We are sent out to show the world how awesome our God is.
We have seen God's glory and power on display as he sent the plagues to Egypt,
we saw that sometimes he exempted his people from the devastation, but for the
final plague we saw that God required his people to do something in order to
receive his protection.
God offered his chosen people a way to be saved from the destroying angels if
they obeyed him and followed his plan of salvation. God's people were
saved by the Passover Lamb
and released from their bondage but they still had a long way to go to get to
the Promised Land.
God's people were ordered to leave by Pharaoh and the rest of the people of
Egypt also urged them to go and willingly gave them their stuff. The great
number of people and the amount of livestock and riches that they have are all
according to God's promises. It is very clear at this point who is in control
and we know that it isn't the earthly kingdom. (Genesis 26:3-4)
God's promise to his people came to pass in God's timing, we cannot comprehend
why God allowed thousands of his people to live and die in Egypt before he
took them out but when it was time they left in the manner that he said it
would happen. It's been a long wait and surely God's people are ready to get
to the Promised Land right away but God has other plans that haven't been
revealed to them yet.
Exodus 13:17 When Pharaoh finally let the people go, God did not lead them along the main road that runs through Philistine territory, even though that was the shortest route to the Promised Land. God said, “If the people are faced with a battle, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.”
God is in control and he shows it again by directing his people to take the
scenic route to their destination rather than taking them straight there. God's route
to the new home that he has prepared for his people will force his people to
wait on him.
Even with the explanation that scripture gives it is still difficult to
understand why God didn't send his people on the short route to their land. He
could have intervened and caused their enemies to be afraid of them so that
they would not change their minds and return to Egypt.
God's people want to see results and when it doesn't appear that God is at
work we get discouraged. A lot of the time we fail to realize that God's timeline is much
bigger than the span of our lifetime. Generations of God's people have lived
and died crying out to God to see his plan come to pass without any indication
that he had listened to their prayers.
| Trust Isn't Easy |
|---|
|
A. Trusting in the Lord requires seeing your weakness and need, but His
power and provision. B. Trusting in the Lord requires remembering that He always keeps His promises. C. When we trust in the Lord, He gets the glory and we get the blessings. - God’s Means of Salvation (Steven J Cole on Bible.org) |
Trusting God isn't easy so we try to make things happen that God isn't ready
to do even if he has promised to do it someday. Between the book of Genesis
and the first thirteen chapters of Exodus we have seen God work slow and
steady in the lives of his people.
Because God saved his people from the sting of death, the world reacted by
sending them away, instead of realizing that God is for real and they should
submit to his authority. They chose to ignore all of the evidence and continue to live their lives embracing
the powerless gods that they had created.
God's people have been sent out to show the world how amazing God is. Israel was saved from and sent out of bondage to Egypt and likewise we are
saved to be sent. They were sent to judge the inhabitants of the Promised Land but we are saved and sent to show the world God's
perfect love, mercy and forgiveness on our way to
our Promised Land.
The same amazing God that led his children to Canaan will also lead us safely home. The route to get there is long and hard, just like it was for Israel, so that we will learn to trust and glorify our gracious Lord as we get closer to home.
The same amazing God that led his children to Canaan will also lead us safely home. The route to get there is long and hard, just like it was for Israel, so that we will learn to trust and glorify our gracious Lord as we get closer to home.
