The Exodus
Open Your Bible
Exodus 12:29-51, Exodus 13:1-22, Genesis 50:24-25, Psalm 106:6-12, Hebrews 11:22, Hebrews 11:27-28
BY Vina Mogg
God’s people had been living as slaves in Egypt for 430 years to the day on the very night Pharoah burst into Moses’ and Aaron’s presence, urging them to leave.
“Get out,” Pharoah said. “Go”
After living as captives in Egypt in a place that was not their true home, the children of Israel grew complacent in their lifestyle of faith. Would they trust God to suddenly, urgently lead them away from a life that was known and comfortable even though it wasn’t where they were designed to live? Would that urgency of fleeing on foot in a great mob under the leadership of Moses, the one who faced the anger of Pharaoh in a house full of death, be enough to send them out into the unknown, away from safety, security, comfort?
God is a God of rescue. We may wait years for deliverance from areas we are captive: fear, hard relationships, difficult living situations, physical or spiritual poverty. Deliverance testifies to His power. “He saved them for his name’s sake, to make his power known” (Psalm 106:8).
There will be a moment where we too sense Him saying to us, “Now. Go. Get up.” There will be an opportunity to depart what has been comfortable, to exodus into a place unknown and frightening and exciting all at once.
Will we speak that truth? Help that friend? Reach out to that lonely person? Move to the new neighborhood? Stay in the current neighborhood with a renewed purpose to be the one that reflects the God that longs to be worshiped?
As Christians who have been comfortable in our setting, our surroundings, our language, are we willing to be led out into an emerging new landscape? What does this look like in all that has been familiar—our friendships, our family relationships? How will God’s urgent, insistent call to rise change how we speak in difficult conversations?
God will lead if we will go. He promises as you go, He will lead you to take courage as you walk away from what has been familiar. Out of comfort. Into the wilderness. Only there will you come to know Him and depend on Him like never before.
You were not meant to stay in captivity. You were meant to rise up and go out, in the middle of the darkness, in the middle of the chaos, into a new place of relationship with Him. Rise. Go!
47 thoughts on "The Exodus"
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For the Beginning of Exodus, God led His people by the farther and harder route, through the wilderness and then the Red Sea, foreknowing human tendency would be to shrink back at the face of war (Exodus 13:17) and U-turn to their familiar Egypt. Don’t we run away from war, too afraid of death (our own self dying)? Don’t we rush back to the temporary relief and comfort that sin provides (that old bondage place) when enduring God’s word is too hard? Aren’t we perhaps very similar to the Israelites we read about today, and we are perhaps also blind to our own mistakes? Every route we take is ordained (the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord- Psalm 37:23), and God ordains the harder route for His children. I used to be told, if I receive Jesus, things will be easy. No no no, not always! Please make no mistake, it is the HARDER route which God has ordained. There’s nothing comfortable about the wilderness. But take heart, the pain enduring in the wilderness (by obedience to GOD) is only temporary, but the pain of remaining in Egypt (and reject God’s rescue mission) is eternal. So to someone who might be contemplating if they should say yes to GOD when He says “Go, get up now, time to leave”, please say yes, please don’t lean on your own understanding (it won’t always make sense, how would crossing the sea on foot make any sense?). I pray you will just rip the bandage, endure the pain, exit the bondage place, go through the wilderness of exodus, allow yourself to be stripped of the so-called comfort, be broken down by GOD in the process, you will be put back together by HIM into a new person. I learn this concept from the military (They break you down through hardship in order to build you back up) and I see this resemblance today in how God works. His Word also tells us there is a time for everything under the sun, a time to break down, and a time to build up (Ecclesiastes 3:3). No wonder why God’s children are usually compared to being soldiers (2 Timothy 2:3-4). Being deconstructed before being made new. And because of God’s great faithfulness that endures forever, He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear, He will provide the way of escape for you, that you may be able to endure the test (1 Corinthians 10:13). Say Yes to God, you women of valor. I pray you will. Be blessed dear sisters.
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God commanded the Israelites to celebrate the Passover every year. They needed to remind themselves where they had come from and who delivered them. How often do I remind myself who my Savior is and what I’ve been delivered from?
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The children of Israel became complacent in their lifestyle of faith. Am I complacent? We are not meant to stay in captivity. We are meant to rise up! Will I listen?
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God is a God of rescue. He will do it. He will move you out of a place and bring you into another plan for your life. He will take you out of despair, anxiety, depression, loneliness, longing. It might not be the time you want, but His timing is perfect. He will rescue you. Keep your eyes on Him.
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42 It was a night of watching by the Lord, to bring them out of the land of Egypt; so this same night is a night of watching kept to the Lord by all the people of Israel throughout their generations. – Exodus 12:42
This struck me for the first time today, in spite of all the times I’ve read through the Bible. God is our provider and protector, through everything in our lives. There’s nothing going on in the world or with us that escapes His notice. What a gracious and powerful God we serve and love ❤️ -
42 It was a night of watching by the Lord, to bring them out of the land of Egypt; so this same night is a night of watching kept to the Lord by all the people of Israel throughout their generations. – Exodus 12:42
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Loved todays reading. In a season of life where it feels a bit lonely considering I am 30 and not married I know Gods timing is much bigger then mine. I continue to pray when the time is right my heart will be open and ready. So many times we have things that weigh us down and stress out and it seems like sometimes a light just switches and it no longer becomes a worry. Other times it seems like the weight of an issue can drag out for a long time. It’s comforting to know God will lead if you let him.
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Loved todays reading. In a season of life where it feels a bit lonely considering I am 30 and not married I know Gods timing is much bigger then mine. I continue to pray when the time is right my heart will be open and ready. So many times we have things that weigh us down and stress out and it seems like
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