Focus Chapters:
- Exodus 1-2
- I Chronicles 6:1-3
- Exodus 3
- Exodus 4:1-17
Standout Verse(s):
THE ACTION
Exodus 1:7-11 NLT
But their descendants, the Israelites, had many children and grandchildren. In fact, they multiplied so greatly that they became extremely powerful and filled the land.
Eventually, a new king came to power in Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph or what he had done. He said to his people, “Look, the people of Israel now outnumber us and are stronger than we are. We must make a plan to keep them from growing even more. If we don’t, and if war breaks out, they will join our enemies and fight against us. Then they will escape from the country. So the Egyptians made the Israelites their slaves. They appointed brutal slave drivers over them, hoping to wear them down with crushing labor. They forced them to build the cities of Pithom and Rameses as supply centers for the king.
THE REACTION
Exodus 1:12 NLT
But the more the Egyptians oppressed them, the more the Israelites multiplied and spread, and the more alarmed the Egyptians became.
Observation (s):
- God’s promises are guaranteed. God’s promise to Abraham and Jacob was fulfilled. Their descendants multiplied in number and power.
But their descendants, the Israelites, had many children and grandchildren. In fact, they multiplied so greatly that they became extremely powerful and filled the land.
- As God’s blessing escalated, the Egyptians grew afraid of the Israelites. The greater the Egyptian’s fear of the Israelites, the more they sought to subdue the Israelites and the blessing that was on their lives.
He said to his people, “Look, the people of Israel now outnumber us and are stronger than we are. We must make a plan to keep them from growing even more.
- The more the Egyptians tried to oppressed the Israelites, the more God’s blessing multiplied.
But the more the Egyptians oppressed them, the more the Israelites multiplied and spread, and the more alarmed the Egyptians became.
Application:
The Egyptians grew to fear the Israelites because of the fruition of the blessing that God had placed over their lives from the days of their ancestors. Today’s lesson pinpoints a very important point: Your enemies will fear you when your blessings begin to bear fruit and your state changes. From that fear will birth a desire and actions to oppress you in an effort to return you to the scope of what they can control and understand.
But there is more!
Don’t you know that you are honed in fire? The more you are oppressed, the greater your blessings will manifold and manifest? What God has allowed to bear fruit in your life cannot be halted by any other force.
