Title: God's Hand in Preparation
God's ready hand
In a city like today, it is lit up with bright lights, but there is a pitch-black night where you can't see an inch on the old country roads. There was a dark night in the history of Israel. It was a dark night where 400 years of slavery in Egypt had no choice but to give up. A gloomy life with no light of hope had passed for 430 years. But even in such a dark reality, God was preparing for salvation. Although it may seem abandoned on the outside, Israel's descendants prospered, and God was quietly giving a new history.
1. God prepares even in the midst of abuse (8-14)
The word that testifies that a lot of time has passed since Joseph is a new king who does not know Joseph. It was a time when a powerful man who did not know the mysterious work of God that worked through a man named Joseph ruled Egypt. It is not that he does not know how the people of Israel came to live in Egypt, but that he is a king who does not know God, the King of all kings, and that he rules the kingdom according to his own will. He is said to be either Amenhotep I or Totumose I. The Israeli nation has grown in population and has become a great threat. They served as their servants for over 400 years, but they were not Egyptians.
As the number of Israelis increased, fears arose that if war broke out, they would join the enemy and become their enemy. It is impossible to get rid of them by killing them all, so having decided to abuse them in a wise way decided to put a heavy burden on them. They are trying to restrain their prosperity through abuse. They mobilized the construction of the national treasures of Pidom and Rameses. In order to build a gigantic castle, it was mobilized for earthwork, brick baking, and farming. It is a process of reclaiming desert-like land and turning it into agricultural land. He was figuring out how to weaken their power. They had to be whipped and subjected to great hard work. But the text says that the more they were abused, the more they prospered and multiplied. Wild chrysanthemums suffering from cold frosts in autumn are more fragrant and beautiful.
In order for believers to live in the world and live righteously, they must know that there are hardships. The more we are persecuted, the more we shine. The heyday of Christian history was not a good time, but a period of persecution that would result in terrible persecution. That was then. Life was at work when Rome implemented a policy of tyranny and annihilation of Christianity for its teenage years. A person of faith must reveal his fragrance even in the midst of suffering. It is said that the petals are fragrant and fly farther away to be injured. There was a young man transporting fish from the west coast of the United States to the east coast. They all died while transporting them for two weeks or by car. As a result of researching the reason, they found that they were overprotected while living in the sea where they were eaten by each other, so I put an octopus in the aquarium. If he tried to catch him with his legs stretched out, he would move away from danger and run away. Even after two weeks, he did not die and continued his life. The important thing is that God made His people prosper without abandoning them by refining them through suffering.
2. A person who is prepared during a crisis (15-22)
Even with this kind of labor, children were born well and the population gradually prospered. In a specific way, the order to kill all male children was issued. This is an annihilation policy. They were treated more cruelly than animals. The midwives were called Sipburah and Buah. However, because they feared God, they disobeyed the command of the king of Egypt and did not kill the boys. Disobeying the king's orders is death. They were believed to be representatives of the gods. But they were people of martyrdom who feared God, not the King, who claimed to be the representative of God.
However, it did not end with that, but this time, more actively having children, the man was thrown into the river and only the woman survived. This order is not an order issued to the midwife, but a specific killing order issued to all citizens. We need to know that Satan's work does not end when one thing fails, but works more actively. However, God did not turn away from the groans of his chosen people, and was actively preparing for salvation and preparing to return to the promised land of Canaan.
3. Those who are prepared for salvation (2:1-10)
The text records the history of Moses' birth, and when he gave birth to a son, a command was given to throw him into the river. He recommended that the entire nation participate in the infanticide. The child born at that time was Moses. It has been said that from birth. He was born as a leader to save the nation in a world of darkness. He was born with a fate to die, but there were people who were prepared for him. His mother hid it for three months, but when it was no longer possible to keep it hidden, he made a reed caravan and coated it with bitumen so that it would not leak, and he sent it to the Nile River.
At that time, the second prepared person, the princess of Pharaoh, went out to bathe, and when she saw the crying child, she thought it was a Hebrew child. Historically, Thutmose I had no son and tried to succeed to the throne by marrying his daughter Hatshepsut and half-brother Thutmose II. But they had no sons. Without a son, there is no succession to the throne. In the midst of this, he was very lucky to be rescued from the river.
Finally, the mother who gave birth to him hired a nanny to take care of him. Moses became the prince of Egypt, and his mother, Ogebed, was blessed to raise her son and receive wages. He became the son of Pharaoh's princess, entered the royal palace of Egypt, learned Egyptian science, and became God's servant who was prepared to save the Israelites from 430 years of slavery. Even in the dark night, God works. Even in the dark night of history, God is working.
Don't despair even if you can't see any hope in your eyes. Even in the dark and gloomy reality, God is still raising ready workers. It is to prepare those who fear God. We are workers ready to take responsibility for this age. Prepared workers must fulfill the responsibilities of history. Moses was a servant of God who chose to suffer with God's people rather than the pleasures of sin. You will have to have faith in waiting patiently in anticipation of God's work.