God always keeps his promises. Last week we learned that although it took many, many years, God did eventually give Abraham and Sarah their promised son Isaac.
Part of the promise God gives Abraham is the land. God promises the land to Abraham and his descendants forever, which is why it’s called, you know, the Promised Land. “And he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” Genesis 15:7 (ESV)
More Than a Son
Later in the same chapter God tells Abraham, “Then the Lord said to Abram, “You can be sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land, where they will be oppressed as slaves for 400 years. But I will punish the nation that enslaves them, and in the end they will come away with great wealth.” Genesis 15:13-14 (NLT)
God tells Abraham that in the future his descendants will be slaves in a foreign land. At the end of 400 years, God will bring judgement to the people who oppress them. When they leave, they will come out with abundant wealth and possessions.
We see this prophecy come true at the end of Genesis and the first part of Exodus. Abraham’s great-grandson Joseph is sold into slavery to the Egyptians by his brothers. (See Genesis 37:12-36.) Eventually a huge famine comes and causes his family to go to Egypt for food. By this time, Joseph had ascended to second in command of Egypt and in charge of food distribution. (See Genesis 41-46.) Joseph invites his family to live in Egypt, and they are treated well for a time, until a generation or two later when the Pharaoh doesn’t remember who Joseph was. This Pharaoh enslaves the Hebrews and oppresses them, just as God told Abraham all those years ago.
Judgement Comes
In Exodus we see the next part of the prophecy come true. “But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.” Genesis 15:14 (ESV). Great judgment did come on the Egyptians. Over the course of time, God sends 10 plagues to the Egyptians. The plagues cause havoc on the land, the livestock, on the people themselves, and they finally end with the death of the first born sons. Each plague is a show of God’s power.
God demonstrates to both the Egyptians and the Hebrews that he is more powerful than all the gods the Egyptians worshipped. The Egyptians had gods who were in charge of the land and the people, and even the Pharaohs were considered gods. God reveals to both the Hebrews and the Egyptians that he is the only true God; only he has power over the land, animals, health of the people, and life itself.
By the time the last plague comes, the Pharaoh never wants to see Moses again. The Egyptians did in fact give the Hebrews lots and lots of possessions before they left. See, God always keeps his promises, even when those promises were made hundreds of years before.
Freedom
God’s people are now free! Now they have smooth sailing ahead, right? Wrong! The Hebrews get as far as the Red Sea and find themselves trapped. They can’t go forward as there is a sea in the way, and they can’t go backward as Pharaoh changed his mind and sent his army to take all those people back. He didn’t know what to do without all his slaves! The Hebrews are in an impossible situation. It appears to them that all hope is lost.
I can imagine that they all think they are going to die right then and there. If the sea doesn’t swallow them up, the Egyptian army will. What is the point of leaving Egypt only to die now? Did they forget that God always keeps his promises? As you probably know, God does show up and leads his people on dry ground across the sea. When the Egyptian army follows them, they are swallowed up by the sea and perish. (See Exodus 14:5-31.)
Modern Day
Here we are in 2021, and many of us feel much like the Hebrews. Do you feel as though your voice is being silenced and doesn’t matter? The persecution of anyone who holds to conservative Christian values seems as though it is increasing at an alarming rate. You may feel that your livelihood and way of life is being stolen from you. Are you questioning how a revival will ever be able to start in the climate we find ourselves in?
It may even feel as though evil is winning. You may even be asking God why he is allowing all this to happen. Do you feel as though you have no place to go? If you go forward, you may drown, so to speak, and if you go backward, you will fall prey to the pursuing enemy. If you feel any of those kinds of feelings, take heart. God is still working. God does not sleep, and he has not forgotten about you.
Promises Will Be Kept
I assure you that God will keep his promises. I have no clue how or when, but I do know that what God says is going to happen will happen, no matter how impossible it may look. If God said that revival is coming, then our voices will not be silenced. God is moving in the hearts of his people. I have never heard so many Christians talking about standing firm in the promises of God or upon the truth of God. The church is waking up, just like he said it would.
God’s timing is not our timing. His timing is perfect and undeniable. When God moves, people know without a shadow of doubt that it is God who makes things happen. Sometimes it seems that the promises God has made for us, the church, and even our nation will never come to pass. The more time that passes by, the more it seems impossible for those promises to even be able to be fulfilled. No matter what happens this week or next week, month or year, God will keep his promise. God is going to move, and every person across this nation and world will know it is by the hand of God that whatever happens happens.
Just as the Egyptians couldn’t deny the power of the God of the Hebrews, people are getting ready to see God move again in a way where people won’t be able to deny the power of the Christian God. I don’t know about you, but I am so excited to see what God is going to do. I choose to remember that God will always keep his promises.
Keep Looking in the Right Direction
Don’t lose sight of what God has said, no matter how impossible it may seem. God will come through for you, his church, and this nation. Keep declaring the truth of what God has promised. Stop looking at the natural world for answers to spiritual issues. Look to God for guidance. Remember to, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.” Proverbs 3:5-6 (NLT)
Listen to his voice, and ignore all opposing voices. Stand firm. Allow your confidence to come from what God says about you or any given situation. Let your voice be heard because your voice does matter, and it is important. Rejoice in knowing that God is working and will continue to work. We just need to declare it, trust him, and most of all surrender all we have to him so he can work. Remember, a declaration takes faith, as in Joel 3:10b (NKJV), “Let the weak say, ‘I am strong.'”
“Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the Lord, you will live long in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” Deuteronomy 30:19-20 (NLT). (You could say “the land the Lord swore to our forefathers.”)
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