June 1 - Day 6 - Exodus 3:7

⁷ Then the Lord said [to Moses],

“I have observed the misery

of my people who are in Egypt;

I have heard their cry on

account of their taskmasters.

Indeed, I know their sufferings,

⁸ and I have come down to

deliver them from

the Egyptians …

Exodus 3

 

If our theme is freedom, then the first three chapters of Exodus reveal the first three steps to escaping the things in life that are enslaving us …

 

·         Exodus 1 reveals Step 1: Just as the Israelites began to realize that they were slaves to the Egyptians, we need to realize that we are in bondage to worry, grief, shame, loneliness, doubt pride, and any of eighty other enslaving attitudes and addictions.  

 

·         Exodus 2 reveals Step 2: “After a long time,” says Scripture, “the Israelites groaned under their slavery, and cried out.” That, then, is our second step to freedom too: If we want see God’s rescue, it’s usually good to ask. In other words, we must cry out to God!

 

·         Exodus 3 – today’s reading – reveals Step 3: When we cry, God will say, “I have heard their cry.” And when God hears, what is his response? He will “come down to deliver [us].” And by the way, God’s most common method of deliverance is to send us a Deliverer!

 

In fact, Scripture often states exactly that. Word-for-word! For example, in Judges 3:9, we hear that “when the Israelites cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the Israelites … Othniel …” And in verse 15, we hear that “when the Israelites cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up for them a deliverer, Ehud …”

 

So what happened when the Israelites cried out to the Lord at the very end of Exodus 2? Well, the very first word of Exodus 3 was “Moses”!

 

Moses was God’s rescue plan. God would use this Deliverer to deliver them.

 

But here’s the coolest part to this …

 

question: When did God start preparing a Deliverer for Israel?

answer: Before they even cried out.

 

The Israelites cried out for help at the very end of Exodus 2. But at the very beginning of Exodus 2 God was already preparing the Deliverer. God rescued Moses from Pharaoh’s order to kill all the Hebrew babies. He gave this Israelite child an up-close view of Egyptian thought, orchestrating him to be raised as a prince in the Egyptian Palace.

 

As this boy grew into a man, God would stir in Moses’ heart the desire to rescue the Israelites from slavery. (Now, Moses would try to do it on his own power – one Hebrew at a time. And because he killed an Egyptian soldier in the process, while trying to save a Jew, he had to flee to the wilderness. For forty years!) Nevertheless, God used these wilderness years to sharpen Moses. He would teach him to depend on heaven instead of on earth, even for daily bread. And heaven would teach him to depend on God rather than upon himself!

 

Therefore, when Exodus 3 rolled around and God called to Moses from a burning bush, Moses was ready. (Mostly! He was still a sinful, equivocating human after all.)

 

But isn’t that remarkable?! God is preparing for your deliverance even before you know to cry.

 

And yet he’s waiting.

 

He’s a gentleman.

 

He gives you free will.

 

And when you finally humble yourself and cry, your Lord is eager to deliver. That’s his heart. You are his desire!

 

In Christ’s Love,

a guy who needs to quit

fulfilling the wrong scripture:

James 4:2 – “you have not

because you ask not”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

May 31 - Day 5 - Exodus 2:24

²³ After a long time …

the Israelites groaned under

their slavery, and cried out.

Out of the slavery their cry

for help rose up to God.

²⁴ God heard their groaning,

and God remembered

his covenant with

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

²⁵ God looked upon the Israelites,

and God took notice of them.

Exodus 2

 

Yesterday we introduced Step 2 of the Exodus Pattern for Greater Freedom in Life.

 

·         Exodus 1 reveals Step 1: The first step to freedom – as we detailed yesterday – is: We must admit that we are powerless over _______—and that our lives have become unmanageable.

 

·         Exodus 2 reveals Step 2: “After a long time … the Israelites groaned under their slavery, and cried out.” That’s it. That’s step two: Cry out to God!

 

But wait! There’s a second part to this second step – let’s call it Step 2b …

 

·         We next have to trust that if and when we truly and totally cry out to God, our “groaning” will “r[i]se up to God.” Do you believe that?

·         We have to trust that “God [will] hear[ our cry].” Do you believe that?

·         We have to trust that “God [will] remember[] his covenant [and be faithful to his promises].” Do you believe that?

 

Today I want to show you how central this second point is to the heart of God. Our cry and God’s answer is not just one isolated incident! Answering heartfelt cries is God’s heart! It’s how he works!

 

Take, for example, the plight of the people in the Book of Judges:

 

·         God would bless the children of Israel, and things in their nation would go well for them.

·         But soon the people would forget God and his provision. They’d take credit for their own success. And they’d gradually – then persistently – rebel against God. And God would take his hand of protection off of them, and things would get worse and worse.

·         Finally God’s people would reach such a despicable point that essentially “all” of them would cry out with one voice.

·         And then … God would rescue them by raising up a new Judge, a deliverer.

 

Their cry was the beginning of the victory. (Personalize that: Our cry is the beginning of the victory!)

 

Do you see that? Let me give you a few examples from just the first few chapters of Judges …

 

·         Judges 3:9 -- But when the Israelites cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the Israelites, who delivered them, Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.

·         Judges 3:15 -- But when the Israelites cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up for them a deliverer, Ehud son of Gera …

·         Judges 4:3 -- Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help … So … God subdued King Jabin of Canaan before the Israelites. 

·         Judges 6:6 -- Thus Israel was greatly impoverished because of Midian; and the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help.

 

Let’s you think those are just a few examples, Jesus constantly worked that way too!

 

·         Mark 6:49-51 -- when [the disciples] saw [Jesus] walking on the sea, they … cried out … [and] immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” Then he got into the boat with them and the wind ceased.

·         Matthew 14:30-31 -- But when [Peter] noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him …

·         Mark 10:46-52 Bartimaeus … a blind beggar … heard that … Jesus of Nazareth [was passing by, and] he began to shout out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” ⁴⁸ Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” … [And] Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight …

·         Mark 9:23-24 – Jesus said … “All things can be done for the one who believes.” Immediately the father of the [troubled] child cried out, “I believe; help my unbelief!” … [So] Jesus took [the boy] by the hand and lifted him up …

 

The pattern is firmly established: When we totally, fully, humbly cry, God does hear and will deliver.

 

Indeed, our cry is the beginning of the victory!

 

In Christ’s Love,

a guy who doesn’t want

to be whale food

(Lord, humble me to cry before

I’m swallowed like Jonah)

 

May 30 - Day 4 - Exodus 2:23

²³ After a long time …

the Israelites groaned under

their slavery, and cried out.

Out of the slavery their cry

for help rose up to God.

²⁴ God heard their groaning,

and God remembered

his covenant with

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

²⁵ God looked upon the Israelites,

and God took notice of them.

Exodus 2

 

STOP.

Today is Step Two

in the process of freedom.

 

If you didn’t read Step One yet

(and it was a weekend,

so you might not have)

please read Step One

– Day 3, May 28/29.

 

We can’t truly be set free

until we know what we

need to be set free from!

 

Here’s the situation:

 

·         The people of Israel were in bondage; they were slaves in Egypt.

 

·         You and I are also in bondage. We are slaves to unbelief, pride, false priorities (idolatry), prayerlessness, legalism, and any of a million different permutations of these and other worries, lies, and destructive habits.

 

In the last devotion we asked: Do you want to be free?! Do you want love, joy, peace, hope, and courage to fill your life? (Of course!)

 

·         Exodus 1 revealed Step 1: The first step to freedom – as we detailed yesterday – is: We must admit that we are powerless over _______—and that our lives have become unmanageable.

 

·         Exodus 2 reveals Step 2: “After a long time … the Israelites groaned under their slavery, and cried out.” That’s it. That’s step two. Cry out to God! (And Step 2b is to trust that it will “r[i]se up to God,” to trust that “God [will] hear[],” to believe that “God [will] remember[] his covenant [and promises].”

 

“But I have cried,” you say, “and I still don’t see hope or light or peace or ‘deliverance.’” I know. And it hurts. It’s so defeating and discouraging. But don’t give up yet! Two points will make the difference … first in understanding (“Oh, I see”), then in effect (“Wow, it’s beginning to work.”)

 

1.    First notice who cried out! It wasn’t one priest on behalf of the people It wasn’t just a handful of people. It was the nation as a whole. They finally hit a rock-bottom-point. They finally arrived at a condition where essentially all of them quit relying on human solutions and cried as one to God.

 

And here’s the application for your life: Is all of you really crying … or just part of you? Is it all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, and all your strength (see Deuteronomy 6:5 and Matthew 22:37)? In any areas of your life do you keep compromising, keep stalling, keep holding out?

 

God is a gentleman. He generally doesn’t choose to work … until we give him our full permission to work. Healing works best when we come to “the end” of ourselves, and cry, “I can’t. Therefore, God I am totally dependent on you.” (And since we like to be self-sufficient, many of us never really allow ourselves to get to that point … maybe especially men!)

 

2.    The second reason that it appears that we God sometimes doesn’t hear our cry is Step 4. (Hang in until Wednesday.) But we aren’t there yet! Therefore …

 

Today let’s stick with the first of these two barriers. What do you want to be freed from … but what are you still holding back? Are you excusing a sin? Are you compromising your integrity? Do you fail to believe – deep down – that God can or will act? Are you too prideful to admit that you really need help? In what ways are you not loving God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, and all your strength?

 

When problems arise, let’s not just cry, let’s cry completely.

 

In Christ’s Love,

a guy who spells “help”

with an ‘A’ and two ‘L’s

(A-L-L)

 

May 28/29 - Day 3 - Exodus 1:11

⁸ Now a new king

arose over Egypt,

who did not know Joseph. 

⁹ He said to his people, ...

¹⁰ Come, let us deal shrewdly

with them, or they will ... join

our enemies and fight against us ...” 

¹¹ Therefore they set taskmasters

over them to oppress them

with forced labor.

Exodus 1

And now we finally come to the meat of this passage. “[Pharaoh] set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor.”

 

Slavery is the real theme in Exodus 1. In fact, any and every form of bondage and oppression in our lives is the whole reason for an exodus. Like the Israelites, God wants to invite you on a journey toward personal freedom and spiritual victory.

 

Tomorrow, we’ll talk about how that journey begins – and it’s really simple – but we won’t ever take that first step until we realize what’s enslaving us.

 

In fact, isn’t that the first of the twelve steps that programs like Alcoholic Anonymous prescribe? We must admit that we are powerless over _______—and that our lives have become unmanageable.

 

Slavery to the Egyptians was unmanageable. And so is life when we’re in slavery to addiction … and to any of about eighty other snares.

 

Thus, to be free in life, we must first ask, “What is enslaving me?” (Check all that apply.)

 

o   Are you in bondage because of history that includes childhood abuse?

o   Are your walls so high that you’re able to fully love … even your children or your spouse?

o   Is bitterness what keep you in chains?

o   Have you been betrayed and can’t seem to trust anyone or anything anymore?

o   Are you caught in the clutches of an unforgiving heart?

o   Is it anger … or discouragement … or guilt?

o   Does shame seem to have you in its grips, causing you to doubt whether God can love you again, use you again?

o   Are you vulnerable because lust … or flirtation … or affairs … or pornography?

o   Does loneliness leave you vulnerable to compromise?

o   Are you “dancing” with the wrong person (perhaps sinfully), all because you simply want to be loved?

 

Do you see how vast and pernicious spiritual slavery is? And I’m only halfway done with the list. Keep checking …

 

o   Are you grieving?

o   Is one of your problems with greed … or a love of material things?

o   Are you in bondage – and constantly anxious – because you’ve made poor financial decisions and feel constantly upside-down?

o   Do you have an unexplainable compulsion to lie or cheat or steal?

o   Do you struggle with deep insecurity that keeps you from trusting God’s love?

o   Is prejudice or anger or hatred part of your DNA?

o   Have you been battered by harsh and critical words … and are in captivity, believing these half-truths and lies?

o   Do you have a dysfunctional family that left scars and has created bad habits?

o   Are you in the snares of classical addiction – alcohol, drugs, prescription drugs, etc.?

o   Are other addictions snaring you – gambling, pornography, or even an inability to attach from media?

o   Do you refuse help? Do you stubbornly refuse to change?

o   Do you pridefully think you have few problems?

 

Those are all cruel taskmasters! (And if you’re like me, you’ve checked way too many. Some with big red check marked. Some smaller, but still binding.) And thus the question is this: Are you tired of them? Do you want to be free?

 

Tomorrow is step one, the beginning of the rescue.

 

Oops. Wait!

 

Actually, tomorrow is step two. Today is step one: We must admit that we are powerless over _______—and that our lives have become unmanageable.

 

In Christ’s Love,

a guy who’s a checker

(and wants to be an eraser)

 

May 27 - Day 2 - Exodus 1:10

⁸ Now a new king

arose over Egypt,

who did not know Joseph. 

⁹ He said to his people, ...

¹⁰ Come, let us deal shrewdly

with them, or they will ... join

our enemies and fight against us ...” 

¹¹ Therefore they set taskmasters

over them to oppress them

with forced labor.

Exodus 1

Why did the king set taskmasters over the Israelites? Because of fear -- "[Maybe] they will ... join our enemies and fight against us," he said. 

 

In Ted Peter's book "Sin" -- the first theological book I ever really read -- the first scholarly thing I ever really learned was that fear is often "the first step into sin." 

 

Now he's not talking about the initial reaction of fright. If a bear jumps out in front of you, you're supposed to jump! That’s an immediate re-action. “Ahhh!” “Yikes!” What he’s talking about, instead, are the resulting actions that can come as we keep stewing on our worry, fear, and nagging insecurities. For example …

 

·         Instead of seeking God's wisdom, do you ever rattle a problem around obsessively in your own brain? (I’ve done that. And I’ve often made anxious decisions rather than trusting in God.) 

·         Instead of praying, do you ever seek human solutions? (I do that too. In fact, it’s my default position!) 

·         Instead of trusting God, do you ever act selfishly and protectively? (Yes.)

·         Instead of being generous, are you stingy and protective? (Money issues often makes us fearful.)

·         Instead of building up another person, do you subtly tear your co-worker down (while simultaneously trying to build yourself up)? (Guilty.)

·         Instead of being loving, are you ever "a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal"? (see 1 Cor 13)

·         Instead of being "patient and kind," are you ever "jealous or boastful"? (see 1 Cor 13 again)

 

Yes, fear -- including its cousins of anxiety and worry -- are often the first step into sin. And if that's the case, then what was Pharaoh's fearful reaction to a growing Israelite population? 

 

Well, the second thing Pharaoh did was "set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor."

 

And when that didn't slow the Jewish population growth down, the third thing that Pharaoh did was order the midwives to kill all the boy babies. (Fearful actions are often progressively heinous!) 

 

But that still doesn’t answer the question: What was the first fearful thing that Pharaoh did? He acted "shrewdly."

 

Hmmm. Do you know the first one in history to act cunningly and shrewdly? Satan – that old serpent in the garden.

 

And that’s what I mean by fear being the first step into sin. When we are driven by mistrust and fear … when we’re tempted to deal shrewdly … when we lie and believe lies … when we manipulate and cut corners … when we trust in ourselves and human ways of doing things … the results (eventually, if not immediately) will be hellish. In fact, when we operate shrewdly on the basis of fear and mistrust, we’re accidentally becoming imitators of Satan, rather than imitators of Christ.

 

In Christ’s Love,

a guy who believes that imitation

is the sincerest form of flattery

(so I guess I’d better flatter

a more divine class of characters)

 

 

 

May 26 - Day 1 - Exodus 1:8

⁸ Now a new king

arose over Egypt,

who did not know Joseph. 

⁹ He said to his people, ...

¹⁰ Come, let us deal shrewdly

with them, or they will ... join

our enemies and fight against us ...” 

¹¹ Therefore they set taskmasters

over them to oppress them

with forced labor.

Exodus 1

We are beginning a new period of study. Like the Israelites who were once in bondage in Egypt, God wants you to escape whatever is enslaving you and he wants to take you on a journey to the promised land. 

 

So where do we start? It unfortunately in the same place the Israelites started – in a foreign land (Egypt). You were made for heaven … but you are living truly living in an alien world. 

 

And in the midst of this, Scripture says that "a new king arose ... who did not know Joseph." Do you know Joseph? Several hundred years before Exodus 1 begins, God used this son of Jacob (a great-grandson of Abraham) to rescue his people from famine. But it was because of the sins of Joseph's brothers -- they sold Joseph to slave traders who took him to Egypt – that this rescue and reconciliation wound up happening far from the Promised Land. 

 

Do you feel like you're living far from your Promised Land, far from the destiny that God has in mind for you? Do you feel, indeed, like you are living in an alien world?

 

What we must eventually conquer – if we want to escape whatever is enslaving us – is the sin, the bad habits, and the dysfunctions that draw us away from our destiny and have carried us to our own Egypt. Some of the chains in your life come from your own sins, weaknesses, and failures. (And you know this. In fact, you probably know precisely some of the compromises and patterns you want and need to break.) 

In addition -- and like Joseph – do some of the bad habits, fears, and insecurities have their roots in old family dysfunctions? Like every Israelite at the beginning of this story, too many of us are born in Egypt, born far away from the destiny that God has planned for us.

 

God has something better in store … for you. It’s called the Promised Land – your Promised Land. There is a destiny awaiting you, and it’s here on this earth! As Jesus says in John 8:36, “if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

 

Do you want to uncover a greater promise and richer purpose in your life? It'll take a journey. I hope you'll come along. 

 

In Christ's Love,

Moses

(No. Wait. Through these devotions

I may be leading a journey like Moses did,

but I'm really just a guy who

is on a journey like you.

Let’s let Christ lead the journey!)

May 25 - 60 - Isaiah 7:14

Therefore the Lord himself

will give you a sign:

The virgin will conceive

and give birth to a son,

and will call him Immanuel

Isaiah 7:14

Bible Rank: 60

 

Isaiah 7:14 is clearly a messianic prophecy. In Matthew 1:23, the angel used these exact words to announce the birth of Jesus the Messiah. And what powerful and comforting words they were! Have you ever felt that God was distant? Well, Immanuel means, "God IS with us!"

So ... knowing that familiar message, let me give you a further glimpse into how prophecy works. And let me start by asking this question: Do you know what your name means? 

We've heard names like Edward for so long that we basically forget what they mean. But what if I started asking people to call me by the meaning of my name: "Call me 'the King'!" You'd laugh at me, but that's what my name means. My son Paul would say, "Call me tall." ("Okay. You're not short, but 5'10" is hardly tall.") And Mary Louise would have to scowl perpetually as she asked people to call her "Bitter" (the meaning of Mary).

 

Imagine the laughs that Abraham got when God asked this childless 90-year-old to start telling his neighbors to call him, "Father of Many Nations." That's what Abraham means ... and that's often how God speaks a new and prophetic truth. 

 

I appreciate my parents naming me "King," but I would have hated to be the child of a prophet. Isaiah kept introducing his son like this:

 

·         Friend: "Isaiah, how are things?"

·         Isaiah: "Not good. In fact, meet my son. His name is "Things are Rotting and an Enemy is about to Pounce.'" (That's more or less what the name of Isaiah's son, Mahershalhaljashbaz, means.) 

 

But when Isaiah wanted to proclaim what was going to happen to Israel, all he had to do was point to the children around him and say ...

 

·         Meet my son, "Things are rotting and an Enemy is about to Pounce."

·         All is bad ... but all is not hopeless. Meet my other son, "(After the judgment) A Remnant Shall Return." (That's what Shearjashub means.)

·         And if you need further proof of God's love and concern, meet the King's son, Immanuel. His name is an assurance that "God is with us."

 

Often with prophecies, we rightly focus on the future and ultimate fulfillment of these proclamations -- like the future Messiah being born to a virgin and fully being "God with us." But we must not forget that God works on many levels simultaneously including the immediate fulfillments during the days of the prophet -- which gave their word the validity it needed to be preserved for future generations. For example, in the days of Isaiah, the enemy -- Assyria -- was indeed about to pounce on this rotting nation; nevertheless, God was always with his people and remnant continually remained in tact ... even until the 20th Century A.D. when Israel was rebuilt into a nation. (Could that be the far-future, even end-times fulfillment?!)

In Christ's Love

the King

(or in spite of my kingly name,

"a child of the king")