Baguio
City, the promise land
But God
sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your
lives by great deliverance
-
Genesis 45:7
I will be a CPA this October 2014. What happens next? Will I
find a job here in Baguio where I can earn enough to pursue my studies in law?
Won’t I need more experiences to qualify to that position that I want to earn
enough for my family? What happens to my ministry after? Will I be able to
serve God as I do now even when these things come to me?
I know not of His plans in my life but I am very excited
about them. But one option has been ringing in my ear tonight. It might be
necessary for me to move to some other place for awhile.
I will go
down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again. And Joseph’s
own hand will close your eyes.
-
Genesis 46:4
At the start of Exodus, the Israelites multiplied in Egypt
after many generations had passed Joseph’s death and his other brothers. Did God plan the oppression that happened to
the Israelites upon bringing them to Egypt?
So here’s what happen here. God planned the great famine that
affected Canaan and so He made Joseph be in authority in Egypt to save the
Israelites from this famine and adopt them. But their moving to another foreign
land made them not only foreign to their own land (which was written in like, 3
books in the old testament regarding their journey back to the Promise land),
but also, many generations of Israel has been greatly oppressed and harassed by
the Egyptians. Come to think of it, Why did God allowed all these to happen?
1. God wanted to save the first generation
Why? Because if God left them in that famine in
Jacob’s time, the Israelites wouldn’t survive it and die as one generation
alone.
2. God wanted
the Israelites to multiply
… but the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied greatly and
became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them.
-
Exodus 1:7
If the Israelites were stuck in Canaan and did not
move to Egypt, they would’ve not multiplied greatly in Egypt.
3. God was
molding His people to be strong in faith
But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied
and spread, so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites.
-
Exodus 1:12
I’ve always wondered about God making the Israelites
His chosen people. Why not the Asians? Or the Americans? Why of all people, the
Israelites? Because this is the nation that has been tested by the Lord for
many years in Exodus. Upon reading the rest of the chapters, we can really see
how many times the Israelites has been tested in their faith. Some committed
idolatry, some didn’t submit to God. In other words, God Himself oppressed the
Israelites to make them strong. I believe that those who didn’t make it until
the end were the ones who had issues with their faith. Moses (in the latter
chapters) were even one of them.
In our generation today, indeed many were called but few were
chosen. Why? Because although many of us call ourselves as “Christians” (Israelites),
not all can finish the race, in fact, not all are in the race, in the battle,
in the war. God showed us how He moved in the nation of Israel to show us how
strong and prepared we have to be for the great tests of Faith that will come
to us.
But God’s promise has always been there. He is with us and he
will bring us to the Promise Land.
No comments:
Post a Comment