Daily Devotional For Sunday, February 23, 2025
Today is Sunday and it is time to worship the greatest God in this universe. There are times that life can be so harsh and cruel that when we cry out to the Lord we wonder if He hears us and will respond to our prayers. God is not deaf to our prayers. He loves us and cares for us even when it seems He is silent or absent. The Old Testament is full of stories of the Hebrews and then the Israelites crying out to the Lord for help and deliverance.
Sometimes their cries were due to their own sin and rebellion and God had punished them. Other times, it was cries to be delivered from their conquerors. One such cry can be found in Exodus 3:9-10, “Now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me; furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them. (10) Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt” (NASB).
We cannot imagine the oppression the Hebrews were under in Egypt. We live in such a free country and though we may see political oppression on the TV in other countries, we are so far removed physically, we are removed emotionally. God never is. In the Exodus passage, God is ready to deliver the Israelites from slavery, and He says to Moses, “So now, go. I’m sending you.” God was capable of removing His people from Egyptian control in any number of ways, but He chose to do it through a person.
I’m sure Moses had plans for his family and a plan for expanding his herds—he had been educated in Pharaoh’s court, after all. Moses doubted his abilities, but God assured him of His help. Moses was willing to have his plans interrupted, and the result was one of the most remarkable series of events in human history. God is still moving in the earth, and He is still doing it through people like us. One of the challenges we face is being too interested in our own plans to answer His invitations when He asks. God has a long and impressive track record of carrying the day, however. So, I’d encourage you to do your best to cooperate with Him. You will be blessed as you have a part in advancing His Kingdom.
What God asked Moses to do was no easy task. Not only did Moses have the Egyptians to deal with, he had the whining, complaining and griping Hebrews to deal with also. This seemed to be their “legacy.” No sooner does God get the Hebrews out of Egypt and on their way to the Promise Land, they find themselves trapped between the Red Sea in front and an approaching enraged Egyptian army wanting revenge for the death of their first of children and animals. What did they do? Pray? No. Call on God? No. Complained.
Look at Exodus 14:11-12, “Then they said to Moses, ‘Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt? (12) Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, ‘Leave us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness’” (NASB). We may shake our heads and wonder how they could have doubted God after seeing all the previous plagues God brought on Egypt.
But are we any different? When things are good, we trust and love God. When things take a turn for the bad, we tend to question and complain against and about God. When God chooses us for a task, He provides all we need to complete it. Trust Him and walk with Him in yielded obedience. Why is this story in the Bible? I think for this reason. It’s interesting that what happened to the Israelites and the record of their failure was given so that you and I might learn, by observing their failure, how to succeed. We learn from the kind of lifestyle that they lived. While they did not please God, we then in turn might by learning from history, learn how to please God. And that’s why we’ve been given the record.
Questions To Consider
- What cries have you lifted up to heaven and you are still waiting for an answer?
- If you are still waiting, what is the lesson you think God wants you to learn?
- Having seen all the plagues and miracles God had done, why do you think that for the Hebrews it was not enough for them to trust God at the Red Sea?
- As we saw, when God intervenes, He often chooses us to be part of that intervention. Where in your life has God called you to be that person and you did? What were the results? Where did you not and what were the results?
- If God were to have another book written similar to the Bible and put your life story in it as He did Moses, how do you think yours would read? What would people in the future learn about you? About God? Why?
Scripture To Meditate On: Psalm 103:6-7, "The Lord performs righteous deeds, And judgments for all who are oppressed. (7) He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel” (NASB).
Prayer To Pray: “Heavenly Father, I want to cooperate with Your plans and purposes on the earth. Give me a listening ear to hear Your invitations to me. Give me a willing heart to place Your agenda ahead of mine—because Your plans are far greater than my own. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”I love you Southside!--Pastor Kelly