Day: 15 Exodus: 10-14 The Exodus

THE OF EXODUS

 Tell Your Children?

 Exodus 10.1-2

Although God’s miracles did not soften the king’s heart, they did show the Israelites how powerful God really was, God told Moses the Israelites needed to tell their children about these miracles so future generations would know about God's love and power. 

It is up to us to make sure that future generations know about God's miracles and His love for us. Whether or not? 

-We HAVE children of our own, we should do all we can to get God’s Word into the hearts and minds of children.

-We SHOULD share with them how God has worked in our lives. 

We MUST tell them what God can do in their lives, too. We can read the Bible to them or tell them some Bible stories.

Most of all, we can love all children as God does.

A Night to Remember

 Exodus 12.24-25

The Passover was not to be observed just this one time in Egypt. It was also to be celebrated each year after the Israelites had reached the land God had promised them. God wanted his people to remember this night forever because he wanted them to remember how he rescued them from bondage.

 Holidays such as Passover, Good Friday, Easter, and Christmas are good times for us to remember what God has done for us.

 These special times are also excellent opportunities for parents to teach their children about the LORD’S goodness and faithfulness to His people.

 Which Way Is Best?

 Exodus 13.17-22

The Shortest path from Egypt to Canaan was a sandy, desert route. The Israelites could have made the trip in two or three weeks by taking this path, but God didn’t lead them on the easiest, most convenient route. Instead, He took them on a longer trip to protect His people. No doubt, the Israelites who knew geography wondered about the wisdom of God’s leadership. By human standards, this route made no sense.

God was laying an inescapable trap for the Egyptians. He was also preparing another exciting display of His power to rescue his people.

God does not always work in the way that seems easiest to us. Many times, the road He leads us on is not the shortest, or the most comfortable, or the most convenient.

God looks at the trip from an eternal viewpoint. He sees where we were yesterday, where are today, and where we will be tomorrow. 

God is our only true guide. Amen

God Bless you

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Day 14 Ex 6-9 Reasons for Plagues

Reasons for Plagues

-Everything happens for a season and a reason because God is in control of the situation.

 -The plagues represented God’s judgment on those who were reluctant to repent.

God sent the plagues for two purposes :-

-To show the Israelites that the God of their fathers was alive and worthy of their worship 

-To show the Egyptians that their gods were nothing.

Reasons for the Plagues:-

1. God sent the plagues because Pharaoh refused to let go of the Israelites.             

2. Through the plagues God revealed his powers to the Egyptians and the Israelites. 

3. Because of slavery and bitter life, they were losing faith in God who brought them to Egypt.  So God wanted to re-build the faith of the Israelites.                                                                                   

4. The Israelites were treated harshly, so God wanted to deliver his people and execute judgment on the Egyptians.                                                                         

5. The pride of the Egyptians was destroyed when they witnessed and experienced the plagues. Some turned to trust the God of Israel.  They joined the Israelites in their Exodus.                                                                                                             

6. The plagues proved that God of Israelites alone had control over heaven, earth and all nature.                                                                                                            

7. The plagues shook the Egyptian trust in their God and the Israelites experienced God’s love and his zeal for his people.                                                                      

8. The faith of the Israelites in their God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was restored and strengthened.                                                                                                       

9. By the time the Israelites left Egypt, they had a clear picture of God’s power, God’s protection and God’s plan for them.                                                     

10. Those who believed, they were convinced that they served the true and living God. Sadly, many still failed to believe, which led to other trials and lessons by God. 

11. When God opened a way through the Red Sea for the Israelites, they drowned all of Pharaoh’s armies there and the power of Egypt was crushed, and the fear of God spread through the surrounding nations.

Joshua 2:9-11  “This was the very purpose that God had declared at the beginning. We can still look back on these events today to confirm our faith in, and our fear of, this true and living God, the Judge of all the earth”.

Thus the plagues demonstrated Man’s helplessness and God’s complete control. 

-Whatever may be our problems, we just need to put our full trust in God.

God Bless you

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Day 14 - " Time is Changing"

Exodus 6

" The Times They Are A-Changing" 

The Israelite's are about to face some real tough times, as Moses and Aaron approach the Pharaoh to allow them to conduct the sacrifices in the desert 3 days distance away from their settlement.

The Pharaoh did not consent to this, as he did not know who God was.

Instead he only increased the level of harassment for the Israelite's.

So they complained to Moses and Moses in turn complained to God.

But God having heard the cries of His people, wanted to help them out of their misery and expected Moses to believe that and convey the same to his people

God works in our lives too, but sometimes we are not too sure about it.

Phil 1:4 says ‘For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.’

God does not have to depend upon His creation to fulfill His works, but it is the creation that depends upon God to get their work done.

Verse 6 :

“Therefore, say to the Israelites: `I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. ... I am the LORD.”

Note how many times does the Lord says, “I am the Lord”

V 6 to 8, God re-reiterates

 7 things that  “ I will ”

7 things lets list it down:-

1 I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians

2 I will free you from being slaves to them

3 I will redeem you with an outstretched arm

4 I will take you as my own people

5 I will be your God

6 I will bring you to the land I swore

7 I will give it to you as a possession

If you look carefully at the above promises, they are for us as well. If you have accepted Christ Jesus as your Savior, then my dear brothers and sisters, Jesus has given us these 7 promises as well and He is more than capable to bring it to pass. 

The Promised Land of Canaan represents the spiritual land(not essentially Heaven) for all of us in Christ, He wants us to be partakers of this spiritual journey but He also expects us to walk spiritually to experience these spiritual Gifts that God has promised us.

Ephesians 4:1 “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received”

We have heard of many beggars who has lakhs of money in their accounts havent we, but still continue  to live in absolute misery and beg all their lives. We can compare this to a lot of Christians who live as paupers by not utilizing the spiritual gifts bestowed upon us by God and therefore not experiencing the spiritual blessings ordained for us.

Beloved in Christ, sometimes certain setbacks in life creates a lot of self doubts within us just like Moses experienced. Many occasions we feel the situation is beyond us, not trusting on Gods calling because we get overwhelmed by it. Moses too went through this.

But when we look towards God in prayer and trust His calling, we will be able to lead a victorious life!

God Bless you

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Day 13 - Exodus 2 The Preparation Time

Do we value what God has given us?

Whatever we value in our life, we give it our everything to protect it or to help sustain it. But whatever we don’t, we do not generally care about it.

Chapter 2 speaks about Gods plan of preparing the Leader for the Israelite's for their deliverance from Egypt, from their slavery and bondage.

Enter the Deliverance Leader named Moses!

The story of the birth of Moses! Since Moses himself has wrote these , what is noteworthy is that he is very modest about his description of his parents. Ordinary parents living in bondage from the tribe of Levi. Moses reveals their names only in the 6th chapter, Amram and Jochebed.

Heb11:23, Acts7:22 gives a lot more insights on Moses birth and childhood than Moses himself.

Exodus 2:2, NIV: "and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months." 

Exodus 2:2, NASB: "The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was beautiful, she hid him for three months."

Exodus 2:2, NLT: "The woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She saw that he was a special baby and kept him hidden for three months."

Please note the adjectives to describe the baby in different translations.

*Fine child, beautiful, special baby…*

And Moses was not the first child of this couple. His parents were definitely proud of him, and valued him which is evident through the above description and the turn of events to come. As per the prevailing law, he would have been thrown into the Nile river and died. But his mother chose to disobey this evil decree  to save her child. Just imagine how difficult it would have been to hide a newborn baby due to the persistent baby cries etc, and even more difficult when considering the future of this baby.

 

When we take the first step, God takes care of the remaining steps for us. God rewarded her efforts through miraculous turn of events. She eventually got to wean her own baby and even got paid for it.

My dear friends, do we value our relationships, do we consider how beautiful our children are, do we value the Jobs that we have? Do we value the provisions God has made for us?

Once we value them we go to any lengths to save them, and that’s when God enters the picture.

When we honor God, God honors us! 

What a God we serve, May His Name be glorified always!

God Bless you

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Day 12- Blessing on Judah

Jacob blessed all 12 of his sons that they were to be a part of the nation Israel. 

Some of them certainly received a greater blessing than others. Judah was one of them. He received the blessing of first born, the leadership. 

What was the reason?

He blessed them based on their characteristics, capabilities and strength they had shown in the past.  

He foretold what would become of each of them and their descendants as per their characters. Yes their characters affected their descendants too.  

In Genesis 49:8-12 we read about Judah’s blessings, “Judah, your brothers shall praise you; Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; Your father’s sons shall bow down to you. Judah is a lion’s whelp; From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He couches, he lies down as a lion, And as a lion, who dares rouse him up? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. He ties his foal to the vine, And his donkey’s colt to the choice vine; He washes his garments in wine, And his robes in the blood of grapes. His eyes are dull from wine. And his teeth white from milk.

Judah's name signifies praise. God was praised for him, Genesis 29:35, therefore his brethren shall praise him. Always praising the Lord should go first. Because Reuben, Simeon, and Levi seemed to be evil in Jacob’s eyes and they had disqualified themselves to receive the blessings which belong to the first born. Judah received the leadership of the tribes and the blessing that normally went to the first-born. Judah exhibited courage and took leadership in some incidents. His father and brothers agreed to him. This is how the leadership of Israel and the Messianic line fell to Judah. Judah should be a strong and courageous tribe. Judah should be the royal tribe, the tribe from which Messiah the Prince should come. 

He protected his younger brothers and accepted his faults (Gen. 44:16). So he was blessed with material blessings.  “He washes his garments in wine” means prosperity.  If God desires to bless us according to our characters, can we receive blessings?

Are our parents pleased with us? Can we receive blessings from our parents?

God Bless You

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Day 11 Genesis 44-47 Joseph’s economic planning

Joseph’s economic planning 

Joseph grew up counting nothing more complicated than sheep. He rose from slavery to be the second most powerful man in Egypt.

Joseph is given knowledge by God of a coming crop failure.  With Gods inspiration and blessing he works through the situation for the benefit of all.  But there are consequences of his actions, for the Egyptians and for his own descendants.

Economic planning

🔹He organizes a one-fifth levy on the Egyptians’ harvests and has the grain deposited in stores, to be used during the seven years of famine that will come upon Egypt, so that the country may not be ruined by the famine (Gen 41:34-36). 

🔹The 20 percent tax is something new to the Egyptians – not welcome.  But they give because they have grain to spare. However, the grain is not given free to them during the years of famine. The Egyptians buy their own confiscated grain with their savings, thereby paying twice (Gen 41:55-56).

🔹Joseph stores up all the money / silver in Pharaoh’s palace that was found in Egypt and Canaan. (Gen 47:13-15).   He did not re-circulate the money into the Egyptian economy.  There was a sharp reduction in the money supply and in the velocity of money. 

🔹Instead of using the strategy of borrowing and investing money, Joseph does the opposite. The Egyptians, sell their livestock, their land and ultimately themselves to pay for food. They are willing slaves (Gen 47:19). Joseph takes possession of everything aside from the priest’s land.  Gen 47:21 states that he moved the people into cities, displacing them from their homes, to work the land on Pharaoh’s behalf, and continuing to pay him 20 percent of the harvest

🔹There are two ways to conquer and enslave a country. One is by the sword. The other is by debt. 400 years later the Egyptians were still farming the land their ancestors had sold to Pharaoh and paying him 20 percent of their harvests (Gen 47:26).

🔹Joseph enslaves the Egyptians. Some years later, a new Pharaoh enslaves the free Israelites (Ex 1) and they are treated more harshly than the Egyptians.

Gods’ Role.  Where was God in this? 

1.God foretold the Israelites’ enslavement to Abraham in Gen 15:13. 

2.God’s revealed strategy for the Egyptian economy was a judgment on the nation and not a blessing. 

3. The enslavement of a nation cannot possibly be taken as something good. It's hard to understand Josephs’ behavior, but this is God's overall plan. Joseph’s management of the economy and centralization paved the way for the Exodus, 400 years later. 

4. Joseph acts in an extremely shrewd way, but he does so with God’s blessings.

 

5. Reference to 'God being with him' tells us the fact that God was working His purposes out, which continue to this day. This is a testimony to God's love, which involves God’s patience, human being involved and individual talent, all part of His remarkable redemptive plan for mankind. 

What are the warnings for us from Josephs’ story, and what can we learn from this about our own response to personal / national debt and financial crisis?

What does the scriptures from Jacob through to the Exodus, teach us about God’s sovereignty ?

God Bless You

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Day 11 Genesis 45 'Everything is good from God'

Genesis 45:5 :- "Now, don't be sad or angry with yourselves that you sold me. God sent me ahead of you to save lives."

The story of Joseph begins in Genesis 37.

Joseph had a lot of things going his way in life at first. 

He was handsome. 

He was the first son born to Jacob through Rachel, and therefore, 

He was his father’s favorite son. 

He had great dreams..  

But One day his entire life changed. Joseph went from a place of honor to the lowest level of Egyptian society. 

But later in Genesis, we see God use this suffering to save Joseph’s family.

In the same way, God deeply loved His Son, Jesus, and sent Him to save a world that hated Him. Jesus was stripped from His place of honor with God and died a horrific death on the cross. 

Through His suffering, Jesus paid for our sin and rescued us from God’s wrath.

Jesus warned us that we’d have problems in life.  No one is immune from pain or insulated from suffering.Problems force us to look to God and depend on him instead of ourselves. Weakness is an opportunity for God to work powerfully in our lives.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are ... but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass,  (Romans 8:28)

Troubles come into our life to do something important to God and possibly even life-saving to others. When we truly accept and trust God,

📍we can plan for the future without worrying about it. 

📍We can face our problems with a peace of mind.  

📍We can forgive those who’ve hurt us knowing God can use our pain for his glory. 

*God is in control every minute of every day today and always.*

God Bless You

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