The Bible tells one true story from beginning to end, and it’s helpful to remember that it all fits together. As we begin Exodus, we have moved on about 400 years (remember the promise to Abraham that his descendants would be servants in a foreign land 15:13) but the promises are still being worked out.
God promised Abraham that He would make him into a great nation, give his descendants a land to live in and that He would bless them and bring blessing to all nations through a child of Abraham.
At the beginning of Exodus, God’s people have become such a great nation that the Pharaoh is frightened of them and so tries to suppress them. But the more he suppressed them the more they multiply (1:12)!
We see what kind of man Pharaoh is when he tries (and fails) to get the midwives to kill the baby boys and then orders any baby boys should be thrown in the river.
But throughout the mess, God is at work and Moses is rescued and his own mother ends up getting paid to look after her own son (2:9)! This is our God!
The people may have thought that God did not hear them but we are reassured God heard their groaning (2:24). This is encouraging, our prayers do reach God, the book of Revelation tells us they rise like incense into His presence. Prayers we thought were unheard are being answered in God’s timing as He knows best.
Wonderfully for God’s people this means deliverance. (3:7,8)
As we read Exodus we can be encouraged as we see God answering prayer and keeping his promise. God promised to deliver his people from slavery. Our reading from Galatians 5 shows us that what happened in Exodus is a shadow of what we experience. “For freedom, Christ has set us free.” How has Christ set us free? By becoming a curse for us, taking our sin on himself so that we are no longer slaves to sin. If you’re a Christian you are able to say no to sin. It is no longer your master. He gives us His Holy Spirit to help us live lives pleasing to God by bearing the fruit of the Spirit.
And just as he delivers God’s people from Egypt and into the promised land, so one day, all those who trust in Jesus will be delivered into the wonderful promised land of the new heaven and new earth!
Light and Momentary Troubles 
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