1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah; 3 Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin; 4 Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher. 5 The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy in all; Joseph was already in Egypt.
6 Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, 7 but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them.
8 Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.9 ‘Look,’ he said to his people, ‘the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. 10 Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.’
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob (who would become Israel), Joseph. A family were called to God’s great mission to restore all things: A “resistance movement against evil”[1]
God had called Abraham (Abram) and made a covenant with him. God promised him a people and a land in which the people would live and fulfil their vocation as ‘the light of the world’[2]
The people had a job to do, a family business, to co-operate with God in the renewal of all things. These messed up, broken people would bring hope and restoration, but now they were enslaved, in Egypt. In need of a deliverer.
The Israelites groaned under their slavery and cried out. Their cries for relief from their hard labor ascended to God:
God listened to their groanings. God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.God saw what was going on with Israel. God understood. [Exodus 2:23-25 (The Message)]
What has God called you to? What is your vocation? Your ‘Ministry’? Where are you called to be “exceedingly fruitful”?
Today, How will you co-operate with God in joining with Him in the renewal of all things?
What holds you back? Where are you enslaved? How are you impaired from what God has called you to?
[1] Brian McLaren, The Story we find ourselves in pp66-70,
[2] Dr Winn Griffin, God’s epic adventure, p109
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