Egypt

Welcome back! I hope your first day goes well! For the NRCA folks, I hope your first week was great!

My plan for the devotional this year is to walk through the Bible—not the entire Bible, but an overview or survey of it. We’ll start with the Old Testament this fall, followed by Advent leading up to Christmas. After Christmas, we’ll walk through Jesus’ ministry and then finish the year with a survey of the New Testament.

My hope is that by the end of the school year, you’ll have a better understanding of who God is, what He has done, and how we are called to live with Him. I also hope this prepares you for next summer as some of you head off to college, go on mission trips, or start summer jobs.

We’re going to start in Exodus. Who thought I was going to say Genesis?

When Exodus begins, we find God’s people enslaved in Egypt. They had originally come to Egypt generations earlier to escape a drought and famine. They were welcomed there because Joseph, of coat of many colors fame, had gone from being sold into slavery by his brothers to becoming one of the highest-ranking officials in Egypt.

But Joseph and his generation had died, and now there was a new Pharaoh who didn’t know Joseph or care about what he had done for Egypt. Instead, he looked at the Israelites and saw a threat. Their population was growing quickly, and Pharaoh became afraid that they might eventually turn against Egypt.

So, Pharaoh tried to control them. He forced them into hard labor and made their lives miserable, but something interesting happened: the more Pharaoh oppressed them, the more they continued to grow and flourish. Pharaoh eventually went even further and ordered that the Israelite baby boys be killed at birth.

Pharaoh had a plan for God’s people, but God had a different plan.