Sounds like a title for a movie, doesn’t it? Remember the Titans, Facing the Giants, Rudy – all of these movies were based on true stories, true circumstances and true victories.
I wonder what the movie writers would do with the children of Israel being held captive in Egypt. I know that years ago they cast Charlton Heston as Moses but what would the remake look like.
The casting call may read something like this. Needed: those who have felt oppressed, hopeless, overcome. If you have been looking for a way out of horrendous circumstances you’ll be perfect.
Do you remember a time when you felt completely helpless or oppressed, almost like you were a slave and had no rights of your own? The circumstances in your life were far from good and you couldn’t see things making a positive turn.
I’m sure that’s the way the Israelites must have felt in Egypt. Years and years in slavery. Conditions getting worse and worse. Even when their God appointed leader, Moses, showed up, things got worse. They were still making bricks and now they had to contend with a pharaoh that was ticked off by the plagues.
To add further to their oppression Pharaoh commanded that they must gather their own straw for making bricks.
“That same day the king gave orders to his slave bosses and to the men directly in charge of the Israelite slaves. He told them:
7 Don’t give the slaves any more straw to put in their bricks. Force them to find their own straw wherever they can, 8 but they must make the same number of bricks as before. They are lazy, or else they would not beg me to let them go and sacrifice to their God. 9 Make them work so hard that they won’t have time to listen to these lies.” Exodus 5:6-9 CEV
Well, they survived their brick making duties, lived above the plagues, experienced the first Passover and then fled Egypt.
Now they are in the wilderness, headed for the Promised Land and Moses gives them this instruction.
“Don’t say in your heart, ‘These nations are stronger than we are. How can we force them out?’ 18 You must not be afraid of them. You must remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all the people of Egypt. 19 You saw the great troubles he gave them and the amazing things he did. You saw the Lord use his great power and strength to bring you out of Egypt. The Lord your God will use that same power against all the people you fear.” Deuteronomy 7:17-19 ERV
Remember the Egyptians!!!
I encourage you today – remember your Egyptians! God is still in control – He is still all powerful, all loving and His hand of protection and provision continue to reach out to you today.
“What can we say about all this? If God is on our side, can anyone be against us? 32 God did not keep back his own Son, but he gave him for us. If God did this, won’t he freely give us everything else? 33 If God says his chosen ones are acceptable to him, can anyone bring charges against them? 34 Or can anyone condemn them? No indeed! Christ died and was raised to life, and now he is at God’s right side,[e] speaking to him for us. 35 Can anything separate us from the love of Christ? Can trouble, suffering, and hard times, or hunger and nakedness, or danger and death? 36 It is exactly as the Scriptures say, “For you we face death all day long. We are like sheep on their way to be butchered.”
37 In everything we have won more than a victory because of Christ who loves us. 38 I am sure that nothing can separate us from God’s love—not life or death, not angels or spirits, not the present or the future, 39 and not powers above or powers below. Nothing in all creation can separate us from God’s love for us in Christ Jesus our Lord!” Romans 8:31-39
Remember the Egyptians! They were no match for God.
The Lord fought for the Israelites and He is fighting for us. He loves us so deeply.
Remember the Egyptians!
All their horses, swords and skill were no match for the power of God.
Take heart, God is on your side!