Exodus 1: God's people under Pharaoh's heel (Day 49)

Pray

Lord, prepare me to receive your word. Clear my mind and warm my heart. Assure me of your loving purposes for me, and speak into my life today.

Read

Exodus 1 Luke 4 Job 18 1 Corinthians 5

Daily reflection: Exodus 1

Reading a really gripping book for the second time is a different sort of experience. You can dwell on the characters, ponder the writer's meaning and see the subtleties you might have missed before. But – you do know it has a happy ending, and that makes a difference.

The first chapter of Exodus sets the scene for a wonderful story of liberation. We know that it all works out, and that Pharaoh lets God's people go.

For the Hebrews at the time, though, there was no such reassurance. They were oppressed and enslaved by a brutal regime, facing the extinction of their people through a calculated genocide. In this opening chapter, there's no mention of God: perhaps the faith of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob burned too dimly among their descendants for them to feel his presence among them.

If we look around the world, we'll see situations today where people are crushed under cruel and oppressive rulers. If we look at the people around us, we'll see that some of them are crushed by circumstances they can't control, or because they're under attack at work or in their family life. They are living through Exodus 1, and they don't know the end of the story.

We shouldn't be too quick with glib and easy reassurances in situations like these. But still, this is only chapter 1. There is a wonderful salvation ahead for the Hebrews. And Jesus himself looks back to Exodus when he proclaims liberty to the captives and freedom for the oppressed (Luke 4.18); God is on the side of the poor and downtrodden.

Pray

God, we pray for those who are crushed and in despair, who don't know what to do or where to turn. Help them to trust in your liberating power, and to hope in your future for them.