Hemmed In

"As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians marching after them."  Exodus 14:10a

Have you ever felt like you were between the proverbial "rock and a hard place?"  Have you ever been hemmed in and completely helpless to deal with your situation?  What did you do?  How did you react?

After the final plague on Egypt, Pharaoh finally agreed to let the Israelites go.  The Egyptians urged the people to hurry up and leave.  They had experienced more than enough of God's plagues on their land.  They even gave the Israelites silver, gold, and clothing to take with them as they left.  I can hear them in my mind's ear snorting the Egyptian equivalent of "good riddance."

Sometimes when we are in hard places, we think that God may have made a mistake or forgotten us or hidden His face from us or left us.  But the Israelites knew that God was with them because He led them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.  We can know that God has not forgotten us nor left us because He has given us His promise never to leave or forsake us.

God was very specific in His directions to Moses about where the Israelites were to camp, so God led them on purpose into their situation.  After the Israelites left Egypt, Pharaoh regretted letting his slaves get away, and he and his army set out in hot pursuit.

Sometimes God leads us into a difficult situation where we are hemmed in because He has a good purpose.  In this case God would be glorified and the Egyptians would know that God was the Lord.

How did the Israelites react?  Exodus 14:10b-12 tells us,  "As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians marching after them.  They were terrified and cried out to the Lord.  They said to Moses,  'Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?  What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?  Didn't we say to you in Egypt,  "Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians?  It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert"'"  Was the response of the Israelites a good example for us?  How do you think they should have reacted?

Father, when we find ourselves in difficult circumstances, may we continue to trust You and Your sovereignty, Your love, Your goodness, and Your wisdom.  Amen.

The Passover

"When the Lord goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down."  Exodus 12:23

At first glance it appears that the Israelites escaped the last plague, the plague of death.  But actually there was a death in every household in Egypt.  The firstborn son in every Egyptian family died, but in the houses of the Israelites a lamb died in the place of the firstborn sons.

The Israelites were instructed to put some blood from the lambs they had slain on the sides and tops of their door frames.  When the death angel came through, he passed over the homes with blood--hence the name Passover.

The blood of the lambs that were slain foreshadowed Jesus' blood that was shed on the cross for us.  When God sees those who have been covered by Jesus' blood, He forgives their sins.  To be covered by Jesus' blood, we must acknowledge that we are sinners deserving God's punishment .  We must also acknowledge that Jesus died to pay the penalty we deserve for our sins.  Then we ask Jesus to the the Savior of our lives, committing ourselves completely to Him.  When we do this, we become God's children and are given eternal life.  There are some wonderfully reassuring words in Romans 8:1, which says,  "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."

In essence, Jesus is our Passover Lamb who frees us from the penalty and punishment of sin.  John the Baptist called Jesus "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" in John 1:29.  In  Revelation 1:5 Jesus is called "him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood."  And in I Corinthians 5:17 Paul calls Jesus "our Passover Lamb."  He says, "For Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed.  Just as the Israelites' Passover lambs were sacrificed to provide the blood over the door frames, the precious, holy Son of God gave Himself as a Sacrifice so we could be forgiven and live eternally in heaven.  Are you covered with the blood of God's Lamb?

I thank You and praise You, God, for Christ, our Passover Lamb.  I praise you and thank You, Jesus, for Your sacrifice on our behalf.  Amen.

Potholes and Patches

"Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."  Philippians 1:6

In the summer time, all across our nation, reconstruction on our highways and avenues is taking place. The smell of hot tar is in the air, and the roar of paving machines assaults our ears. Parts of pavement have been stripped down to their "washboard" layer in preparation for being repaved. "Men Working" signs tell us to slow down, and men with "Stop" signs are directing traffic. "Detour" signs redirect us from our chosen routes. This causes us inconvenience and, in many cases, we become impatient and aggravated when we travel. We tend to gripe and complain about all the construction. But I wonder how much we would gripe and complain if our roads were never repaved? They would be full of potholes and patches. It really is pleasant to glide over smooth new pavement. We don't like the process, but the end result is very appealing.

God has His construction projects in our lives. Think of Joseph who was sold into slavery in Egypt and then unjustly thrown into prison where he spent several years. Think of Moses fleeing for his life from Pharaoh and tending to helpless, smelly sheep on the backside of a hot, barren desert for forty years. No doubt these men suffered during the processes that refined them, but God used them greatly afterward.

When we complain and lose patience with God's processes of refinement in our lives, we would do well to think what kind of people we would be if God had just left us alone. In Romans chapter one we see some people who so completely ignored God and so persisted in their evil deeds that "God gave them over" to exercise all their sinful desires. There are chilling words. When God works on us to make us more like Jesus, we should be grateful and cooperate with Him as much as possible. He is continuously filling in our potholes and repaving our patched areas. Even though we may chafe under the process, the results will be well worth it.

Heavenly Father, thank You that you never give up on those who belong to You. May we be grateful for Your refining processes in our lives and enjoy the beneficial results. Amen.

The Pharaoh's Heart Condition

"But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said." Exodus 8:15

Have you ever crossed your eyes or made another kind of silly face and had your mother tell you that you had better quit because your face might freeze that way? 

Jell-O conforms to the mold into which it is poured after it has gelled. Concrete hardens into the shape of the form into which it is poured. It bothers many people that the Bible says God hardened Pharaoh's heart, but God allowed it to harden into the mold, the form, into which Pharaoh himself had chosen. In Romans 1 the Bible talks about people who ignore God and continually do evil deeds, and it says, "Therefore God gave them over to the sinful desires of their hearts...." Romans 1:24 God allowed them to be set in the way they had lived. Our faces won't freeze in the silly ways we make them look, but our hearts will eventually harden according to the choices we make. 

After each plague Pharaoh told Moses If God would lift the plague, he would let the Israelites go worship in the wilderness. Yet after each plague was over, Pharaoh changed his mind until the last and most painful plague of all. 

I wonder if any of us have cried out to God to rescue us from one situation or another and have made promises to God about what we would or wouldn't do if He would just help us, yet after God has rescued us, we have forgotten or ignored our promises until the next time we are in a jam and crying out to God to rescue us again. One reason God allows our problems and troubles is to tenderize our hearts and to draw us closer to Him. We have a choice. We can allow God to change us so that we become more Christ like, or we can rebel against God's hand and harden our hearts toward Him. But one day we will face God's judgment, and our lives will be set according to how we have chosen to live. 

Father, make my heart tender toward You and obedient to Your word. Amen.