is in the world 1 John 4:4). Moses didn’t realize that his confidence was misplaced, he didn’t realize that there was beauty in the ashes - his brokenness, his imperfection, his past; but God saw it…Moses needed a little confidence in God being “He has been and will always be.” When the Lord calls you into His divine purpose, answer the call. It will be hard, but do it scared. There is nothing to fear because Yahweh is with you.
There’s Something in the Water
Exodus 14, 15, 17
The Israelites also lacked confidence in the Lord. I think that the Lord will put us through tests in life to show us what how much (or little) we trust Him. The Lord literally put the Israelites in between a rock and a hard place when they faced the Red Sea in front of them and the Egyptians chasing them to bring them back into bondage behind them. But the Lord who was in their midst was able to do the impossible and separate the water so that they could pass through. The Lord will use the most impossible situations to prove His might BUT I’m realizing as I grow in my faith, that the same tests will present themselves until they are passed (just in more colorful ways). Did anyone else notice that the Israelites struggled with a water problem two more times in our readings this week?? The people doubted what God could do because they had already forgotten what He had done. They found water that was in a bitter condition and the Lord cleansed it in chapter 15 and then in chapter 17, He allowed Moses to draw water from a rock so that the people would not perish in the wilderness. Do not forget what the Lord has done for you when in you are in a difficult season. Same God right now, same God back then.