Week 23: Day 2

Intro: Hello, my name is Damilola, welcome to today's Orbit devotional.

Bible: We are going to be in Exodus Chapter 3 across verses 7-10. Let me read for us.

The Lord said, ‘I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey – the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.’

Thoughts: This passage reminds me of a time when a few of us in my church went out onto the streets around our church, to pray for people. And we did this to let them know about God to let them know about Jesus to let them know that God loved them and that he wanted them to be in a relationship with them. And how we would do this is what we would walk up to total strangers, say a little bit about ourselves, maybe offer them some prayer, and then be on our way. I got chatting with one lady and asked if we could pray for anything for her and what she said was something along the lines of Well, there are so many issues and problems in the world. I don't know what the point is in praying to God if he won't just fix them. She said, there’s so much I look around, I see around me that's broken, and I want it to be fixed, that God should just fix it all. And what's the point of praying to him if he won't.

And then there's passage, we see God speaking to Moses, speaking to the people of Israel through Moses, and they've been in a similar place to this lady. They've been wondering what the point is, in talking to God, when it feels like seems like things aren't changing around them. And Moses in particular, has carried this frustration, just in the chapter before we see him kill someone, because he is tired and frustrated with the awful oppression, his people are going under, and he wants it to change. And in the midst of this, I imagine there's a question in Moses mind the question that you and I can have often to, if God is real, why doesn't he just fix everything. And so, this passage is fascinating, because in it, God tells Moses tells the people of Israel that he knows exactly what they're going through. He says, I plan to deal with this, I am going to fix this. But watch and see how God says He is going to sort the situation that his people are in. He says to Moses, I'm going to rescue my people, through you, you have a part to play in my mission of bringing change and freedom to the situation that my people are going through.

You see you and I can sometimes think of God is real, if God is powerful, if God really cares, let him just get on with fixing things by himself. But actually, what this passage lets us know is that God has job for you and I in his mission of making things new of turning things to be the way that they're supposed to be. And so the question the invitation for us today is where's God inviting us to take part in his mission for change? What is the change that God wants to bring about through us?

Prayer: Let me pray for us. Lord, thank you for what you reveal to us of yourself in this passage, that you are aware of every heart, of every cry of every struggle that your people go through, that you're not unconcerned. You're not unmoved by the difficulties that we experience that you care and that you see them on. And yet I thank you also for this revelation that you have a part for us to play in your plans. You want us to take our place in being part of your purposes. But I pray that you'd help us today to remember this invitation when we see things going wrong. And to put our hands in your hands and to walk in step with you to see the change that you long to bring about and we long to see in our days. pray this in Jesus name. Amen.

Challenge: Now, my challenge for us today is wrapped up in that prayer. What are the things that God is inviting us to be the change that we want to see in in his help with his power, and I believe one of the ways that we can understand this, so get to know it is by taking a moment to think of something that really frustrates you. It might be something close to you, it might be something a bit further away. But think of something that actually weighs heavily on your heart that you longed to see change in. And then spend a moment talking to God about this bringing this frustration and pain to him. And then just sit with the question, Lord, what part do you want me to play being the change that I want to see in this area?

Outro: Thanks so much for listening.