Exodus 14-16: The First Taste of Freedom
God knew Pharaoh's plans and saw to it that Israel was cared for. This is providence, which means "to see before." No matter what the enemy plans to do to you, God has already taken care of it and will tell you what to do. The pillar that brought light to Israel brought darkness to the enemy. The people of the world are walking in darkness, but God’s people have "the light of life" (John 8:12). The enemy cannot touch you without first encountering God. He opens the way and does the impossible. The next time you are in a seemingly impossible situation, remember what God did for Israel at the Red Sea. The people of Israel never forgot this victory (Psalm 66:6; Psalm 106:9; Psalm 136:13–14). Recalling God’s past help can encourage you as you face future challenges to your faith.
The first recorded song in Scripture (Exodus 15) is a pattern for true worship, for it emphasizes the Lord, who He is, and what He has done for His people. He saves His people (Exodus 15:1–10), guides them to their inheritance (Exodus 15:11–13), glorifies His name (Exodus 15:14–17), and reigns forever (Exodus 15:18). Singing is an important part of the Christian life, for it enables us to praise God and bear witness to others. Our praise should come from the Holy Spirit within (Ephesians 5:18–20) and be based on Scripture (Colossians 3:16). In this way, we worship Him "in spirit and truth" (John 4:24).
The people went from rejoicing to complaining! It is easy to sing when the circumstances are comfortable, but it takes faith to sing when you are suffering. God tests us in the everyday experiences of life to see whether we will obey Him. He is able to change our circumstances, but He would rather change us.
God did not rescue them from bondage in order to kill them with hunger! (See Romans 8:31–32) Their real problem was that they still had the old appetite and needed to learn to enjoy the new food God had for them. The manna is a picture of Jesus Christ (John 6:30). The manna came only to Israel, and all it could do was sustain physical life. But the Savior came for the whole world, and He gives spiritual life. If the Jews did not appropriate the manna, they died. Sinners must believe on Jesus Christ to receive life.
Genesis 49-Exodus 1: Jacob & Joseph’s Legacy
Chapter 49 is not a father’s blessing on his sons. Rather, it is a prophecy of what the sons could expect in the future because of their individual characters and the decisions they had made. Reuben was the lustful prodigal son, but Levi and Simeon were angry elder brothers. Judah would be the royal tribe, for the Messiah (Shiloh, “the peace-bringer”) would come from Judah. Joseph was the vine that went over the wall separating Jews and Gentiles. He was shot at by his brethren, which often happens to those who are especially blessed of God. But the Lord was with him, strengthened him, and extended his boundaries of blessing (Genesis 49:26). Joseph suffered, and his sons were blessed by God. Reuben sinned, and his sons lost the blessing of God.
Three burials are mentioned in the final chapter of Genesis, and each is significant. Burying a beloved father.
Genesis 46-48: Journey to Egypt
It would not be easy for Jacob, now 130 years old, to leave the land God gave him and go to Egypt. Moving to a new home is usually a difficult experience, and the older we are, the more difficult it is. Furthermore, Abraham got into trouble in Egypt (Genesis 12:10), and God had stopped Isaac from going there (Genesis 26:2).
But Jacob was able to go with confidence and peace because he was sure of God’s promise and presence (Genesis 46:1–4). In the crisis hours of life, God speaks to us and assures us when we take time to worship. Furthermore, Jacob knew that God had gone before him and that Joseph was there making everything ready for him. The future is your friend when Jesus is your Lord and you follow Him.
Egypt was a haven for Jacob and his family, and there God protected them and built of them a great people. But Jacob knew that Egypt was not his home, Canaan was; and he wanted to be buried there with the others who had made the same pilgrimage of faith. He was a testimony in life, and he wanted to be a testimony in death. Despite his mistakes and failures in life, Jacob ended well.
What should believers do for their family before God takes them in death? Just what Jacob did. He praised God for the past. He told his family what God had done for him and how God had blessed him. God had redeemed him and shepherded him all his life (Genesis 48:15–16).
Genesis 31-33: Jacob (AKA Houdini)
Jacob again tries to do the right thing in the wrong way. This time it is his departure from Laban. He doesn't want to solve the problems with his father-in-law; he simply wants to escape them. The two men never did agree, and their problems were not solved. Instead, they declared a truce and made a pile of stones the boundary beyond which neither would pass. It was called “the heap of witness” to remind Jacob and Laban that God was watching both of them. (The word Mizpah means “watchtower.”) The two deceivers could only stop by saying they would not come near each other and by reminding themselves that God was watching their actions! How sad!
Genesis 32 still finds Jacob trying to escape - this time he is still trying to escape his brother Esau. If you don't deal with problems, they rarely just go away! They will be waiting for you when you come back. One minute Jacob prayed for God’s help, and the next minute he devised some new way to appease his angry brother. He reminded God of His great promises and then acted as though God had never spoken. This is the conduct of a believer who needed to be broken before God. He prayed to be delivered from Esau (Genesis 32:11), but his greatest need was to be delivered from himself. Jacob was broken to be healed and weakened to be strengthened. When he surrendered, he won and became a “prince with God.” His limp would be a constant reminder that God would be in control of his life.
In spite of God's hand obviously at work in the life of Jacob, he trusts to his old scheming to deal with Esau. We find Jacob bowing (Genesis 33:1–7), bribery (Genesis 33:8–11), outright lying (Genesis 33:12–16), and then moving off in another direction (Genesis 33:17–20). Esau went south and Jacob went east! It would still be some time before Jacob goes to Bethel where he needed to be...
Genesis 25-27: Sad Choices
The center of attention now shifts from Abraham to Isaac. Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah. For twenty years, they waited for a family that did not come. God blessed Isaac in everything but the thing he wanted most. He and Rebekah knew that God had promised descendants (Genesis 15:5), so Isaac laid hold of the promise and prayed. True prayer lays hold of God’s Word (John 15:7) and seeks to accomplish God’s purposes.
God gave them twin boys who were opposite each other in every way. He also gave them a revelation that the younger one, Jacob, would carry on the messianic line. For that reason, you would think that Isaac would have favored Jacob but the physical won over the spiritual. Esau pictures the man of the world who despises the eternal and lives for the temporal.
It was only a matter of time before the divided home would start to self-destruct, and it all began with Isaac. He knew that God had chosen Jacob, the younger son, to receive the blessing (Genesis 25:23–26); but he announced that he would give it to Esau. It seems that Isaac was more interested in his physical appetite than in spiritual things. He was not the spiritual person he once had been. Rebekah knew what God’s promise was to Jacob, and she should have let God work it out in His own way. "Faith is living without scheming," and who can hinder the Lord from accomplishing His purposes (Daniel 4:35)? Instead, she made her son a liar and deceived her husband. If Isaac had trusted the Lord instead of his physical senses (Genesis 27:21, 22, 25, 27), he would not have been fooled.Rebekah’s "a few days" (Genesis 27:44) became over twenty years! Despite all her scheming, she never saw her son on earth again.
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Stuff I Like is Jack Lamb's personal blog to post about stuff he likes. Not everything he likes is here, but you will find a variety of posts about Scripture, ministry, technology, and whatever else he likes.
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