For 430 years the children of Israel were in Egypt, and for part of the 430 years they were slaves in the hands of a Pharaoh who did not know Joseph. Exodus 1:8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. This Pharaoh made the lives of the children of Israel unbearable, they were used and abused. The children of Israel had no voice and no deliverer, but the children of Israel continued to cry out to God for deliverance. For years it felt as though their God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had abandoned His people.
Then God raised a young man, an Israelite in the palace of Pharaoh as a deliverer for the children of Israel.
The word of the Lord was clear: I have heard the cry of the children of Israel and I have come down to set them free.
Exodus 3:9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”
There are times when as believers we have prayed and fasted and done everything we know how to do and like the children of Israel we have not seen any change, we feel stuck in the mire and there is no way out. Everything around you is saying you will never come out of this, but I am here to tell you and encourage you that it does not really matter how long it takes God will show up for you. Scripture says in Galatians 6:9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. The key statement here is not lose heart.
God through mighty signs and wonders rescued the children of Israel from the hand of Pharaoh, only for them to find themselves stuck between the red sea and the army of Pharaoh.
I have come to realise that when someone has been in a situation for years they can become used to their situation and every attempt to rescue them can meet with resistance. The children of Israel had become so accustomed to slavery so much so that when they were confronted with this situation it was easier for them to want to return to Egypt.
Exodus 14: 10 And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. 11 Then they said to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt? 12 Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.”
Sometimes as believers we get stuck in life. A bit like being stuck in traffic, stuck in the mud, stuck in a job we don't like, stuck in sin, stuck in a spiritual rut. We may be stuck in a bad situation, stuck with sickness, stuck in different situations, but God wants to help us go forward.
God does not want His children to be stuck, He wants us to go forward. He wants us to cooperate with Him. He wants us to have the confidence to call on Him when we are stuck.
Moses cried to God, but God’s response was for Moses and the children of Israel to go forward.
Exodus 14:15 And the Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward.
God asked the children of Israel to “Go Forward.” God does not waste His words, when He says go forward He has everything in hand.
People of God, God does not want us to focus on our situation, He wants our eyes to be on Him. The red sea might still be visible, the Egyptian Army might still be visibly behind you but God is saying “Go FORWARD”
“I will never leave you nor forsake you. I am here to protect, guide and lead you to your destiny.”
Paul the Apostle despite all the opposition he met when he became a Christian was resolved not to allow the opposition to stop his progress, he said in Philippians 3:13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Our goal as believers is to move on to the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. We do not have any excuse to remain at the same place forever. We must take our focus of our circumstance and put our eyes on Jesus. That way we will be able to fulfil God call for our lives
The Hebrew writer wrote to the Hebrews encouraging them to progress in their Christian walk and not remain at the same spot. God wants us to progress and mature as believers.
Hebrews 6:1 Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,
We have been delivered and set free to go forward in God. Do not remain in the same place. Grow in your spiritual walk with God. Mature, discern between what is good and evil and do exploit.
Hebrews 5:12-14
12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. 14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. 14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
