It Is Then You Know God's Plan Is Working

Good morning as the birds fill the air with their morning racket. This morning in studying the Exodus, I came to the simple statement: "But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew." The Egyptians, the first 'they', thought they had a good plan to oppress and suppress the Hebrew nation living to the east in the land of Goshen. The new pharaoh did not have enough enemies apparently, so he decided to afflict God's people. Bad idea. The funny thing is that in implementing his plan to cut down the Hebrew nation through hard work, he got to watch the Hebrews multiply and grow even more! Coming to a verse like Exodus 1:12, we know then that God's plan is being carried out even when the enemy tries to hurt God's people. The same is true for us.

The world will try to suppress those who believe because of its hatred of Jesus Christ. In many ways, you may find that hatred manifested in your life. However, many of the ways are underhanded, sneaky even, and we don't realize that the world is trying to suppress us. Many Christ-ones have been suppressed financially just as the popularity of the health and wealth, or prosperity gospel has grown. This confuses us until we realize that it is God's plan, and not our own dreams of wealth, that will be carried out in our lives. The Hebrews in ancient Egypt enjoyed great prosperity for many years, but then the world through a new pharaoh enslaved them. I doubt that any of the rabbis of the time preached a slavery gospel as the way to grow closer to God, but that is what happened. God would use the slavery the world brought to oppress His people to call up a shepherd to lead the people out of bondage, but first they suffered for a bit.

We too may suffer for a time before our shepherd leads us out of bondage. Like the Hebrews of that long ago time, we may not see the way that God will lead us from where we are now. As it turned out, God would use the time of bondage to toughen up the Hebrews for their time of crossing the wilderness on the way to the promised land. Hey, perhaps we too are getting ready for a promised land!

God bless you on this day,
Bucky