Tag: Exodus

Reflections on Exodus 5-7

On By BrianIn OT Reflections

Moses goes to Pharaoh, but Pharaoh will not let the people go. The scene is set for the great contest between God and Moses on one side and Pharaoh and his Egyptian gods on the other. Note:

  • Trust in the waiting – Pharaoh responds to Moses by increasing the work the Israelites have to do to levels impossible to meet. The Israelites who believed at the end of chapter 4 have given up faith now in chapter 5. Moses too is disillusioned. What situations in your life only seem to be getting worse? Will you trust God in the waiting?
  • Battle of the gods – The contest is engaged not only to free the people of Israel, but that Israel and Egypt will know that the LORD is the one true God (6:7; 7:5, 17). Aaron casts down his staff and it becomes a snake. The Egyptian magicians do it too – but God’s snake swallows the Egyptian gods’ snakes. God causes the Nile to turn to blood. On a smaller scale, the Egyptian magicians also turn water to blood. Note they don’t turn the blood back into water – which would have been more helpful! The battle is engaged. What is God doing in your life to reveal himself to those around you? How has God shown his power in your life?

Reflections on Exodus 1-4

On By BrianIn OT Reflections

Israel had become a numerous people enslaved in Egypt. They cried out to God, and God raised up Moses to lead them out of Egypt. Observe:

  • God’s covenant – When the people cry out to God, God remembers the covenant he made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Not that he had forgotten, for God has already made the people numerous as he had promised. Now, after many years, God will bring them back to the land as he had promised. God’s timetable is not ours – it is still many more years before God will make the people into a great nation. What promises do you need to patiently trust God to fulfill?
  • God’s name – God identifies himself first as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Then, he calls his name, I Am Who I Am, from which we get his name Yahweh (usually translated LORD in our Bibles). This is Israel’s God and our God.
  • God’s enabling – When God calls Moses to lead his people out of Egypt, Moses asks, “Who am I?” He is of course nobody on his own, but God has called him, and God will be with him. To Moses’ complaint that he can’t speak, God says that he will give Moses the words to speak. God made us, and he is well able to enable us to do whatever he calls us to do. What is God calling you to do? Will you trust in his enabling?

Exodus 1-7: God Promises Deliverance

On By BrianIn OT Studies

(2-3, 6) God promises deliverance. What motivates God to bring about this deliverance (2:23-25, 3:7-9, 6:2-9)?

What does this tell you about God? Why is this important for you in your life?

(1-2) Though the people weren’t aware of it, God is already at work in chapters 1-2. What preparations for deliverance do you see?

What does this suggest about God and your own trials?

(3) Who is this God who promises to deliver (3:13-17)? What is significant about these names for them? For you?

(3-4) God is going to use Moses as his instrument of deliverance. In what ways does God enable and equip Moses to do the job?

In what similar ways does God enable and equip us to do what he calls us to do?

(6-7) In order to deliver his people, God must be more powerful than the Egyptian gods. How does he show his greater power in chapter 7 as the plagues begin?

What further purpose does God have in mind in these demonstrations of power (6:7, 7:5, 7:17)?

(4-6) When Israel heard that God would deliver them, they believed. But when things got worse, they lost heart. What encouragement does this passage give us to trust God in our own times of waiting for deliverance?

Examples of Grace 05

On By BrianIn Miscellaneous1 Comment

The second half of Exodus is filled with laws and instructions for building the tabernacle.  One might not expect to find much grace here, but there are numerous examples.

The laws themselves graciously provide protection for the people – a great blessing indeed.  Thank God we live in a country with laws that (for the most part) protect us.

God confirms his covenant with the people.  Thank God for his grace – that he would enter into a covenant with us and make us his people.

In an incredible passage, the elders of Israel saw God and ate in his presence.  The eating in his presence speaks of fellowship and peace.  What a glorious thing that we can have peace and fellowship with God, and one day we will see him!

After the golden calf, God threatens to wipe the people out.  But instead he graciously spares them and even renews the covenant with them.  How many times have we sinned, yet God graciously spares us and faithfully keeps his covenant with us.

Perhaps the greatest theme in the second half of the book is God’s presence.  That is why they are building the tabernacle – that God might dwell in their midst.  As the tabernacle is completed, the manifest presence of God descends upon the tabernacle.  God is with Israel.  God graciously chooses to dwell among them – and among us.  He is with us as we gather together as his people.  His Spirit actually dwells in each of his people.  He will never leave us nor forsake us.  He is with us always to the end of the age.  He is with us to enable us for ministry and strengthen us in trials.  God’s presence with us is an incredible example of his grace.

Grace upon grace.  Praise the Lord for his grace in our lives!

(Taken from Exodus 21-40)

Examples of Grace 04

On By BrianIn Miscellaneous

We deserve judgment and death for our sins, but God continually pours out blessing upon blessing.  We don’t deserve his blessings.  We have no claim upon them.  They are underserved.  That is grace.  Consider some examples of God’s grace from the book of Exodus:

The people cried out to the Lord for help, and God heard their prayers.  How many times do we cry out the Lord?  He hears every prayer.  That’s grace.

God took Moses and made him a great leader to bring the people out of Egypt.  Moses did not deserve this privilege, but God chose to equip and use him.  We are nobodies.  God doesn’t need us.  But he chooses to equip and use us to accomplish his work here on earth.  That’s grace.

God promised to deliver the people from slavery.  Consider the hope that such a promise brought forth!  God has graciously showered us with precious promises.  In those certain promises we find hope.

God graciously brought the people out of slavery in Egypt.  God graciously frees us from slavery to sin.

God graciously provided food and water in the wilderness.  God graciously provides us with food and water; he supplies for our needs.

Finally, God graciously made Israel his treasured possession.  Not because Israel was a treasure, but simply because God chose to do it.  We are not treasures, yet God has made his church to be his treasured possession.  Grace.

God’s grace is written in all of the Bible…and in all of our lives.  Where do you see his grace today?