DEVOTIONAL
Moses was a man whom God separated from his birth to be the leader of His nation. He was chosen from the foundations of the world to accomplish what is considered to be one of the greatest miracles found in Old Testament history, the deliverance of His people from Egyptian slavery. Through him, The Lord redeemed His chosen nation from the tyranny of an evil Pharaoh who was ruling in Egypt. This tyrant of a man knew not Joseph, nor how the Lord saved Egypt from a famine that would have destroyed the entire nation. This evil man began to build his kingdom upon the backs of God’s chosen people. He was a brutal taskmaster, commanding those who were under him to beat the people of God into submission, bringing them under his dominion. This Pharaoh sought to dehumanize God’s people, to be no more than mere animals trapped in a cage. Oh the cruelty of sin and what it is capable of doing when a man removes the infinite God Who has made Himself known to all of creation by the works of His hands. The blood of murdered children crying from the ground, the infliction of pain as the lash tore through the skin of the weak, wives being torn from their households to be abused, as the screams echoed through the streets of Egypt, while the innocent were being ravaged by evil men.
The Lord, the God of heaven will not be mocked. So He sent Moses, a feeble man with only a shepherds staff to wreak havoc upon the whole nation. He leaves it desolate and in ruin by many plagues, to be only a monument of ignorance for all generations to remember. The Lord delivered His people from the hand of Pharaoh destroying the entire nation. He removed the mightiest army on the face of the earth with one blast of His nostrils, opening up the sea and then closing it down upon them. The Lord led his people out of Egypt like a mighty warrior, working many miracles before their eyes.
Many years had passed from the moment that the Lord led his people out of Egypt. But now it was finally time for the Lord to lead His people into the promised land, the land flowing with milk and honey. It is here that Moses begins to prepare this generation to enter into what God had promised long ago. And he tells them, “You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you.” For The Lord knew when they entered into the land they would forget Him. He knew they would become more concerned about their own desires and their hearts would grow cold towards one another, that they would become self-centered people and eventually start worshiping the idols of the land.
May we as Christians, never forget the hand of God who redeemed us from the bondage of sin, through the shed blood of His Son Jesus Christ. For when we were unregenerate, and sold under sin, we were enslaved to a mighty power against which we could not contend. We were by nature children of wrath, impoverished by our own passions, held captive by the dominion of darkness, and enslaved by our own corruptions. The task master of sin locked us away in a cell with no key to unlock the door and we were awaiting eternal destruction. But as the scripture tells us, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ. For by grace we have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” The prison cell has been opened, we have been set free, but let us not forget the price that was paid by Jesus Christ, to set us free.
“You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you.”
Deuteronomy 15:15 NASBS