Daily Devotion, June 17, 2020

Devotion: Read Exodus 5:1-21.

Exodus 5 takes us into the middle of the story of God’s liberation of the Hebrew people. God has heard the cries of the Hebrew people and God is at work bringing deliverance and liberation. Pharaoh has much to lose if the Hebrew people, who had been slaves for over 400 years, are set free.

After Moses makes the first request for the Hebrew people to go on a spiritual retreat, Pharaoh requires the Hebrew people to go and gather their own straw for making the same quota of bricks. Then the Israelite foremen go to Moses and Aaron with strong words. “May the Lord look upon you and judge you!"

We have the privilege of knowing the rest of the story including the plagues, the deliverance and the exodus from Egypt. It is a story of a very difficult season which included 40 years in the desert. But God was faithful at work bringing the Hebrew people out of bondage and into freedom.

Sometimes in our lives, we too are in the in-between time, “in the middle of the story” of God’s work in our lives. We may find ourselves like Moses who asks in verses 22-23 “Why?”

Compare and contrast the great differences between God, their Maker, and Pharaoh, their owner. God their Maker offers life, with a healthy balance of work, worship, Sabbath rest and freedom. Pharaoh, their owner simply perceives them as his property for his own gain, takes life away from them, works them 24/7 and enslaves them. God declares they are worth all and Pharaoh declares they are worth nothing. From time to time in the Exodus story, the people relay to Moses to stop trying to deliver them, perhaps this enslaved life is the best life possible.

But God their Maker and our Maker knows what’s possible for the people and continues to work to give them deliverance and liberation! Personal Worship Option: Perhaps you are in the middle of a story of a season of suffering. God is hearing your cries. God is at work to bring you deliverance and freedom. God is your Maker. Keep hope alive in the middle of the story, because God is still at work! God says you are worthy, and offers life, forgiveness, and redemption through Christ to bring you deliverance and freedom!