Exodus-The Reluctant Leader

Exodus 2 ended with Moses  in exile in the Midianite desert. By his show of sympathy to his enslaved nation, he had traded his lofty place in the palace of Pharoah with  its attendant pomp and privileges to become a lowly shepherd in the deserts of Midian. He could have chosen to live a sheltered life of ease in the palace of Pharoah, but he chose instead to remain loyal to his people. God honoured Moses’ loyalty by choosing to use him as an important agent in His plan of deliverance for the embattled nation of Israel.

With his detailed knowledge of the harsh desert terrain, Moses would be the ideal candidate for God to use to lead His people out of the land of Egypt. God sought to attract his attention by appearing in a flame of fire in the midst of a bush. The bush burned, but was not consumed and Moses, with great curiosity, turned aside to examine it. (Ex 3:1-3)

The Lord conversed with Moses from the burning bush, ordering him to remove his shoes for he was standing on holy ground. It was God’s Presence that made the ground holy for only God has the ability to sanctify and make anything holy.  God introduced Himself as the “God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob”, divulging to Moses His great plan of deliverance for the Israelites which He had aforetime shown in vision to Abraham in Gen 15. He then commanded Moses to go to Pharoah to speak on behalf of His beloved people.

Moses was a shepherd in the desert. He had no desire to be a leader. The responsibility seemed too great and he counted himself  unworthy to be chosen by God for such a task. Little did he realize that it was God, the omniscient and all-powerful One, who was choosing him and God does not make mistakes. God comforted Moses with a promise that both he and the people he would lead would know that he was sent by God once they were out of Egypt worshiping God on Mt Horeb. Moses was not content to believe, despite God disclosing to him the entire plan of deliverance, including its victorious culmination. “What will the people say?”, he asked God. “They will not believe me.” God demonstrated to Moses the signs that He would use to cause the Israelites to believe his words. At the Lord’s command, Moses threw down his rod and it became a serpent and when he picked it up, it became a rod again. At God ‘s command, Moses’  hand became white with leprosy and then whole again. Moses was still afraid.

He complained to God, citing his speech impediment as a problem which would render this a “mission impossible”. Little did he realize that he was talking with the Supreme Creator of the Universe, the one who knew him intimately before he had even been born. God knew Moses’ limitations and still called him into His service despite them. Is God calling you into His service today? Remember, he does not call the equipped but he always equips those He calls!

Scripture refs: Exodus 3:1-22, Exodus 4:1-13

Exodus-The Cry for Deliverance and the Ark of Salvation

Exodus 1 ended with the defiance of the two Hebrew midwives who refused to kill the Hebrew boys at birth. Pharoah, enraged by their defiance and the continuing strength of the Israelite nation despite his best efforts to subjugate them, ordered that all Hebrew boys should be cast into the Nile river.

During these troublous times, a young woman from the tribe of Levi gave birth to a son. Seeing that he was a handsome child, she hid him three months and when she could no longer hide him, she put him in an ark of bulrushes lined with pitch and left him in the bulrushes along the river. The young boy’s older sister watched protectively over him from afar off to see what would become of her beloved brother. (Ex 2:1-4)

It wasn’t long before Pharoah’s daughter came to bathe along the river Nile and on finding the young child, she had compassion on him. His sister seized the opportunity to ask if she see should find him a nurse and his mother was brought to him. Not knowing that the “nurse” was his own mother, Pharoah’s daughter offered her wages to care for him and he was adopted into the palace as her own son. She called him Moses, which means “to draw out.” (Ex 2:5-10)

During the time of great tribulation among the Israelites, God was working His Plan of deliverance. Just as He did with Noah, He used an “ark” in his plan. It is not coincidental that the little ark was dabbed with pitch, which in the Hebrew language means “atonement.”  You will remember that the Ark in the Genesis flood account was also dabbed with pitch! (Gen 6:14)

God made provision for Moses to be raised in the palace of Pharoah, in the very house of the man who sought to destroy Israel. He received the best international education of the times, as Egypt was the greatest superpower of the time. This education would stand him in good stead when he would be chosen by God to lead Israel out of Egypt.

However, it was not long before Moses was expelled from the palace after showing sympathy to the Israelite nation by killing an Egyptian who strove with an Israelite. He sought refuge by fleeing to the desert of Midian where he settled, marrying a priest’s daughter who gave birth to his first son. (Ex 2:11-22)

Moses did not know it, but God’s Plan was slowly coming to pass. Moses was an educated, intelligent man. Now God sought to teach this future leader humility by making him a shepherd in the desert. God first entrusted him to the keeping of his father-in-law’s flocks before He would entrust to him the keeping of His people, Israel. (Ex 2:23-Ex 3:1)

God heard the cry of the Israelites and raised up a deliverer to lead them out of slavery in Egypt. In like manner, He gave us Jesus Christ to lead us out of the slave-house of sin. The Ark of our salvation is  sealed not with pitch, but with the blood of Christ Himself. Our salvation is sure!

In God's Country

Looking through the window of a plane one day,

I dreamed of a country far, far away

Where there’s no more sorrow and pain…

In God’s Country, beyond the bright blue

In the third Heaven

Where I’ll be going soon…

In God’s Country, where His children will abide

The streets are paved with gold that no one desires!

A rainbow encircles the throne of the Most High

In God’s Country, where there’s no more crying…

In God’s Country, where His children will abide

They will picnic with Jesus under the Tree of Life;

There are mansions fair, glorious and bright

In God’s Country, where there’s no more night!

No more sea of separation, or lonely isles;

No more silent tears or wistful goodbyes;

No more death and dying, sickness or pain

All because of Jesus, the Lamb that was slain!

The beauty of God’s Country is its Saviour  and King

Who died to ensure that His children get in;

We will see His hands, the scars  will testify

Of a love that never, ever will die!

Until that time I arrive at that place,

The blessed city with it’s pearly gates

A piece of it remains within my heart;

A hope that won’t die until I see it at last!

In God ‘s country far, far away

For a thousand years, the redeemed will remain!

And then God’s Country will come down to earth

Like a bride adorned, there will be joy and mirth…

In God’s Country, where His children abide

Blessed Sabbaths together, songs at eventide;

The lion and lamb, they will lie down in peace

In God’s Country, where my home will be…

I can see it afar, but I’m not there yet!

Over the horizon’s line, is the Promised Land

My faith can taste the goodness of the Land afar

That flows with milk and honey, it’s golden doors ajar

God’s Country is mine, for I am His

It’s His Promise to me, it’s my heritage!

Scripture refs: Rev 21, 22

Exodus: The Beginnings of a Nation

The book of Genesis closes with the  record of Joseph and his family in Egypt due to the famine in Canaan (Ex 1:5). The book of  Exodus opens, not with a family but a nation. God  had already fulfilled the first part of His Promise to Abraham.   God promised Abraham that He would make him a great nation and make his name exceedingly great (Gen 12:2). When faced with doubt and despair concerning who would be his heir, Abraham was commanded by God to look at the stars and try to number them. “So shall your seed be”, God promised (Gen 15:5). Ex 1:7 records the extent of their greatness. The family of 70 had grown into a nation numbering millions because God fulfilled His Promise to Abraham.

However, trouble was on the horizon. Joseph, his father and brothers and all that generation passed away and there came a time when a new king rose to power in Egypt, one who had no remembrance of Joseph. The Bible does not record the length of time that passed before this new Pharoah came to power or the reasons surrounding the Egyptian royal dynasty’s forgetfulness of Joseph’s benevolent rule.  Perhaps, it was because the nation of Israel at its zenith had themselves forgotten how they came to be in Egypt. Maybe they got too comfortable in Egypt, forgetting that their inheritance was not to be in that land, but rather in Canaan. They were a powerful, blessed and great nation but God’s entire Promise was not yet fulfilled. God desired that they should have their own land and that He would be their King, not a Pharoah. Sometimes, God’s Plan for us is different from our own. He  has a better plan and will intervene in mysterious ways to accomplish His Will. Joseph understood that the destiny of his people was not to be in Egypt, favourable though the conditions may have been. In a prophetic utterance before his death, he asked that his bones be carried to Canaan when God visited His people to fulfil the next portion of His Promise to Abraham i.e. their own land! (Gen 50:25-26).

The new Pharoah sought to subjugate the nation of Israel. He saw them not as a great ally, but a potential enemy. He made them slaves in Egypt, building the store cities of Raamses and Pithom. It was Joseph who through God’s wisdom had invented store cities! Pharoah also requested the Israelite midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, to kill all infant Hebrew boys and only let the girls live. He sought to weaken Israel, hoping all the older men would die under the harsh conditions of slavery and they would be a nation of women! The midwives however, chose to obey God instead of Pharoah and God honoured them by rewarding them with families and households of their own. Pharoah was on a collision course with God’s Promise and God’s Will for His people and he was fighting a losing battle. Despite the affliction of slavery and the command to kill the infant sons of Israel, Israel blossomed and multiplied under the hand of a gracious God. How ironical that the Bible makes mention of the lowly, God-fearing Hebrew midwives by name but fails to mention the reigning monarch by his name! The lowliest of God’s servants are honoured by Him more than kings (Ex 1:8, 15-21)

Scripture refs: Exodus 1

Where is that Church today?

Last week, I went to the residential children’s home to visit the nine year old child I am mentoring. I was shocked to discover that she is unable to read. She tries to mask her illiteracy with her eloquent speech, but it is obvious that the child cannot read!

Ephesians 6 starts off with instruction to various groups of people. Children are instructed to obey their parents in the Lord. Parents are encouraged to teach their children godly discipline without provoking them to anger. Slaves are instructed to obey their masters , and masters to treat their slaves with dignity for all are servants of Christ the Judge.

Ephesians 6:12 then states: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood , but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” The Bible makes it very clear that we are not to squabble amongst ourselves. Our enemy is not the people around us, Christian or not. The prince of darkness and his host are our enemy.  We do nothing but weaken our resolve when we fight among ourselves. When we let disharmony and discord infiltrate our ranks, the enemy rejoices. (1 Pet 5:8)

As much as the battle is a spiritual one, it also affects the physical realm in which we find our current existence. The enemy has thrown poverty against us. He afflicts the minds of our youth with boredom, violence and the scourge of illiteracy. It is our duty to extend compassion to those who find themselves his captives. Christ’s mission did not keep Him in the synagogue. His mission extended to all the world. He mingled among the people as one who desired their highest good, extending to them the right arm of fellowship and compassion. His ministry was a practical one.  The Bible tells us that He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the devil for God was with Him.  (Acts 10:38)

Christ has given us the same mission. What have we done with His command to go into all the world? We are living in the time of the end. We say it over and over, yet our actions and the way we live does not reflect this reality. Time is of the essence, yet we find ourselves unable to re-group and strategise an effective onslaught against the enemy. We are like King David who, in the time when kings were meant to go to war, was sitting in his palace daydreaming, thus giving the enemy the foothold in his life (2 Sam 11:1-4). Outreach is not about singing beautiful songs about Christ to people ravaged by poverty, alcohol and abuse. A song does nothing for them except perplex them more. Where is the God who supposedly loves them when they suffer day and night? How can you show them His love?

While Satan is on a rampage because his time is running out, while he threatens to destroy our children and families, the Church slumbers on and has potluck. Spiritual warfare is about the Church reclaiming territory. This is the Church of whom Christ spoke when He said that the gates of hell would not prevail against it. Where is that Church today? 

Main Scripture refs:  Eph 6:1-12, Matt 16:18-19, Rev 12:12

God's Grace in the Old Testament-Part 6

We have finally  come to the last instalment of our series on Genesis, yet this is only the beginning of God’s unfathomable Grace! Today, we will examine Joseph’s understanding of God’s Grace, how the inward working of God’s Grace in his life revealed itself through his actions and conduct.

There are many times in our lives when we think that we have been dealt the short end of the stick, a raw deal or an unfavourable hand. It is in times like these that we can relate to someone like Joseph. Joseph experienced some of the worst things that life in all its unfairness could deal a person, and he experienced it from the tender age of 17. Sold into slavery by his own brothers, uprooted from his family and culture,  condemned to a strange land, then cast into prison when he had done nothing wrong, he had every reason to be angry and resentful. However, he did not allow himself the luxury of self-pity. He did not languish in the dungeon, although it seemed that both God and man had forgotten him. Instead, he chose to busy himself doing whatever work his hands found to do and God honoured his positive attitude and willingness to serve.

He never once cursed God, neither did he blame others for his situation. He used the talents God gave him and gave all credit to God. Joseph’s deep experiental and living understanding of God’s Grace is revealed through his conduct after being reunited with his brothers. He did not exact revenge on them in their helpless state, when they came to him with no bargaining power in his position of authority.  He sought only to test them to see if their characters had changed, if they remembered what they had done to him and showed any remorse (Gen 42:18-24, Gen 44:16-34). Once convinced that they realized that what they had done was wrong, he immediately embraced them and forgave them, explaining that it was God’s design to send him ahead of them so that their whole family would be preserved!  What they had meant for evil, God had used for their good. (Gen 43:30, Gen 45)

How often do we see our circumstances, difficult as they may be, as another way that God is showing His Grace to someone else? Or do we mostly view opposition and adversity from the standpoint of selfishness, of how it affects just us? I think the latter is more often the case than the former. Only one who has a real, deep and true understanding of God’s Grace can look outside himself and see how God is using even his adverse circumstances for the good of others and his own long-term benefit.

Joseph’s brothers thought that his graceful conduct would end with the death of his father, Jacob. They thought that he was reserving judgment for them and would visit it upon them after their father died. When Jacob died, they were terrified! Joseph was an example of God’s Grace at work in a human life (Gen 50:16-21). He spoke kindly to his brothers, promising to look after them and their families. God preserved the nation of Israel through Joseph and fulfilled His Promise to Abraham.

Joseph’s life had many parallels to Christ, confirming that same Grace that worked in Christ’s life was at work in him.

God's Grace in the Old Testament-Part 5

As we continue our journey of  exploration into God’s Grace, we learn some important truths. The book of Genesis is a book of beginnings, but also a book of revelation. It is a revelation of God’s Grace at work, how He meets with us in the depths  of sin, makes us a Promise, keeps His Promise and forever changes us.

Jacob was the first Patriarch to verbally affirm the effectual working of God’s Grace in His life. Joseph took this a step further. He was able to live out God’s Grace, despite the adverse circumstances that manifested through most of his youth.

As a young boy in the house of his father and a son of Jacob’s most loved wife, Rachel, it was a well-known fact that he was his father’s favourite son. His honest disposition did not help the situation as it created a clear distinction between him and his brothers. At 17 years of age, he was sold into slavery by his brothers and found himself in the household of  Potiphar, a high ranking official in Egypt.  (Gen 37)

Throughout his experience, God was always with him and Joseph never doubted or questioned God. Despite the hard times and afflictions of slavery, he honoured God first and foremost.  When Potiphar’s wife sought to commit adultery with Joseph, Joseph’s first regard was to God. He realized that by complying with her wishes, he would be sinning against God. He did not use his difficult circumstances as an excuse to engage in sinful practices, but rose above them thus maintaining a clean conscience. (Gen 39:1-9)

Sometimes doing the right thing comes at a price, however honourable our actions may be. Joseph’s situation seemed to get progressively worse. For refusing to sin against God in adultery, he was cast into prison yet even in prison, he refused to renounce his God. God rewarded his faithfulness not with freedom, which he must have desired with all his heart. God rewarded him with His Presence. God was with Joseph and so he prospered despite his circumstances and blossomed like a tender root sprouting out of dry ground. He was soon promoted to manager of the prison. Yes, no matter how terrible the place, you can be a manager there too! (Gen 39:18-23)

Just when it seemed that things couldn’t get any worse, Joseph experienced the pain of being forgotten. One of the prisoners whose dream he had interpreted promised to remember him and bring his case before Pharoah should his dream of being reinstated to office come true. However, once he was reinstated, he forgot all about Joseph! The Lord gave Joseph the interpretation of dreams. Many people having such a gift would have used  it to their advantage, taking credit for themselves but Joseph always gave credit to God.

He did the same even when eventually called upon to interpret Pharoah’s dream. God honoured Joseph and gave him his freedom, making him prime minister of Egypt and second in charge to Pharoah. (Gen 40-41, Phil 2:4-14)