God’s Power Is Greater

“So the Egyptians made the Israelites their slaves…”(Ex 1:11a)

The beginning of Exodus gives us a quick recount of how the family of Jacob (renamed Israel) came to live in the Goshen area of Egypt. This region was set apart from the main cultural centers of Egypt. The Israelites lived there in peace, minding their own business, raising livestock, and growing in population. When we catch up with them, they number about 2 million.

They were, however, foreigners living in Egypt. They had no rights of citizenship and were living there at the benevolence of the Egyptian rulers.

One day a new Pharaoh, who had no history with the Israelites living in the region of Goshen, came to power. He just knew that there were a lot of them and that made him fearful that they might, in a time of crisis, turn on him, become allies with Egypt’s enemies, and escape from the land.

Pharaoh was not concerned about the Israelites overthrowing him, but about them escaping. His primary objective was to subdue them, keep them from growing in numbers, and keep them in bondage.

How is it possible that a people so numerous and described as extremely powerful, even more powerful than the Egyptians themselves, allowed themselves to become slaves?

Let’s revisit a conversation between the LORD and Abram.

“Then the LORD said to Abram, ‘You can be sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land, where they will be oppressed as slaves for 400 years. But I will punish the nation that enslaves them, and in the end they will come away with great wealth.’” (Genesis 15:13-14, January 5).

God knew what the future held for this people He would call His own. He told Abram this.

Somehow, though, I doubt that Abram told Isaac a bedtime story that included ‘son, one day our family will travel to Egypt where we will become slaves. Watch for it and make sure it happens.’

I wrestle with the idea that Jacob, his twelve sons and the 20 plus generations after them purposefully decided to become slaves.

Pharaoh did not subjugate the Israelites in one fell swoop with a might army. His approach was insidious. Small things that chipped away at their identity. Little by little, he eroded their freedoms, confiscated their wealth, broke down their self-esteem, and instilled fear.

Over time, living as a free and independent people became a distant memory. They forgot the promise of Canaan and of being a great nation. Their current circumstances blinded them to a different future. Fear paralyzed them.

I know that the Israelite’s’ enslavement is part of God’s grand story of redemption. What God said would happen did happen. His Word is reliable. But God did not make the Israelites slaves. They let it happen.

Against this backdrop of self-induced enslavement, God will display His sovereign power through their deliverance.

It is too easy to pass off the enslavement of Israel as fulfilling God’s plan and skip the implication it has for us.

Bondage in our lives can take any number of forms. Do we recognize it?

• Addiction
• Affairs
• Eating Disorders
• Anger
• Debt
• Weight
• Guilt
• Abuse
• Career
• Overstressed schedule

How the Israelites became enslaved needs to haunt us. Was it denial on their part? The little changes did not seem too bad, at first. Then they built on one another until one day they looked up and were no longer free.

We do not start anything intending to become enslaved by it. The individual small decisions do not seem all that harmful. Then we look up and cannot remember life before – life before debt, life before broken trust, life before addiction – or envision life in the future – forgiveness, health, reconciliation. Guilt, shame, anger, depression, stress, all work together to chip away at our sense of worth, leaving us feeling hopeless. That is bondage.

It is against the backdrop of our own bondage that we can experience the power of God’s deliverance through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Click To Tweet

Jesus delivers us from the bondage of sin and death and promises eternal life. The Holy Spirit empowers us to overcome bondage to habits, thoughts, and actions in our lives and promises freedom.

Is this a freedom you need today? If it is, stop and cry out to God, ask Him for His deliverance Jesus. Ask Him for the power of the Holy Spirit to be free. Just as He heard the Israelites, He will hear you. Promise.

Blessings,

Denise