Encountering God (5)
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Last week we talk about how Israel put themselves into slavery. But I want to focus on this more as a warning against comfort.
We know in Exodus that Moses is called to free Israel from slavery, but
How did Israel get into Slavery?
In Genesis Joseph calls his family to Egypt
You must tell my father of all my honor in Egypt, and of all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.”
When the report was heard in Pharaoh’s house, “Joseph’s brothers have come,” it pleased Pharaoh and his servants.
And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, ‘Do this: load your beasts and go back to the land of Canaan,
and take your father and your households, and come to me, and I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you shall eat the fat of the land.’
And you, Joseph, are commanded to say, ‘Do this: take wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and bring your father, and come.
Have no concern for your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’ ”
Joseph was literally God’s grace to Israel as a people group. Israel didn’t have to sell themselves into slavery like the Egyptians did in order to be cared for.
Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for food, and we with our land will be servants to Pharaoh. And give us seed that we may live and not die, and that the land may not be desolate.”
So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for all the Egyptians sold their fields, because the famine was severe on them. The land became Pharaoh’s.
Because of Joseph’s great ability to manage Pharaoh’s kingdom Israel was granted a free pass with everything they needed. They are getting the best land, good food, they don’t have to pack their things because they will be given new things. They escape slavery. Everything was good. So good in fact that Israel stayed where they were for 400 years after Joseph’s death. They never separated from Egypt and At some point their dependency turned from God to depending on Egypt. God never wanted to enslave Israel, matter of fact he didn’t. Israel enslaved Israel, we spoke about that last week.
Thoughout this time there were shifts in power. Many Pharaoh’s came and went and I wonder if Israel took a more relaxed approach to their relationship with God because it would be safe to assume that if God doesn’t want them to be slaves wouldn’t he have warned them if they listened.
However usually the first thing to go when we get lazy in our Christian walk is listening.
In the last chapter of Genesis Joseph’s last words were this:
And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”
In other words you should leave.
What was meant to be a temporary place of rest turned into a permanent place of enlsavement.
Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.
And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us.
Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.”
They stayed in a place too long and eventually became a threat.
I believe:
Many of us here this morning have a higher calling than what we are doing right now. This doesn’t mean you need a job change, a house, change, or a state change, but you do need a change of perspective.
Exodus 3:10 (ESV)
Come, I will send you...
Now we aren’t going through the list pf excuses Moses gave to God, ut I encourage you to make time to read them because many of the excuses going through your head right now could be answered in this text.
But I will say this:
If your calling doesn’t make you question your ability it isn’t from God.
God is going to give you something bigger than you so that you will in turn rely on Him.
A person’s greatest tool is the ability to see the big picture when you’re surrounded by tiny puzzle pieces. ITs the box, the being done, the next step that pushes you through the pieces to create a masterpiece.
And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
God has already made a provision for your victory. God has already planed the completion of your calling, but it requires obedience it requires us to stay vigilant.
Some of us need to trust God. God has told us to go, but we are back at the bush, the fire is out, Aaron walked away, and we are still playing 50 questions with what if’s.
In order to move from here to there you need faith. Because their is bigger than here. There takes more power, more risk, more desire. There is a big step, but if you stay here for too long here will bind you up and you will never get there. You will see there, you will long for there, but if you wait to long you may never travel there.
Don’t get tripped up in the temporary because you don’t fully understand the eternal. If God gives you a position he will give you what you need to fill that position.
But you must have faith. Faith is the only requirement to reach your full potential. Faith is the understanding that though you may not see fully what’s in front of you you are determined move forward. Though there may be hurdles along the way you are determined to push through. Faith is the projectile that keeps you on track, but it’s the one thing many of us lack.
I give Mose credit, although he lacked faith, through talking with God he was able to muster enough faith that he moved forward with his call.