God is in Firm Control

Scripture Reading: Exodus 1:6,7

Key Verse: Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him (Psalm 37:7)

Meditation: Look at Israel in Egypt both form their viewpoint and from God's perspective: After 300 years Israel was still Egypt and actually quite content. Numerically they had grown form 300 to one million.* The overflowing Nile River** ( actually  the land of Goshen was in the Nile River Delta, north of Nile and closer to the Mediterranean Sea) each spring assured them of a bumper crop each year adding to their prosperity. They adopted a "settle mentality " and gradually lost touch with the "pilgrim consciousness" which had so deeply motivated their ancestors. Little by little they interpreted their election by God to be that of "privilege" rather then a "responsibility," as God had originally intended.

From God's perspective, the situation was radically different. According to His divine timetable, Israel's exodus from Egypt was closer that the people realised, The amazing population explosion was a direct blessing from  God to enable Israel to conquer  and inhabit Canaan. As they entered their forth  century in Egypt, God's prophetic word regarding His judgement on the progressive iniquity of the Canaanites was about to happen, Everything was coming together except Israel seemed bogged down in Egypt with no leader on the horizon to lead them out.

What usually happens in history when God's people seem content but God's time for action has come? God either intentionally engineers humans circumstance to make them uncomfortable or He sovereignly raises up a lease as "a voice in the wilderness" to awaken them to God's claim on their lives. God is very creative in putting "a burr under our saddle" opf contentment. We will watch to see how Fod pries Israel loose from Egypt. 

Thought for the Day: No earthly power or human situation can delay or cansel thje purpose of God once He has undertaken to fulfill it.

*this number has been misinterpreted for many years. According to Colin J. Humpreys, in The Miracles of Exodus- the number is actually closer to 20,000.

  **actually  the land of Goshen was in the Nile River Delta, north of Nile and closer to the Mediterranean Sea