God went before Israel into Egypt, in the form of Joseph, and prepared the way to save him from the famine.
Okay, but then… God seemed to forget his people for four hundred years. Four hundred years. That’s an odd twist in what is still the beginning of the story. What happened during that time?
God’s relationship seemed to shift from the individual to the larger body. Jacob and his family went to Egypt, they emerged as a nation, a people.
God could have told Moses to get some of the Israelites, the willing ones. He could have started over with just Moses, who was already free from Egypt.
God brought Abraham from “here” to “there.”
God didn’t do that this time. He brought the whole of the Israelites from Egypt.
As we worship separately and are a scattered church, rather than the gathered church, what if God seeks to use this time to strip us (the Church) of things that distract us from worshipping the One True God?
Before leaving Egypt, God demonstrated his power over the elements of creation that were often worshipped. The One True God had power over the waters, the skies and the land that gives life; he created them for our good, but not to be elevated above him.
Take a moment and reflect on the demigods of our culture that had become idols in your life; and then think of the idols of Church life.
How have they been damaged or even destroyed in the past few months? I am not saying that this is God’s doing, they have fallen due to the temporal nature of their being. They were elements of creation, created for God’s purposes.
They also held power over us and in some ways, we were slaves to their demands and promises. Often, they held us back from moving to the places God was calling to go toward.
As we consider emerging from our individual quarantines, what will you leave behind in Egypt?
Journey Through Scripture 