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Destined for Deliverance
Emancipation Anticipation
Satan’s dominion over the Hebrews was almost over. God promised Abraham that his offspring would ride the road to freedom after 400 years of slavery, Genesis 15:13. A deliverer would assuredly emerge at the appropriate time. Even though he did not fully understand the fine details of Genesis 3:15, Satan was cognizant of God’s very first promise of deliverance. That’s when God announced how He would deliver humanity from sin. Offspring born to Eve would crush the serpent’s skull. Divinity would work through humanity to destroy the works of the enemy, just as Satan had worked through humanity to grieve God.
The Deliverer Delivered
Satan tried to sabotage God’s plan by inspiring Pharaoh to command Hebrew midwives to kill baby boys as soon as they were born. Yet the cooing continually swelled. The midwives camouflaged their civil disobedience with the comical explanation that Hebrew women gave birth too fast to catch up with them. These lowly midwives were the first deliverers of Israel.
Pharaoh expanded the command, ordering all of his subjects to throw Hebrew baby boys into the Nile. One mother obeyed the command with a little spin. She launched her son onto the river in a watertight basket. This baby boat was discovered by Pharaoh’s daughter. Despite her father’s hardened heart, she resolved to care for the boy as her own. But who would nurse him? The boy’s opportunistic sister, Miriam, negotiated for their mother to get paid for nursing her own child.
A baby saved by floating in a river that was supposed to be his grave? A Hebrew slave raised as royalty in the palace of the king who tried to kill him? Yes, the great deliverer, Moses, was the subject of each of these divinely ordered, miraculous deliverances. What a mighty God we serve!
Delayed Deliverance
After being delivered by midwives, his mother, sister, and an Egyptian princess remained a foe that none of Moses’ loved ones could defeat. Moses tried to seize his destiny as deliverer, and spark a revolution by killing an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew.
Moses soon fled in fear, delaying his role as deliverer rather than expediting it. Is it possible that Moses’ mistake not only delayed his own destiny, but the deliverance of a whole generation? Israel expected freedom after 400 years, yet the final count was 430 years (Exodus 12:40, 41).
Could the Exodus have occurred earlier if Moses hadn’t taken a 40-year detour? How many additional cracks on the back were suffered during that time? Have you let anything delay your destiny? Have unwise decisions postponed your plans to help others? Don’t give up. Remember that God’s delay wasn’t a denial.
Progressive Deliverance
God brought the Israelites through a progressive deliverance by sending 10 plagues. He could have instantly obliterated the Egyptians and liberated the Hebrews, but there was purpose in the process. God had three main points to prove. First, He showed His sovereignty over sorcery. The magicians tried every trick to discount His miracles, but reluctantly admitted defeat (Exodus 8:19; 9:11; 10:7). Why do so many of us have to fail so miserably before we’ll admit our powerlessness and let God take control?
Second, God demonstrated His mercy before administering justice. Instant annihilation of the Egyptians would amplify the distorted view of a bloodthirsty God that rushes to judgment. The process of warning and fulfillment gave the Egyptians all the time and evidence needed to repent and avoid destruction.
Finally, God was reestablishing trust with His people of promise. We, like they, often need a process instead of a presto to develop perseverance (Romans 5:3; Hebrews 10:36). For God to shortcut our deliverance would be to short-circuit our development.
Eternal Deliverance
After Moses brought deliverance to the Hebrews through God’s power, sadly, they forgot what God had done for them. James Weldon Johnson, acquainted with their history, wanted to ensure that African-Americans would not repeat the same. So he was inspired to write “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”
“God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who hast by Thy might,
Led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,
Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;
Shadowed beneath Thy hand,
May we forever stand,
True to our God,
True to our native land.”
Have you been delivered, only to find yourself captive to another form of bondage? Are you enslaved by circumstances beyond your control? There is a God, the Greatest Deliverer of all times, who offers eternal deliverance from sin and all of its woeful consequences.
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