Light in the dark

“During all that time the people scarcely moved, for they could not see. But there was light as usual where the people of Israel lived.“ – Exodus 10:23 NLT

Two more plagues. Two more opportunities for God to display His power. This time it would be locusts and darkness. Both would fill the land. The locusts would fill the land and cover the ground in such quantities that “the land was darkened” (Exodus 10:15 NASB). They consumed and destroyed. They ate everything in sight. What the hail had failed to destroy, the locusts did. And this plague seemed to get Pharaoh’s attention, at least for a while. But yet again, he refused to let the people go. Then God brought a darkness on the land. God described it as a “darkness which may be felt” (Exodus 10:21 NASB). “A darkness so dark you can touch it (The Message). This darkness would last three entire days. During that time no one could see anyone else. You could have held up your hand in front of your face and you would have seen nothing. All light was gone. It reminds me of the time I took our family to Carsbad Caverns in New Mexico. At one point in the tour, they take you into a cavernous room, then they turn out the lights. Suddenly you find yourself in an inky darkness that is totally devoid of any light source. You can’t see a thing. All perception is lost. Your eyes are incapable of penetrating the intense blackness that seems to enfold you. It was a very disconcerting feeling. But imagine that kind of darkness everywhere you look. Consider what it must have been like to find yourself immersed in complete darkness with no hope of seeing anyone or anything, no matter how hard you tried. There was no moon glow, no fire light, no lamps to provide even the slightest of light. And you had no idea of knowing when it would end. That would have been a terrifying experience. No one left his home. No one ventured out. Their Sun god, Ra, had failed them. He had been effectively destroyed by the God of Israel.

Yet, the Israelites had light in their dwellings. Moses records, “But there was light as usual where the people of Israel lived” (Exodus 10:23 NLT). While the Egyptians, including Pharaoh himself, were immersed in darkness, the Israelites found themselves bathed in light. God provided for His own. He gave them light in the midst of the darkness. It reminds me of John chapter one where John describes Jesus in the following way: “Life itself was in him, and this life gives light to everyone. The light shines through the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it” (John 1:4-5 NLT). Jesus is the Light of the world. He came into the world to expose and eliminate the darkness in which men were living. But John goes on to tell us, “The light from heaven came into the world, but they loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. They hate the light because they want to sin in the darkness. They stay away from the light for fear their sins will be exposed and they will be punished” (John 3:19-20 NLT). What a picture this story in Exodus is of the fate of mankind. Men today live in complete darkness – the darkness of sin. They cannot see to do good. They are blind and incapable of saving themselves. They grope around in the dark trying to save themselves, but find it impossible. The darkness of this world is palpable, it can be felt. It is all around us. Yet, as believers we have the Light of life living within us. While others stumble about in darkness, we have our lives illuminated by the Light Himself. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t be stumbling through the darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life” (John 8:12 NLT). No stumbling around in the dark. No sitting around in the pitch black stillness, incapable of even the simplest task. No, we have all the Light we need to live life abundantly and fully. In face, because we have the Light within us, we “are the light of the world – like a city on a mountain, glowing in the night for all to see” (Matthew 5:14 N:T). Can the world see your light today?

Father, Your Son has lit up my life with His life. He has illuminated the darkness that once filled my life. Now let me shine for You. Let my life shine brightly in the midst of all the darkness that surrounds me. Thank You for giving me light so that I can see. Help me expose the darkness that fills the world and engulfs so many today. Amen.

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org

God’s power on display

“I could have killed you all by now. I could have attacked you with a plague that would have wiped you from the face of the earth. But I have let you live for this reason – that you might see my power and that my fame might spread throughout the earth.“ – Exodus 9:15-16 NLT

Every plague God brought against the nation of Egypt was a display of His power. There were an open attack on the gods of Egypt and a powerful argument for the superiority of God. Chapters eight and nine include the frogs, gnats, flies, pestilence, boils, and hail. Each one was representative of a different Egyptian god or goddess. And Pharaoh and his sorcerers were powerless to stop the attacks. In fact, all they could do was replicate a few of them. Which, when you think about it, is a bit humorous. Here is the nation overrun by frogs, and the best the sorcerers could do was make even more! They even tried to make more gnats (Exodus 8:18), but were unsuccessful. God’s power was on display. One plague at a time.

At any time God could have wiped out the entire nation of Egypt. He could have brought a single plague and ended the whole thing. He even said so. “I could have killed you all by now. I could have attacked you with a plague that would have wiped you from the face of the earth” (Exodus 9:15 NLT). God wasn’t impotent or at a loss as to what to do. No, He knew exactly what He was doing. God had no desire to wipe out the nation of Egypt. He wanted to display His power. He wanted His reputation to spread throughout all the earth. “But I have let you live for this reason – that you might see my power and that my fame might spread throughout the earth” (Exodus 9:16 NLT). Word was going to get out about this whole affair. Visitors who happened to be in Egypt at the time of these events would eventually return home and tell what they had seen. News of God’s attacks on Egypt would spread. Word that He had spared the people of Israel would get around. It wouldn’t take long for other nations to hear that this God was a powerful god and He had a chosen people.

Beginning with the fourth plague, God began to exempt His people from the effects of the plagues. The land of Goshen, in which they lived, was spared and their livestock and crops were not impacted by the devastation God brought down on the people of Egypt. God was making a point to the people of Egypt and the children of Israel. There is no god like the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Step by step, plague by plague, He was revealing His power and His authority. Each time Pharaoh hardened his heart and refused to give in to the demands of Moses, God had another opportunity to display His power. Not out of anger or vengeance, but as a means to convince men that He was truly God. Over and over again, you read the phrase, “Then you will know that no one is as powerful as the LORD our God” (Exodus 8:10 NLT). That is what God has been out to convince men of since the beginning. There is no one or nothing as powerful as the Lord. He is incomparable, unstoppable, and all-powerful. And today He wants to reveal His power and spread the fame of His name through the lives of His people – the church. He wants His reputation to get around as He works in and through the lives of His children. Yet we refuse to let Him work. We do it all ourselves. Instead of allowing God to display His power in our lives, we live as if there is no God – leaning on our own understanding, depending on our own strength, relying on out own abilities, and turning to the gods of this world to meet our needs and provide us with hope. We are His people. We are His children. He wants to provide for us. He wants to work through us. He wants to reveal His power in us.

Father, I have made You into a weak and impotent God. I claim You are powerful, but I live as though You are not. I don’t allow You to display Your power in my life. I tend to try to do it all myself. When You do work, I tend to take the credit. The reputation of Your name should be spreading like wildfire as You work among Your people. But we are a self-sufficient lot. We tend to want to do it all ourselves. And in doing so, we turn up our nose at Your power and settle for lives of mediocrity and weakness. I want to see Your power on display in my life each and every day. I want to recognize Your power already at work in and around my life. I want to spread Your fame throughout the nations as You display Your power on my behalf. Amen.

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org

Showtime!

“By this you shall know that I am the Lord.“ – Exodus 17:7a NASB

Chapter seven is the beginning of God’s miraculous deliverance of His people. He has heard their cries and He is going to intervene on their behalf. His is a well-thought-out, highly orchestrated plan that is designed to illustrate His power and His superiority over the gods of Egypt. After 400 years of living in the land of Egypt, the descendants of Jacob (Israel) have become desensitized and acclimated to the culture in which they had been living. They had taken on the worship of the gods of Egypt and there were a lot of them. While Jacob had been a worshiper of Yahweh, there had been no formalized worship of Him in Egypt, so it had been easy for the people to grow complacent and slowly take on the religious preferences of their hosts. So much of what God is about to do is for their benefit. He tells Moses and Aaron, “But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart that I may multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt” (Exodus 7:3 NASB). The people of God had not seen the hand of God in a long time. They had been living in the land of Egypt for a long time and had lost contact with the God of their father Jacob. But now God was about to reveal Himself in an incredible and unforgettable way. Not only would the Egyptians know that He was the Lord, so would the people of Israel.

God has Moses start out with the “serpent trick” He had shown him in the wilderness. So Aaron throws down his staff and it turns into a serpent. But the sorcerers of Pharaoh take their staffs and do the same thing. They somehow were able to replicate this miracle, only to have their “serpents” consumed by God’s “serpent.” In spite of this impressive display of God’s power and Moses’ authority as God’s spokesperson, Pharaoh’s heart is hardened and he refuses to listen to them – just as God said would happen. So that prepares the stage for the ten plagues. God is going to unleash on the people of Egypt the full brunt of His power in the form of ten miraculous plagues, and every single one of them is a symbol of God’s power over the gods of Egypt. The first would be turning the water of the Nile River into blood, destroying all life in it and eliminating the primary source of water for the region. There were at least two gods of the Nile, Hapi, the spirit of the Nile, and Khnum, whose job it was to guard the Nile. Both were no match for God Almighty. In turning the Nile into blood, God effectively destroyed the spirit or life of the Nile. And if any god was guarding the Nile, he failed miserably. This mighty river, upon which the  lives of the people of Egypt depended, was rendered useless by God. Not only that, but every reservoir, bucket, bowl, or cistern containing water was impacted by this plague. All water in the land of Egypt was turned to blood. Yet Pharaoh refused to listen to them. He simply went back into his house “with no concern even for this” (Exodus 7:23 NASB).

But God was not done. He would bring more plagues and reveal even more of His power. Each time it would be a statement of His power over the gods of Egypt and a revelation of His power to the people of Israel. He wanted them to be ready to follow Him when the time came. Which makes me think about how much God wants to reveal his power in our lives today and show that He is greater than the gods of our day. He is greater than the god of materialism, greater than the god of popularity and fame, greater than the god of pleasure, greater than the god of finance, greater than the god of power, greater than the god of government, greater than the god of entertainment, greater than the god of intelligence…He is greater than all the things we turn to for help, hope, sustenance, comfort, joy, pleasure, deliverance, etc. And He wants to show us His power. He wants us to know that He is the Lord by allowing Him to work in our lives. And He is working in and around our lives in incredible ways doing miraculous things. But we refuse to see Him or acknowledge His activity. Like Pharaoh, our hearts become hardened and we continue to turn to the gods of our own making. We even attempt to replicate the miracles of God by performing our own cheap imitations of God’s power, just like Pharaoh’s sorcerers. We save ourselves by turning to our money, by leaning on our intelligence, by trusting in our government, by seeking joy through pleasure and by distracting ourselves through entertainment.

But God wants us to know His power. He wants to reveal Himself as the one and only God in our lives. He is out to convince us that He is the Lord. Are we going to listen?

Father, You are as powerful today as you were all those years ago in Egypt. You are working today just as much as you did then. You are delivering today just like you did in the days of Moses. But we fail to see Your power and we refuse to notice You at work all around us. Open my eyes to that I can see and appreciate Your power. Forgive me for turning to the gods of this world. They cannot satisfy me or save me, yet I keep putting my hope and trust in them. May I learn to seek and see Your power in my life and nothing more. So that I might know that You are the Lord. Amen.

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org

Because I AM – I will

“Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the LORD, and I will free you from your slavery in Egypt. I will redeem you with mighty power and great acts of judgment. I will make you my own special people, and I will be your God. And you will know that I am the LORD your God who has rescued you from your slavery in Egypt.“ – Exodus 6:6-7 NLT

Okay, so things didn’t get off on the best note. After Moses breaks the news to the people that they are going to be set free by God and they rejoice and worship, he breaks the news to Pharaoh. The response he got from Pharaoh was slightly different. A resounding, “No way I’m going to let you go. What do you think, I’m crazy or something?” Pharaoh rejected Moses’ request and told he and the people to get back to work. The more Moses pushed on the subject, the angrier Pharaoh got, until he began to turn up the heat on them. He demanded they make the bricks for his work projects, but instead of him providing the straw, they would have to get their own. He doubled their daily quota of bricks. He had them beaten and pushed relentlessly. It got so bad that the Hebrew foreman (who were being beaten as well), went to Pharaoh and begged him to relent. He simply told them they were lazy and to get back to work. They had had enough. So the next time they see Moses and Aaron, they give them an earful. “May the LORD judge you for getting us into this terrible situation with Pharaoh and his officials. You have given them an excuse to kill us!” (Exodus 5:21 NLT).

Even Moses couldn’t explain this situation. He had come here to set the people of Israel free and things had just gotten worse. So he takes his frustration to the Lord. “Why have you mistreated your own people like this, Lord? Why did you send me? Since I gave Pharaoh your message, he has been even more brutal to your people. You have not even begun to rescue them!” (Exodus 5:22-23 NLT). Moses couldn’t understand why things were going so wrong. He wanted to know why God had not done what He said He would do. Moses began to question why he ever agreed to do this job in the first place.

But God was not done. He rarely is. He knew exactly what He was doing. He always does. And He reminds Moses who he is talking to and what He is about to do. “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the LORD, and I will free you from your slavery in Egypt. I will redeem you with mighty power and great acts of judgment. I will make you my own special people, and I will be your God. And you will know that I am the LORD your God who has rescued you from your slavery in Egypt. I will bring you into the land I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It will be your very own property. I am the LORD!’” (Exodus 6:6-8 NLT). God tells Moses to tell the people that their God is Yahweh, the One who will redeem them. He had always been known to them God Almighty (El Shaddai), but now they would know Him in a different way – as their redeemer. He tells Moses to tell the people just exactly what Yahweh is going to do for them:

I will free you

I will redeem you

I will make you My special people

I will be your God

I will bring you into the land

I will give the land to you as a possession

Because He was the great I AM, He was going to do all these things for them. And the result would be that they would know that He was the Lord their God. But the people did not listen to Moses. They were so hung up on the condition of their circumstances that they refused to listen to Moses or believe what he was saying. As far as they were concerned, their God had caused them nothing but trouble. They were worse off ever since Moses came to “deliver” them. But God was about to reveal Himself to the people of Israel. They were going to see Him perform incredible acts on their behalf. He would reveal Himself to them as He acted on their behalf. And He is still doing that today. God wants to reveal Himself in my life and your life each day by acting on our behalf. But like the people of Israel, we refuse to believe it. We look at our circumstances and think there is no way that God can get us out of the mess we’re in. We even think He may be the cause of it! But God is the redeemer-God. He is in the redeeming business. He wants to redeem us daily, free us, make us His special people, be our personal, intimate God and fulfill every one of His promises to us. And He will, because He is the great I AM. God is still in the redeeming business.

Father, thank You for redeeming my life from slavery to sin through Jesus Christ, my kinsmen-redeemer. He gave His life so that I might have eternal life and life to the full right now. Help me to see You at work in and around my life today. Help me to trust You and take You at Your word. You keep all Your promises. You will fulfill all Your plans for me. Because You are faithful.  Amen.

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org

That they may believe

“Perform this sign, and they will believe you,” the LORD told him. “Then they will realize that the LORD, the God of their ancestors––the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob––really has appeared to you.“ – Exodus 4:5 NLT

The story of Exodus is about redemption – God redeeming His people from slavery and setting them free to serve Him. But it also a story about belief. In it you see the constant battle of belief as the chosen people of God struggle believing in the reality and reliability of God. It is a book filled with signs and wonders, plagues and miracles, incredible events and unexplainable stories of God’s intervention in their lives. Yet they refuse to believe. They doubt, fear, grumble, whine, moan, and refuse to do what God tells them to do. Even Moses, the one God chose to lead His people out of captivity struggles with belief. As he debates with God over his role as the great emancipator of the people, Moses tells God, “Look, they won’t believe me! They won’t do what I tell them. They’ll just say, ‘The LORD never appeared to you.’” (Exodus 4:1 NLT). Thus begins Moses’ long list of excuses for not doing what God is calling him to do. Moses’ real problem is not that the people wont believe him, it is that he is having a hard time believing God. His own doubt is a sign of unbelief. He is basically telling God, “You can’t do this!” When he says, “They won’t believe me!”, he is telling God that this plan of His will not work. But God gives him a sign, and it was a sign that came with a cost or risk to Moses. God turned his wooden staff into a poisonous snake. Then he told Moses to pick it up by the tail, not something anyone who had lived in the desert for long would ever do! But it was that risky step that would cause not only the people to believe, but Moses. Belief is faith in action. It involves a degree of risk.

God gave Moses another sign, He told Moses to put his hand inside his cloak, then remove it. When he did, it came out covered in leprosy. Can you imagine the shock and fear Moses went through. He knew about leprosy and he knew it wasn’t good. It never ended well. But God told him to put his hand back in his cloak and when he removed it, it was clean again. God told Moses, “If they do not believe the first miraculous sign, they will believe the second” (Exodus 4:8 NLT). But this sign was really aimed at Moses. He had a personal stake in it. It was designed to help Moses believe. But in spite of what he had just seen, Moses continued to struggle with his unbelief. He uses his own personal flaws as a reason to doubt God. How could God use someone like him, a man who was a lousy public speaker, to be His spokesperson. At first glance, this would appear to be a case of Moses doubting himself, but he is really doubting God. He believes God is limited by his own limitations. That’s unbelief. That’s doubt. But God tells Moses, “Now go, and do as I have told you. I will help you speak well, and I will tell you what to say” (Exodus 4:12 NLT). Stop doubting and go! God even agrees to give Moses his brother Aaron as his right-hand man and mouthpiece. But he does not let Moses off the hook. He is still going to have to go and do what God has called him to do.

This is going to be a journey of belief and disbelief, trust and doubt, faith and failure, reliance and rebellion. And through it all, God will be revealing Himself in unbelievable ways so that His people will believe in Him. But isn’t that the journey of faith we find ourselves on? Every day we are being forced to put our faith to the test. We find ourselves in situations and circumstances where we have to find out what it is we really believe. Do we believe in God or do we believe the lies of the enemy? Will we lean on God or our own limited understanding. When Moses returned to Egypt and gathered the people together, he and Aaron told them what God had said and performed the signs God had given them. The result was that the people believed. “So the people believed; and when they heard that the LORD was concerned about the sons of Israel and that He had seen their affliction, then they bowed low and worshiped.” (Exodus 4:31 NASB). They believed and worshiped. But the next day would bring with it renewed doubt. Their belief was going to be tested. The worth-ship of God was going to come under fire. Could He really be trusted? Was He really worthy of their praise and honor? Today will hold the same thing for you and me today. Will we believe? The truth is, we believe in all kinds of things. We believe sin will bring pleasure. We believe our way is better than God’s way. We believe we are smarter than God. We believe we’re not usable by God. We believe. But we don’t always believe God.

Father, life is all about belief. Will I believe You today? Will I worship You today? In spite of the circumstances and situations I encounter. Will I see You in the midst of all that is going on in my life? Will I believe Your promises and Your Word regardless of what I see happening around me and to me? I want to believe. I want my belief to be more than an intellectual assent. I want it to be real. I want my belief to be in You and not myself or the world around me. Help me learn to believe You as I read through the story of Exodus. Open my eyes. Change my heart. Amen.

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org

What a coincidence!

“Years passed, and the king of Egypt died. But the Israelites still groaned beneath their burden of slavery. They cried out for help, and their pleas for deliverance rose up to God. God heard their cries and remembered his covenant promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.“ – Exodus 2:23-24 NLT

Chapters two and three are examples of Scripture passages we can read and blow right through them, missing out on all the incredible details of God’s sovereignty and power. We read them as stories and marvel at some of the “coincidences” that take place. But we run the risk of missing the picture they present of God’s underlying plan of redemption for His people. Nothing is a coincidence. Nothing just happens. It is all part of God’s grand plan. If you read verses 23 and 24 of chapter two, you could easily draw the conclusion that God was unaware of their need until they cried out to Him. But if you read between the lines, you see that God was already well aware of what was going on and had already begun putting into place the necessary ingredients for His plan to begin.

An obscure Jewish woman named Jochebed, who happened to be married to a descendant of Levi, has a son. Nothing too spectacular there. It happened all the time in Jewish households. Except for the fact that the Pharaoh had just ordered that every male child born to the Hebrews was to be killed. So Jochebed, a Godly woman, hides her son in a basket lined with pitch and sets him afloat on the river. Interestingly enough, the Hebrew word for “basket” is the same word used when referring to the ark that God used to save the family of Noah (Genesis 6). This defenseless baby, floating alone on the river just happens to wind up right at the foot of the Pharaoh’s palace, where the great Egyptian leader’s daughter is bathing. She discovers the basket and the child within, immediately recognizes that he is a Hebrew baby, then makes a surprising decision. Rather than turn him over to the authorities for immediate execution, she turns him over to a young Hebrew girl who just happened to be passing by. Miriam takes the baby and gives him back to his mother Jochebed to raise – on the payroll of Pharaoh himself.

Eventually Moses is returned to the Pharaoh’s palace and is raised as an Egyptian. In that environment, he receives a great education, military training, and develops leadership skills that will serve him well in the future. Yet his life as an Egyptian ends when he accidently kills another Egyptian while trying to defend one of the Hebrews. News of this crime results in Moses having to run for his life. He goes from prince to murderer to fugitive in a very short period of time. But in his running he ends up in the land of Midian where he meets Jethro, a worshiper of Yahweh. Moses marries one of Jethro’s daughters and settles down taking on the life of a shepherd.

It was here that Moses received his call from God. Everything that had happened up until this point had been preparation for this moment. We are told that God heard their cries and remembered His covenant promise. This was not new news to God. He was well aware of their situation and had a plan in place to deal with it. Jochebed was part of that plan. Miriam was part of that plan. Pharaoh’s daughter was part of that plan. Pharaoh himself was part of that plan. Jethro was part of that plan. Zipporah was part of that plan. And Moses was part of that plan. God called Moses. He shared His plan with Moses. He revealed Himself to Moses. And He made a promise to Moses that He would use Moses to deliver the People of Israel from captivity and provide for them a land of their own – “a land flowing with milk and honey.” A land of abundance and prosperity.

This is not the story of Moses. It is not the story of the people of Israel. It is the story of God. The whole Bible is the story of God. He is the star. The plot revolves around Him. Everyone else is a bit player. Including Pharoah, Jochebed, Amram, Miriam, Pharaoh’s daughter, Jethro, Zipporah, and Moses himself. God reveals Himself to Moses as the great I AM. He is essentially telling Moses “I am the One who is.” “I am self-existent, not created.”  “I am not bound by time.” “I am present right now and into the future.”  You can see the reality of this all throughout this story. God has been there all along, working behind the scenes. God is not just the God of the future, He is the God of the present and the past. He is timeless. He knew the situation the Hebrews were in long before they cried out. He knew what they would need long before He stepped in to deliver it. He had already begun putting the pieces in place, as far back as Joseph’s arrival in Egypt after having been sold into slavery by his own brothers.

So what’s the point? This story is about God. Look for him. See what it reveals about Him. Instead of concentrating on the characters in the story, dwell on the character of God.

Father, You are the great I AM. You are, have been , and always will be. You are not limited by time and space. You are timeless, limitless, and your power should leave us speechless. Help me to see You in the story of Exodus. Give me a glimpse of You. May I see the reality of Your redemptive story for mankind in the story of the redemption of Israel. Amen.

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org

The party’s over

“They made their lives bitter with hard labour in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their hard labour the Egyptians used them ruthlessly.“ – Exodus 1:14 NLT

When we last left the family of Jacob (or Israel), they had just moved to the land of Egypt to be with Joseph, Jacob’s long-lost son, who was now second-in-command to the Pharaoh himself. When they had arrived on the scene, they were treated well by Pharaoh, as an honor to Joseph. In fact, Pharaoh told Joseph, “Now that your family has joined you here, choose any place you like for them to live. Give them the best land of Egypt––the land of Goshen will be fine. And if any of them have special skills, put them in charge of my livestock, too” (Genesis 47:5-6 NLT). And that’s exactly what Joseph did. “So Joseph assigned the best land of Egypt––the land of Rameses––to his father and brothers, just as Pharaoh had commanded” (Genesis 47:11 NLT). When they had arrived there were only 66 of them (not including their wives), but in the years that followed, the family of Joseph would grow. Exodus 1 tells us “But their descendants had many children and grandchildren. In fact, they multiplied so quickly that they soon filled the land” (Exodus 1:7 NLT). God was with them and He was blessing them, in keeping with the covenant He had made with Abraham many years before.

But even in blessing there can be difficulty. In fact, their fruitfulness would lead to conflict with the Egyptians. There was a new Pharaoh in charge now and Moses tells us that he “did not know Joseph.” Joseph was dead and this Pharaoh had no recollection of who he was or what he had done to help save the nation of Egypt during the time of famine. All he knew was there were far too many Hebrews living in his land and he was going to do something about it. This is the first in a long and sad line of attempts by men to eradicate the Jewish people from the face of the earth. History is replete with case after case of men trying to wipe out the Hebrew people. Hitler wasn’t the first to come up with the idea.

But this conflict was going to set the stage for the rest of the story. God had a plan. And His plan was bigger and greater than that of Pharaoh. The persecutions and pogrom of Pharaoh was not going to get in the way of what God had planned for His chosen people. As a matter of fact, it was going to be the very thing God would use to set His people free. Slavery and persecution would become the backdrop for His plan of redemption for them. But to set them free, they would have to be enslaved. Had they never been persecuted by the Egyptians, the Israelites would never have wanted to leave. They had nothing to go back to. They had no land, no home, no gardens, no farms. They were content living in Egypt. But things were about to change. The situation was about to heat up. Because God had a plan for them. He had a promise He was going to fulfill.

Chapter 1 sets up the great redemptive plan of God for the people of Israel. It is act one in the play that God has written. Things look bleak. It seems as if everything is going wrong for the people of Israel. But we see that God is there. He is blessing them and multiplying them. He is working behind the scenes with the midwives, giving them courage and conviction. And He is getting ready to raise up a deliverer.

Father, thanks for the reminder of Your sovereign plan in the lives of men. I am so short-sighted. I can only see so far, and then I begin to panic, because I don’t see You at work all the time. I concentrate on the circumstances and forget that You are working behind the scenes in ways I can’t see. Let the story of Exodus remind me once again of Your unstoppable plan. You are in control and I have no reason to fear – even in the face of overwhelming odds and unexplainable circumstances. Amen.

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org