Setting captives free (1)

“I have heard them crying out…and I am concerned.” Exodus 3:7 NIV

For four hundred years, Israel was enslaved by Egyptian taskmasters who oppressed them and “made their lives bitter” (Exodus 1:14). And you can understand their feelings of helplessness when you consider the areas in your own life where you struggle for freedom from old habits. Whether it’s anger, food, alcohol, drugs, sex, money, or abusive relationships, we experience a sense of powerlessness in our struggle. And repeated bids for freedom can produce increased feelings of hopelessness that lead us to give up trying altogether. But the Israelites cried out to God, and He responded: “I have…seen the misery of my people…I have heard them crying out…and I am concerned about their suffering.” Today God sees you, God hears you, and God is concerned about you. He said, “I have come down to rescue them…and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land…flowing with milk and honey” (Exodus3:8 NIV). Notice, He had “come down” to “bring them up.” How did He do it? Their deliverance called for the death of the spotless Passover lamb. After applying its sacrificial blood to their doorposts, they cooked and ate the lamb while dressed in their travelling clothes, staff in hand, ready to leave captivity behind. Today, God wants you to prayerfully prepare for your journey to freedom; not by your own futile human efforts, but by faith in the shed blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away our sins. “Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch…For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” (1 Corinthians 5:7 NIV). Aren’t you glad?

Bible in a year: Psalm 26, 40, 58, 61-62, 64