Why did God allow his own chosen people to become slaves in Egypt? Why did he let them suffer such cruel hardships? It was Pharaoh's plan but God used the suffering it caused to move the hearts of his people in the direction he wanted them to go. Israel had become a great nation while they were comfortably settled in Egypt. Many had married Egyptians. Ease, plenty and pleasure had made them almost forget this was not God's final place for them. Besides everything else, Egypt has always been a type of the world and that was not the place for God's people to remain indefinitely. What could God do to make them want to move out? Pharaoh thought he had a very good plan, but God used that plan to do what he wanted done. The result of Pharaoh's plan was not just slavery and hardship. It made the people cry unto God for help and deliverance. That was exactly what God wanted them to do. That gave him the opportunity he was looking for, to take them out of Egypt. Probably some of the Israelites turned bitter against God while others cried to him for help. Circumstances were the same for all but the effects were different. What effect does testing have in your life and mine? Are we allowing it to do what God wants in our lives? Is it being allowed to draw us closer to him or turn us away in doubt and bitterness? Are the things of this world becoming too precious to us? What will God have to do to break our grip on them and their grip on us? God's great words still remain as a challenge, sometimes as a rebuke and always as a comfort, 'I have redeemed you, you are mine'. Why not let God's purposes in the circumstances of our lives do what God really wants them to do? |
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