"And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour: And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour." -Exodus 1:13, 14
"And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows." -Exodus 3:7
"Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness." -Exodus14:12
"If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." -John 8:36
How quickly the Israelites forgot the oppression of Egypt when faced with the trials of following God! We as Believers oftentimes would rather trudge through mud and stack bricks then read scripture or pray - it's just that simple. Following God is a real challenge, and the certainty of servitude to sin seems so much easier than the risk of the cost of the Cross. After all, He'll forgive us later, right? But take everything about Pharoah and reverse it - this is God. He gives up His Son first, not last, to free His people (Exodus 12:12 is the last plague on Egypt). He is intimately concerned with our hearts - not just what we can do for Him (He doesn't really need mudbricks anyway). Pharoah was afraid of what would happen if the Israelites ever rose up in unity against him (Exodus 1:10) - God wants us to rise up in unity against Hell and advance His Kingdom! God had a specific reason for raising up Pharoah (Exodus 9:16) and He has a plan for Satan too. He destroyed Pharoah's armies with water (Exodus 14:28) and He's going to throw Satan in a lake of fire (Revelation 20:10)!
The Exodus story is so full of illustrations for us today because God is still God. He still loves His people, He's still rescuing us from bondage and He still wants us to follow Him to a better place. It's not an easy road, but He still goes before us to light the way. Amen!
~~JBH
"Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." -Revelation 22:14
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