February 1 - Exodus 1:1-2:25 | 1 Chronicles 6:1-3 | Exodus 3:1-4:17

Good morning everyone,

WoW!! A new month! Yay for us, we are 1/12 of the way towards our goal of reading the Bible in a year. Thank you for joining me, I have loved having you by my side on this journey :-)

With the new month we will also begin a new book in the Bible. I know you would agree with me when I say it felt so great opening up God’s Word each day and being refreshed with what He has to say. I love how you can read the same Bible verse ten different times and God can, and often will, show you something new each time to apply to your life. What an awesome God we have.

Over the month we will be looking at four books in the Bible; Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus and Deuteronomy; Moses being the author of all of them, writing three to the people of Israel and then Deuteronomy to the new generation of Israel entering the promised land. To some these books can be very dry at times making the reading seem monotonous, but God chose to present it to us this way for a reason. We need to understand the law, God’s law; that it is there as a foundation upon which everything else is built. It taught the Hebrews to depend on God for their needs, that they would be forgiven for their sins and that God keeps His promises. A good lesson for us as well.

As we begin Exodus you’ll remember from Genesis that Jacob in about 1805 BC moved all his family to live near Joseph in the land of Goshen, right?, where he died seventeen years later. There the family, as God said they would, grew in numbers to be a big nation in that land of Egypt. After Joseph died in 1805 BC the new pharaoh, being afraid of how big in numbers the Hebrews had become ,decided to turn them into a nation of slaves. 

Eventually the burden of slavery and the threat of death became too much for the Hebrews to bear, they would cry out to God and after 400 years of captivity, when they had become some two million people strong, God would send Moses in to rescue them from the heavy hand of pharaoh.

There is so much in these first three and a half chapters that we read today, I would encourage you to read it through twice. Follow God’s hand through the pages as it weaves it’s way through the years. From the time He hears His children cry out and puts a plan in motion to rescue them, to the time He sends Moses, a man who was not eloquent in speech, not a leader, in to deal with Pharaoh and lead the Hebrew people, God’s chosen, to a land of their own. 

God works like that in our lives too, think back over the years; can you see how God has moved you from where you were to where you are today? The different people he used. the circumstances He has allowed you to grow in. How maybe sometimes you chose to ignore Him or maybe made a poor choice but he moved you forward anyway, it just took a little longer having to get around the roadblock you set up. 

Also in today’s reading I found myself  wondering “why did Pharaoh have to act the way he did towards the Hebrews?” It did say he was afraid of them but he could have just let them go. He didn’t have to be mean to them, be Lord over them. People who have “power” like to use it and sometimes they get blinded by it. I have seen it over and over, from the CEO of a company pushing his weight around to a dad making his child submit to his authority just because he can, they like to have their way and sadly, too often ,it doesn’t matter who they blow down in the process. I am a huge advocate for the “underdog” I always have been so it breaks my heart when I witness these situations. It is not always appropriate for me or you to jump in and try to handle what’s going on but what we can do is pray. I will always pray for the heavy handed person’s heart to be softened and for one who is being beat down, strength and hope. There is hope in our God and the land that He has promised us.

Well, I am totally looking forward to to tomorrow’s reading. I love to see God’s hand at word, don’t you?

I pray you have a great day. To God be the glory.

God bless you all …