Have your expectations of God led to misunderstandings about His nature or care for you? In turn, are you more fearful than faithful? Peter addresses the fears of these sojourners with a charge, knowing an understanding of the Lord and His way helps us get through the times when you don’t understand what God is doing.
1 Peter 2:16: “Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.”
God gave Moses some very specific promises. He said Pharaoh would drive the people out of the land (Ex. 6:1), but He also said that He would harden Pharaoh’s heart against letting them go so that He could multiply His signs and wonders in the land (Ex. 7:3). The promise was sure, but apparently the means would not be easy.
Since Moses couldn’t see God’s perspective, he may have wondered how hardening Pharaoh’s heart could possibly fit with setting the Israelites free. However, he knew that the Lord’s name was I AM. The God who eternally exists in the past, present, and future was the one who could use Pharaoh’s hard heart to set the Hebrew people free, even though it would temporarily cause them greater suffering. They needed to look beyond the immediate circumstances and trust God to work out the big picture for their ultimate good…and so do we.
The Lord promised to rescue the Israelites from Egypt, but His purpose reached beyond His people. “The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out My hand on Egypt and bring out the sons of Israel from their midst” (Ex. 7:5). Yet even this was not the end of God’s purpose. His ultimate goal was to bring forth a Jewish nation through whom Jesus Christ the Savior and Redeemer would come. Moses couldn’t foresee all that God had in mind, and neither can we. But if we will trust Him even when we don’t understand what He is doing, He will strengthen our faith.
Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us not to rely on our own understanding but to trust the Lord with all our heart. This is exactly what Moses had to do as well. The foundation for his trust was God’s words spoken to him, and today we have the completed written Word of God as the basis for our trust and security. Everything else we possess could vanish, but God’s Word stands forever and will never change. Every promise is guaranteed by Him.
“The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules over all” (Ps. 103:19). This means that He has the power and right to rule over everything. Pharaoh was no match for Him, nor could he do anything to Moses because the Lord was with him. The sovereign Ruler is also with us as the Holy Spirit. Every event in our lives is under His control, and He is always working to accomplish His perfect will in and through us.
Pharaoh was a proud king who dominated the Hebrews and ruled over all Egypt, but God was the one who put him in that position. “For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth” (Rom. 9:17).
It took the death of his son in the last plague to convince Pharaoh to let God’s people go. He never became a believer, but the demonstration of God’s power over him became known worldwide. Still today, Jews celebrate Passover and their redemption from slavery in Egypt. Like the Hebrews who couldn’t see God’s redemption until it was accomplished, we can’t always see what God is doing through the difficult times in our lives. Yet in even our most painful situations, He is teaching us to trust Him and to believe that He is working for our good.
We may pray for a long time without receiving an answer and go through trying and painful circumstances, wondering why God doesn’t rescue us, but He is never late by His perfect time standard: “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jermiah 29:11).
The children of Israel may have wondered why God waited 400 years before setting them free from slavery. However, during those long years, Joseph’s extended family became a great multitude. In His perfect time, the Lord revealed Himself to them and demonstrated His mighty power and love by miraculously delivering them out of Egypt to become a great nation.
This is the same all-powerful God whom we trust for our salvation. He has given us His Word, and every promise is sure. Throughout the storms of life, we can know that we are eternally secure in our Savior who loves and cares for us.
