2 Things really struck me today as I was reading in Exodus today. 1 is in Exodus 6 where God promises deliverance to the Israelites out of Egypt, where they were in miserable in their captivity. We too face periods of captivity in life. Sometimes is out of our own doing, where we choose our way instead of God's and we choose to sin even though we know it is wrong. The second is where we don't choose it but God allows us to go through difficult seasons in our lives to grow us and make us stronger. Either way these are difficult seasons and sometimes we can find ourselves doubting God's deliverance. We think we have to work really hard to get ourselves out. Sometimes it's not even in a season of captivity, but for me right now it is just a season of busyness where I am working so hard to try and get everything done.
But as I am reminded in these verses in Exodus 6:1-13, that God says "I will..." He says "I will" 6x. He says "I am" 4x. God is sovereign over all and is mighty and powerful. He says I will free you from your slavery; I will redeem you with mighty power; I will make you my own special people; I will bring you into the promised land (which isn't just heaven, but it's for now - He wants us to live abundant, fruitful lives now)! God will do all these things. I don't have to work harder to do it myself. I just need to believe God and surrender fully to Him and follow His lead.
Now, I am not saying what I am doing is slavery for I love the opportunities God has given me to serve Him right now, but I do struggle with "me working harder" instead of trusting, believing, and expecting God to do. Because of my work-a-holic tendencies (thanks mom:)), I often struggle with this, so I constantly have to remind myself that God is fully in control and He will accomplish His plans. I have to confess that many weeks I don't take a Sabbath when I am super busy. I know, it's not good. God demands it for a reason. But this Sabbath I did take off. Though my to do list was so long and I stayed up until 1am the night before thinking about all the things I needed to do; I decided that God was telling me to take a rest. It felt really good just to let everything lie for a day. My to do list is still so long and I am leaving next week to go to Nepal & India for 2 weeks and have a lot to do before then, but I am just trusting "I am" that "He will".
Anyways, the same goes for those seasons of captivity for us. God is our Deliverer and our Redeemer! My heart goes out to those who live in captivity. More than anything I want them to experience freedom. I know becuase I have been there. I pray that I never go back. But if I do these verses will help remind me of who my God is. And there is nothing like freedom! And my God is more powerful than any season of captivity and He will deliver if you believe.
Oh, this is already so long. I am so wordy. But I love to share; this is why I don't do it often. :) For the 2nd I will keep it short and let God's Word just speak to you. Exodus 9: 15-16, "I could have attacked you with a plague that would have wiped you from the face of the earth. But I have let you live for this reason - that you might see MY power and that MY fame might spread throughout the earth." Praise the Lord He is so patient with us, not wanting anyone to die without knowing Him but wanting everyone to repent and believe in Him (2 Peter 3:9, my paraphrase).
So today let's believe our God is mighty to save! He is our Redeemer and Deliverer! And He wants us to remain in Him so we can bear much fruit! So God, let's do this thing! I pray that today I would fully rely upon you!
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