With a Strong Hand!

I love to read the stories of the children of Israel as they journeyed to the Promise Land. It is so clear that they were not the reason for their season. It was their God who over and over moved in their behalf. As I was reading my devotion the other day I noticed how that it was repeated over and over that God delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians with a “strong hand:”

3And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the LORD brought you out from this place: there shall no leavened bread be eaten…

9And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the LORD’s law may be in thy mouth: for with a strong hand hath the LORD brought thee out of Egypt…

14And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this? that thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand the LORD brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage: Exodus 13: (selected passages – KJV)

It would seem that the Israelites would know this – they saw the plagues that fell upon the Egyptians, yet not upon them; they witnessed the Egyptians drowning in the Red Sea, yet they knew they had crossed over on dry land; they received every morning fresh manna and quail at night; they tasted of the water provided from a rock; and even with all that – when we go a little further into the book of Exodus, we find that the children of Israel sinned against the Lord.

Seeing the strong hand of God alone will not keep us from temptation – there has to be a circumcision of the heart – we have to make room in our lives, not just for His Hand, but for His Heart! God desires that we be kept in this time of testing – this season where it appears that the wheat and the tare are being separated – as it seems that preparations are being ready and we are living in the “this is that!”

Miracles and signs and wonders may draw our attention to God – but only falling in love with God and with His Word will keep us!

Selah,
Maria