Tag: Genocide

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No coincidence, only providence.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“Soon Pharaoh’s daughter came down to bathe in the river, and her attendants walked along the riverbank. When the princess saw the basket among the reeds, she sent her maid to get it for her. When the princess opened it, she saw the baby. The little boy was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This must be one of the Hebrew children,” she said.” Exodus‬ ‭2‬:‭5‬-‭6‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Moses records his own origin story. It is remembered and written in such a gentle, peaceful style. However, living in those moments were not peaceful, nor gentle. The situation was dire and filled with fear of an unknown future. We read this as history, but honestly it’s telling of a fact: Nothing is coincidental! We have to shift our thinking to the truth – EVERYTHING is providential. Everything, you ask? Yes, everything. Our limited scope of time and understanding of eternity makes this difficult. Plus, our distrust and awful stereotypes of God put us at a huge disadvantage of seeing God as GOOD. God is always right, true and good. We tend to review every crisis, death, loss or disaster as either random or predetermined. God’s foreknowledge and sovereignty does not equal predetermination of evil that is perpetrated on humanity. God did not create humans to delight in destroying them! His delight is in loving us and being intimately involved in our lives.

Moses birth story and his entire life story is an amazing story of providential miracles to tell US the bigger story of God from Genesis to Revelation. The Pharaoh, over the largest superpower civilization of its day, made a self-determined decision that the Jewish people were a threat. The same people that God used Joseph’s own difficult path to save the Jews and SAVE Egypt. This Pharaoh, not the Joseph Pharaoh, FEARED the hardworking, humble, grateful Jewish people would rise up and take over his kingdom. God, of course had completely different plans for his people, and it wasn’t to take over and occupy Egypt. God had another spot on the earth for the Jewish people to call their own.

Pharaoh, using genocide as a population deterrent, ordered the killing of all Jewish baby boys. From early on, we can see Satan’s plan to stop God’s plan of redeeming humans by starting with the elimination of God’s people, God’s plan and God’s promises. God made promises to His people and to the entire planet. Satan’s plans always include trying to make God out to be a liar and a promise breaker! It never worked and it never will. God is truth, His promises are guaranteed. If even one of them is not fulfilled, God would not be God.

Pharaoh’s decree was followed and an unknown amount of baby boys were put to death. We see this evil, genocidal plan repeated all throughout human history! But God saw Moses and what Moses would become before time ever began! From the moment Moses’ mother, Jochebed, had the brilliant idea of putting her baby boy in his own boat and float him down the river, (technically “throwing the hebrew boy” into the river, as Pharaoh had commanded) to the delightfully providential surprise that one of Pharaoh’s own daughters would find him. It’s all in God’s hands, His will was directing the entirety of Moses’s story.

Wow! Following even a fraction of Moses’ life story is amazing! The miracles, the drama, the detail – I love it. It makes me think of my own life, from beginning until now. To just realize that none of it was coincidental, none of it an accident or a mistake – is pretty overwhelming! But for me to take all that I know about God and all that I know about my own history and realize that God is not just deeply involved, He’s fully in control. And, to think about that same God inviting me to be a part of His grand story is humbling and encouraging. Our lives are a small part of what God is doing to bring about his will on earth as it is in heaven! To allow our sin, sorrow, brokenness and redemption to serve His BIG plan is so cool. It’s more than cool – it’s providential.

Prayer

Dad,
First of all, bravo on the amazing ways you have kept and recorded your story in oral, then written form that has survived and flourished for thousands of years! Your Word has endured, just as you promised that it would. I am thankful that you have always been in control, and always be in control over ALL things – including my own life. I am grateful to be a part of Your story and that my own story might be useful to You and anyone else.

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That death would pass over.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“Take special care of this chosen animal until the evening of the fourteenth day of this first month. Then the whole assembly of the community of Israel must slaughter their lamb or young goat at twilight. They are to take some of the blood and smear it on the sides and top of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the animal.” Exodus‬ ‭12‬:‭6‬-‭7‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Like a scene right out of modern day horror movies, God tells His people, in these very ancient days, how to avoid the Angel of Death.

This one night, the Angel would makes its way through about 5 million people. Egypt’s population at the time was about 3 million and Israel had about 2 million. That’s a little more than the population of Los Angeles. Imagine the terror of a cataclysmic event sweeping from the foothills to the Orange Curtain when only and every and first born male (animals included), young or old, would be killed. This makes the Final Destination franchise look like a Saturday morning cartoon comparatively.

It is estimated that at least a half a million people did not wake up the next day. Lesson to be learned, don’t mess with God. When God asks a world leader to let his people go and warns them multiple times, showing them unfathomable miraculous power to carry out His plans – DO IT. Alternatively, when God warns His own to prepare (in great detail) and avoid death – DO IT. Both secular and sacred were adequately warned and given time to decide. Both secular and sacred would either heed and be spared or stubbornly deny and die. It was likely that some Egyptians close to the Israelites, listened and also participated in putting the Angel avoiding marks on their doorposts!

Is God cruel or our we just that stubborn? God is not cruel, but He is just, and always right. Here’s the overarching lesson for humankind. This absolutely true story stands as a global warning for all time.

Surprisingly Egypt as a country survived and still exists today, probably as a reminder to all of earth’s inhabitants. Is Egypt the superpower it was then? Does it still host a Pharaoh, who is the most powerful man in the entire region? No and no. It’s a very poor, broken country still plagued by death. Now, right alongside the wonders of ancient pyramids and the grand, but filthy Nile River there is danger, corruption and millions in slavery to its own poverty. God, in human flesh, actually lived in the country for a few years as and infant, yet still the secular, political powers that be will NOT bend a knee to the creator.

However, amidst the rancid smells of refuse and feces, under the oppressive rule of Islam (90%), there is a small but growing redeemed people of God in the country. The country no longer needs a death angel to remind them of their demise. Every single day poverty and disease does that. Thankfully things are improving for the ancient country of Egypt. One difficult data point – infant mortality, was peaking at 385 deaths per thousand births in 1955. Now, since 2020 that number has been lowered to only 20 deaths per a thousand births. One of the coolest opportunities to be a part of is our own SoCal Assemblies of God “Gateway Project.” One of the efforts in that project is to bring clean water via a simple water filter to the poorest parts of the nation. Clean water equals health!

Prayer

Dad,
So remarkable that one man, one ancient ruler could make a decision to try to annihilate an entire race by murdering their children. One child, through the disobedient intervention of his mother not only survived, but was raised by the same maniac who ordered his death. And that same child grew up to challenge the next ruler of that nation to set your people, Israel, free. And in that place of power, this new Pharaoh would make the decision that would cost the death of a half a million of his own people. What a stunning turn of events in history! Today, death still comes for all of us at some point. And today, like ancient days, you have provided a way of escape through Jesus. Thank you for the sign that hangs above my life and my family. We have the marks of Jesus telling the final death to passover, allowing us to live with you forever.