Week 25: Day 1

Intro: Hello and welcome to Orbit, a short reflection to help you put God at the centre of your life from the team behind Satellites - my name is Zachary Gain and I’ll be taking you through today’s passage. Each weekday we share a little bit of the Bible with you, give you a chance to pray and think about it, and provide you with one practical way to put it into practice today.

Bible: Today's reading comes from Exodus 8:1-4
Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go to Pharaoh and say to him, “This is what the Lord says: let my people go, so that they may worship me. If you refuse to let them go, I will send a plague of frogs on your whole country. The Nile will teem with frogs. They will come up into your palace and your bedroom and onto your bed, into the houses of your officials and on your people, and into your ovens and kneading troughs. The frogs will come up on you and your people and all your officials.”’

Thoughts: This passage from exodus is one of the first of the ten plagues God sent upon egypt which was the beginning of the end of the Israelites slavery in Egypt. Now the Israelites had been in Egypt for many generations but their growing size meant the Pharaoh feared their presence. He was concerned that one day the Isrealites would turn against the Egyptians and overthrow his power and reign in the land. Gradually over time, he forced them to become his slaves. He made the slaves build grand treasure cities and statues under grueling conditions.
Now whilst the people of Israel still prayed and worshipped God, I can imagine that it might have been hard to really understand or know whether God actually still cared for them. I mean, 400 odd years? That’s a long time.....but what we see here is the beginning of God demonstrating that he has heard their cry and will deliver them from the oppression and evil that they are suffering. They doubted God’s goodness and yet he delivered on his promises.

Have you ever doubted God’s goodness or found it hard to understand a particular situation you are in? For many of us the last two years have been very difficult with the pandemic. Separation from friends and family, people losing jobs, isolation leading to anxiety and other mental health difficulties, illness and suffering, some of you may have lost loved ones close to you. It’s often very hard to understand.

However it says in Proverbs 3:5:6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding: in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”

For me this can be very hard sometimes. From my early 20’s I have often found myself struggling with anxiety and low mood. At my lowest I would have said that I believed in God, truly believed that he was good and cared for me was slightly harder to really know. Yet time after time when I least expected it God has demonstrated his goodness and love for me.

Jesus says “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Be comforted by the knowledge that God is good, he cares for you, he loves you, that he has your best interests at heart even when it might not seem like it.

Prayer: Thank you God that you know me, thank you that you see and understand me when I am struggling or finding life difficult even when I can’t make sense of it myself. We take comfort in the knowledge that we don’t have to figure it out or find the answers but instead can trust in you. We can trust in your goodness and your love for us. Amen

Silence: There's now just a few moments of silence for you to pray, reflect on these ideas, or simply sit and be still.

Challenge: Gratitude is such a powerful tool something modern day psychology is only now catching up with, despite that fact it says give thanks in the bible 139 times. In times of difficulty we often lose sight of the good things in our lives that come from God. Take a few moments at the start of your day or at the end or whenever you are watching this to give thanks for anything you are grateful for. It could be anything from a roof over your head to a funny meme that your friend showed you today.

Outro: That's it for today's Orbit. Thanks so much for joining us - we'll be back with another reflection tomorrow.