SUNDAY, JULY 7
Scripture: Exodus 6:5-6, Psalm 105:37

Being in covenant with God has great advantages! One advantage is He hears our cries! Exodus 6:5-6 states Israel cried out to God and God heard and responded. It says, “And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant. Therefore say to the children of Israel: ‘I am the Lord; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.’” Did the Israelites cry out to God to be rescued? Yes, they did! Can we ask God to redeem us from decades of neglect, pain, anguish, and great burdens if indeed that is our condition? Those with long-standing illness and emotional trauma need to see the Almighty Redeemer work in their circumstances just as God’s Family did in Moses’ time! Moses faced three million broken, bruised and bleeding. They had been impoverished and destitute for generations. Who but God could be the hospital, the Redeemer and Transformer of such a group with such a background of hardship? God was for Moses and He was for the Israelites. And we must live knowing that He is for us too! He covenanted to do exactly for us what He did for Moses! (Psalm 105:35 should be written on the heart of every believer. “He also brought them out with silver and gold, And there was none feeble among His tribes.” Psalm 105:37 is a powerful and often glanced-over portion of Scripture that has life-changing implications if we meditate on its layers of meaning. For many of us this verse has been under-represented as we previously studied the panorama of the exit of God’s people from Egypt. God wants us to rise above and come out of our own personal ‘Egypt.’ And He wants us to do it with our heads held high and set like flint toward His eternal purposes.