The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Exodus 3:7-8,
"The Lord said, 'I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land,a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.'"
The Lord appears to Moses and tells him he is going to use him to bring his people out of their enslavement in Egypt to Palestine, a land occupied by others: Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.
I wonder what the Egyptians thought about this? I don't notice that the Lord checked in with them to see what they may have felt about losing their slave labor. And, how about all those peoples in Palestine? What do you suppose they thought about the notion they were going to be displaced, removed from their homeland?
No, I don't read that the Lord inquired of any of these people. I also don't read that the Lord took a poll of the Israelites either. Certainly they were crying out to the Lord in the midst of their suffering (a position he will repeatedly place them in) at the hands of the Egyptians, however we will find later that after they were freed from Egypt, many of them wanted to go right back.
A couple of things come to my mind. First, the Lord is the God of all nations. He is not just the God of the Jews or the God of the Christians, he is the God of all creation. All nations, all peoples that have ever, or ever will inhabit planet earth are subject to their Creator - and their Creator is the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob. He is the God of Moses and the God of the nation of Israel.
Secondly, God does whatever he wants to do. He has an agenda and actively pursues it without clearing his plans with us first. His actions, the activities he pursues, he does them according to his desires, and he does them to pursue an agenda that is purposeful. What we find in Exodus and following, is that God is preparing the world for his Son, to provide us with a sacrifice of atonement, satisfying his own sense of justice, that God might build a kingdom, a family of all who will embrace him in faith, just as Abraham did.
The events in Exodus are breath-taking accounts of the Lord on the move as he engages the world with his agenda. Nothing will stop his plans and what he intends to accomplish. Who is God to rob Egypt of her slave labor? Who is God to displace and destroy peoples long established in their homeland? He is our Creator who pursues what he does... and mankind, rightfully must yield to his maker.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
"The Lord said, 'I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land,a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.'"
The Lord appears to Moses and tells him he is going to use him to bring his people out of their enslavement in Egypt to Palestine, a land occupied by others: Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.
I wonder what the Egyptians thought about this? I don't notice that the Lord checked in with them to see what they may have felt about losing their slave labor. And, how about all those peoples in Palestine? What do you suppose they thought about the notion they were going to be displaced, removed from their homeland?
No, I don't read that the Lord inquired of any of these people. I also don't read that the Lord took a poll of the Israelites either. Certainly they were crying out to the Lord in the midst of their suffering (a position he will repeatedly place them in) at the hands of the Egyptians, however we will find later that after they were freed from Egypt, many of them wanted to go right back.
A couple of things come to my mind. First, the Lord is the God of all nations. He is not just the God of the Jews or the God of the Christians, he is the God of all creation. All nations, all peoples that have ever, or ever will inhabit planet earth are subject to their Creator - and their Creator is the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob. He is the God of Moses and the God of the nation of Israel.
Secondly, God does whatever he wants to do. He has an agenda and actively pursues it without clearing his plans with us first. His actions, the activities he pursues, he does them according to his desires, and he does them to pursue an agenda that is purposeful. What we find in Exodus and following, is that God is preparing the world for his Son, to provide us with a sacrifice of atonement, satisfying his own sense of justice, that God might build a kingdom, a family of all who will embrace him in faith, just as Abraham did.
The events in Exodus are breath-taking accounts of the Lord on the move as he engages the world with his agenda. Nothing will stop his plans and what he intends to accomplish. Who is God to rob Egypt of her slave labor? Who is God to displace and destroy peoples long established in their homeland? He is our Creator who pursues what he does... and mankind, rightfully must yield to his maker.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment