Devotions

the impossible commission

Posted on August 10, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

Exodus 6:1-13

¹ So the LORD responded to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; because with a strong hand he will send them off, and with a strong hand he will throw them out of his land.”² God spoke to Moses and he said to him, “I am the LORD.³ I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but my name the LORD I did not make known to them.⁴ I also set my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as temporary residents.⁵ I also have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant.⁶ Therefore say to the sons of Israel, ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the labors of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from serving them, and I will redeem you by an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment.⁷ I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you for a God, and you will know that I am the LORD your God, bringing you out from under the labors of the Egyptians.⁸ I will bring you into the land that I lifted my hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the LORD.'”⁹ Moses said this to the sons of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses, because of their shortness of spirit and severe slavery.¹⁰ So the LORD spoke to Moses,saying ¹¹ “Come in, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the sons of Israel go out of his land.”¹² But Moses said to the LORD, “See, the sons of Israel have not listened to me. Why then should Pharaoh listen to me, for I am of uncircumcised lips?”¹³ But the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron and commanded them about the sons of Israel and about Pharaoh king of Egypt: to bring the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

the impossible commission

Moses and Aaron were given an impossible task to perform. They were to persuade an unwilling people to go where they had never been, and an unwilling king to send them out. Moses complained to the LORD that even the people were not listening to him. He had serious doubts that Pharaoh would agree with the deliverance. Moses was right. He did not have what it would take to accomplish this mission. Welcome to serving God. He always gives us more than we can do. He does this because everything he commands us to do is something he plans to do through us. His is the mission, his is the plan, his is the power. It can be discouraging when we try and try and keep failing. But it is an amazing thing when he steps in and accomplishes deliverance. The life of faith is mostly about taking on those impossible tasks, and trusting the LORD in the process, regardless of the outcome. If he wanted to make us super-beings who always succeeded, he could. But he wants us to be trusting beings, who rely on him.

LORD, you are doing a number of impossible things today. Give us the courage to take on your impossible commission, and to step back and watch you work.

Posted in commitment, courage, deliverance, dependence upon God, missions, Moses | Tagged Exodus 6 | 2 Comments

resistance to the miracle

Posted on August 9, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

Exodus 5:1-23

5:1 After that, Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “This is what the LORD – the God of Israel – says, ‘Let my people go, so that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.’”² But Pharaoh said, “Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.”³ Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.”⁴ But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people away from their work? Get back to your labor.”⁵ And Pharaoh said, “See, the people of the land are now many, and you are making them rest from their labor!”⁶ The same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen,⁷ “You shall no longer provide straw for the people to make bricks, as you have in the past; let them go and gather straw for themselves.⁸ But you shall impose on them the same number of bricks that they made in the past, you will not reduce it, because they are lazy. Therefore they cry, ‘Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.’⁹ Let heavier work be laid on the men that they may labor at it and pay no regard to lying words.”¹⁰ So the taskmasters and the foremen of the people went out and said to the people, “Thus says Pharaoh, ‘I will not give you straw.¹¹ Go and get your straw yourselves wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced at all.’”¹² So the people were scattered throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw.¹³ The taskmasters pressed them, saying, “Finish your work, your daily task each day, just as when there was straw.”¹⁴ And the foremen of the people of Israel, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten and were asked, “Why have you not done all your task of making bricks today and yesterday, as in the past?”¹⁵ Then the foremen of the people of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, “Why do you treat your servants like this?¹⁶ No straw is given to your servants, yet they say to us, ‘Make bricks!’ And behold, your servants are beaten; but the fault is in your own people.”¹⁷ But he said, “You are lazy, you are lazy; that is why you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the LORD.’¹⁸ Go now and get to work. No straw will be given you, but you must still deliver the same number of bricks.”¹⁹ The foremen of the people of Israel saw that they were in trouble when they said, “You will not reduce your number of bricks, your daily task each day.”²⁰ They met Moses and Aaron, who stood before them, as they came out from Pharaoh;²¹ and they said to them, “The LORD look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the eyes of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.”²² Then Moses turned to the LORD and said, “O LORD, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me?²³ Because since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.”

resistance to the miracle

The LORD knew that the Israelites would encounter resistance from Pharaoh. He knew that the king’s stubborn heart would resist the freedom that he wanted for his people. Pharaoh’s excuse for mistreating them was that all this religious talk was just laziness. Pharaoh saw it as a threat to himself and his kingdom, so he pretended to brand it as irrelevant. But he did not really treat it as irrelevant. He took action against it, because he knew it was a challenge to the loyalty that he had always known.

When you decide that you have had enough of your bondage, and you declare that you want to go and serve the LORD, expect some resistance to that miracle. The king you have been serving (while you thought it was just yourself) is going to sit up and take notice. He’s going to make it tough on you.

LORD, give us the courage to brave the resistance we will find when we dare to seek freedom from Satan’s bondage in our lives.

Posted in deliverance, discipleship, Moses | Tagged Exodus 5 | 1 Comment

changing for the sake of the mission

Posted on August 8, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

Exodus 4:18-31

¹⁸ Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and asked him, “Please let me go back to my brothers in Egypt to see whether they are still alive.” And Jethro told Moses, “Go in peace.”¹⁹ And the LORD had said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all the men who were seeking your life are dead.”²⁰ So Moses took his wife and his sons and had them ride on a donkey, and went back to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the staff of God in his hand.²¹ And the LORD said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see to all the miracles before Pharaoh that I have put in your power. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.²² Then you will say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the LORD says, Israel is my firstborn son,²³ and I say to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me.” If you refuse to let him go, see, I will kill your firstborn son.'”²⁴ At a lodging place on the way the LORD met him and sought to put him to death.²⁵ Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it and said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me!”²⁶ So he let him alone. It was at that time that she said, “A bridegroom of blood,” because of the circumcision.²⁷ The LORD had told Aaron, “Go into the desert to meet Moses.” So he went and met him at the mountain of God and kissed him.²⁸ And Moses told Aaron all the words of the LORD with which he had sent him to speak, and all the signs that he had commanded him to do.²⁹ Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the people of Israel.³⁰ Aaron spoke all the words that the LORD had spoken to Moses and did the signs in the sight of the people.³¹ And the people believed; and when they heard that the LORD had visited the people of Israel and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed their heads and worshiped.

changing for the sake of the mission

Moses’ return to Egypt was a cross-cultural mission, because even though Moses was a Hebrew by birth, he had lived long enough in the Midian desert to need some adjustment if he was going to reach his brothers with the good news. It turned out to be painful adjustment. It was painful for Gershom, because he had not been circumcised. It was painful for Moses, because Zipporah resented having to abide by these new customs. We do not know how well Moses and Aaron did as partners in the mission, but there may have been some tension there too. Moses was not used to being a team player.

It is not enough to just be willing to serve the LORD. Serving will involve changing; to go where he wants us to go will require allowing him to transform us so that our ministry there will be effective.

LORD, we surrender to your call. Change us so that we serve you well.

Posted in missions, Moses, sanctification, witness | Tagged Exodus 4 | 1 Comment

what I cannot do

Posted on August 7, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

Exodus 4:1-17

¹ Then Moses answered, “But see, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, because they will say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you.'”² The LORD said to him, “What is this in your hand?” He said, “A staff.”³ And he said, “Throw it to the ground.” So he threw it to the ground, and it became a snake, and Moses ran from it.⁴ But the LORD said to Moses, “Put out your hand and catch it by the tail”- so he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand-⁵ “that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”⁶ Again, the LORD said to him, “Put your hand inside your shirt.” And he put his hand inside his shirt, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow.⁷ Then God said, “Put your hand back inside your shirt.” So he put his hand back inside his shirt, and when he took it out, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh.⁸ “If they will not believe you,” God said, “or listen to the first sign, they may believe the latter sign.⁹ If they will not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, you will take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground, and the water that you will take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.”¹⁰ But Moses said to the LORD, “Oh, my Lord, I am not articulate, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant, but I am heavy of speech and of tongue.”¹¹ Then the LORD said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?¹² Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.”¹³ But he said, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.”¹⁴ Then the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses and he said, “Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. See, he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.¹⁵ You will speak to him and put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you both what to do.¹⁶ He will speak for you to the people, and he will be your mouth, and you will be as God to him.¹⁷ And take into your hand this staff, with which you will do the signs.”

what I cannot do

Moses was an expert at knowing what he could not do. The LORD had just given Moses the vision of a rescue that he intended Moses to be part of. Then Moses responded with “But…” He was actually speaking to God by means of the burning bush wifi connection. You would think that this tremendous supernatural event would help Moses get his eyes off of his own insecurities and lack of ability. But, no. Moses is so caught up in his own history of failure at rescue that he refuses to believe that God could ever use him.

Moses was probably being very honest to admit his own limitations here. But what I cannot do is not the point. God begins our story by telling humanity to reflect his image and have dominion over the planet. We cannot do that. But God not only commands us to do what we cannot do, he rests from his own work, as if to say “You can handle this.” The miracle of divine rescue is that he always chooses the unqualified. The only one qualified for the task is the Lord Jesus. All the rest of us must accept the challenge to be part of the rescue by faith.

The LORD, knowing that Moses would be caught up in his own incompetence, provided Aaron, because he knew Moses would feel more comfortable with the help. So, in my ministry and yours, our LORD gives us helpers, because he has compassion on us. He knows what we cannot do. We just need to remember that he is not limited.

LORD, we surrender our limitations and inabilities. Grant us courage to do what we know we cannot do, because we know the power at work among us.

Posted in courage, deliverance, dependence upon God, Moses, trust | Tagged Exodus 4 | 1 Comment

Yahveh

Posted on August 6, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

Exodus 3:13-22

¹³ Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what should I tell them?”¹⁴ God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.'”¹⁵ God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered for all generations.¹⁶ Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have seen you and what has been done to you in Egypt,¹⁷ and I promise that I will bring you up from the trouble of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey.”‘¹⁸ And they will listen to your voice, and you and the elders of Israel will go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; and now, please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness, so that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.’¹⁹ But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless forced by a mighty hand.²⁰ So I will stretch out my hand and hit Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it; after that he will let you go.²¹ And I will give this people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians; and when you go, you will not go empty,²² but each woman will ask of her neighbor, and any woman who lives in her house, for silver and gold jewelry, and for clothing. You will put them on your sons and on your daughters. This is how you will plunder the Egyptians.”

Yahveh

That ancient name was based on an ancient form of the verb “to be,” and spoke of a God who is infinite. He was the God of Israel’s past, being the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. He was also the God who had power for the present – a mighty hand that would force the stubborn Pharaoh to release his iron grasp on his slaves. He was equally the God of the future, who promises a new land, a land flowing with milk and honey, far away from the present trouble in Egypt.

This amazing deity is the same God who comes to us today, and commands us to trust him in our present struggles, and to put our faith in him for our future destiny. He is the I AM. We can rely on him. He will never ask us to do anything he cannot empower us to do. He will never promise anything he cannot fulfill.

LORD, we are ready to get out of Egypt. Rescue us. We trust in you.

Posted in future, plan of God, sovereignty of God, trust | Tagged Exodus 3 | 1 Comment

God’s mountain

Posted on August 5, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

Exodus 2:23-3:12

²³ And after many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue came up to God.²⁴ And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.²⁵ God saw the sons of Israel- and God knew. 3:1 At that time Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the desert and came to Horeb, God’s mountain.² And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and see, the bush was burning, but it was not consumed.³ And Moses said, “I will go over to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.”⁴ When the LORD saw that he went over to see, God called to him from the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”⁵ Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”⁶ And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.⁷ Then the LORD said, “I have certainly seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings,⁸ and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and extensive land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place now possessed by Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Periz-zites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.⁹ And now, see, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them.¹⁰ Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may rescue my people, the sons of Israel, from Egypt.”¹¹ But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and rescue the sons of Israel from Egypt?”¹² He said, “But I will be with you, and this will be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have rescued the people from Egypt, you will serve God on this mountain.”

God’s mountain

It was not the mountain that made this even special, it was the event that made the mountain special. God spoke to Moses, and commissioned him to rescue the sons of Israel. He told him that they would leave Egypt and would serve God from that very place. That would be the place where God would reveal his commandments to Moses for Israel. It served as a sort of bookmark for Moses. No matter where he went and what he did, he would always remember encountering God at Horeb/Sinai.

The place where God first spoke to you is a special place. It is consecrated by the event.

LORD, thank you for the special places in our lives that remind us of our relationship with you, and your grace to us.

Posted in Moses, relationship with God | Tagged Exodus 2, Exodus 3 | 1 Comment

the Gershom years

Posted on August 4, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

Exodus 2:11-22.

¹¹ Then after Moses had grown up, he went out to his brothers and saw their oppression, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brothers.¹² He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. ¹³ When he went out the next day, see, two Hebrews were fighting together. And he said to the man in the wrong, “Why do you strike your companion?”¹⁴ He answered, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me like you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, and thought, “Surely the thing has been made known.”¹⁵ When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses ran from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian. And he sat down by a well.¹⁶ Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock.¹⁷ The shepherds normally came and would drive them away, but Moses stood up and saved them, and watered their flock.¹⁸ When they came home to their father Reuel, he said, “Why have you come home so soon today?”¹⁹ They said, “An Egyptian rescued us out of the hand of the shepherds and even drew water for us and watered the flock.” ²⁰ He said to his daughters, “Then where is he? Why have you left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.”²¹ And Moses was agreeable to dwell with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah.²² She gave birth to a son, and he called his name Gershom, for he said, “I have been a temporary resident in a foreign land.”

the Gershom years

Having been raised in Pharaoh’s household, Moses was used to taking charge. It was second nature for him to see a problem that needed solving, and jump in with both feet. It had led him to kill the Egyptian, which only served to isolate him from both them and the Hebrews. It had led him to stand up to the shepherds, which had served to connect him to Reuel’s household. But his time in the land of Midian would be a long and surreal journey for him. He would not fit in. His son’s name showed the way he viewed this time. He knew God had a plan for him, and he would feel out of place where he was living. But God also had a purpose for the Gershom years, and Moses had to surrender to that purpose, because it also fit into God’s plan.

LORD, help us to surrender to your temporary purposes as we seek your greater plan for our lives. Help us to live fully in and learn deeply from our Gershom years.

Posted in dependence upon God, discipleship, Moses | Tagged Exodus 2 | 1 Comment

as luck would have it

Posted on August 3, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

Exodus 2:1-10

¹ Then a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a daughter of Levi.² The woman conceived and bore a son, and seeing that he was special, she hid him three months.³ When she could hide him no longer, she prepared for him a basket made of papyrus and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank.⁴ And his sister stood at a distance to find out what would happen to him.⁵ Then the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid, and she took it.⁶ After she opened it, she saw the child, and see, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.”⁷ Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?”⁸ And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother.⁹ And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him.¹⁰ When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She called his name Moses, “Because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”

as luck would have it

Moses tells the story with very little extraneous information. He does not even mention – at this point – the names of his mother, father or sister. He does not fill in the details that would help our minds imagine what it was like growing up in Pharaoh’s household. In fact, he does not even mention God here. This would have been a great place to talk about the sovereign God, at work thwarting the plans and schemes of Pharaoh. But, no, Moses describes these things as if they just happened. Later we discover how important these things were to God’s plan to rescue his people. We usually do not recognize the significance of events we take part in until we look at them from a later perspective. Moses, looking back, was thankful for the choices made by a handful of women, who took part in his rescue. He realized that luck had nothing to do with it.

LORD, thank you for your sovereign grace, often disguised as luck.

Posted in dependence upon God, grace, Moses, sovereignty of God | Tagged Exodus 2 | 1 Comment

a bad turn within God’s will

Posted on August 2, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

Exodus 1:8-22

⁸ Then a new king — who did not remember Joseph — began reigning over Egypt,.⁹ And he said to his people, “See, the people of the sons of Israel are too many and too strong for us.¹⁰ Cooperate!, let us deal wisely with them, or else they will keep multiplying, and, when war breaks out, they will join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.”¹¹ Therefore they set rulers over them to force heavy burdens upon them. They built store cities for Pharaoh, Pithom and Raamses.¹² But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they permeated the country. And the Egyptians detested the people of Israel.¹³ So they callously made the people of Israel work as slaves¹⁴ and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work they callously made them work as slaves.¹⁵ Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah,¹⁶ “When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you will kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.”¹⁷ But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live.¹⁸ So the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this, and let the male children live?”¹⁹ The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are strong and give birth before the midwife comes to them.”²⁰ So God treated the midwives well. And the people continued to multiply and grew very strong.²¹ And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.²² Then Pharaoh ordered all his people, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall throw into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.”

a bad turn within God’s will

The Israelites were doing exactly what God had called them to do, and it turned the Egyptians against them. I can imagine a community worker within the Israelite community bringing the elders together and saying “We have to do something about this overpopulation problem because it is causing bad intercultural relations!” That did not happen, apparently, but that seems to be the attitude many take in the church today. Any time somebody complains about us, there seems to be someone within the church who champions their cause. Sometimes their criticism is valid. But the story of the Exodus shows us that when the world complains about God’s people it can be because we are getting something right, not wrong. When life seems to take a bad turn for us, it may be because we are in the center of God’s will, and he has a plan that involves the conflict.

LORD, give us insight into your plan, and the courage to follow that plan, even if it means facing conflict with others.

Posted in commitment, conflict, courage | Tagged Exodus 1 | 1 Comment

no vacancy

Posted on August 1, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

Exodus 1:1-7

¹These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each man with his family:² Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah,³ Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin,⁴ Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.⁵ All the souls coming out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls; Joseph being already in Egypt.⁶ Joseph eventually died, and all his brothers and all that generation.⁷ But the sons of Israel had been fruitful and greatly crowded Egypt; they multiplied and grew very strong, so that the land was filled with them.

no vacancy

In the Spring 2014 edition of The Advent Christian Witness, Dr. Gordon L. Isaac, reflecting on John 5:39, draws several parallels between the life of Christ, and the story of God’s people being delivered from Egypt in the Exodus.

Even in this introduction section, Moses tells of how the population of Israel had grown to the point where the Egyptians were getting crowded. Pretty soon there would be no room. Jesus came into a world so crowded that he had no place to be born. His parents had to settle for a stable because there was no room at the inn.

One lesson we can learn from this passage is that we also are born into a world that does not have room for us. We need to seek another kingdom, because this one is just too crowded. We can be grateful for that fact, though, because the kingdom we are to seek is so much more wonderful than the one we are born to escape.

LORD, thank you for blessing us with such abundance that we have overcrowded little Egypt. Give us the courage to get out, by taking advantage of your offer to rescue us.

Posted in Jesus Christ, kingdom of God, plan of God, worldview | Tagged Exodus 1 | 1 Comment