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)