03/04/2024 – Growing in Affliction
Exodus 1: 8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9 And he said to his people, “Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; 10 come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land.” 11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh supply cities, Pithom and Raamses. 12 But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were in dread of the children of Israel.
An amazing reality emerges from the pages of the Bible: in difficulty, the people of God increase. They increase in prayer, in faith, in perseverance. It was amazing to the Egyptians how the Israelites multiplied in slavery.
Children can become spoiled when they have everything. When every desire is at your fingertips, why seek God? But when things become difficult…when we face challenges- health issues, money problems, emotional challenges, we begin to realize that our hope is not in an ideal environment, but that we have a God who is the same in the dark of night as in the bright day.
When the people of God became spoiled, God took everything away from them. Often God will remove people and things that have become idols because we have put our faith in them instead of God. All God left them was the trust in His word- and that was enough. That is all we need.
We admit this world is far from ideal. Our present situation leaves a lot to be desired – but our God is complete!
The new pharaoh, and their own failures had a lot to do with it. But above it all was the will of God. The good life is only lived in the will of God- in the place and time God decides. It is better to live in the desert in the will of God that in a palace outside His will!