Recovery Devotional 350 Land of Plenty

JMD Devotional 350 Exodus 3:6-14 Land of Plenty

Also He said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters and oppressors; for I know their sorrows and sufferings and trials. And I have come down to deliver them out of the hand and power of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a land good and large, a land flowing with milk and honey [a land of plenty]--to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Now behold, the cry of the Israelites has come to Me, and I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them.

Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring forth My people, the Israelites, out of Egypt. And Moses said to God, Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt? God said, I will surely be with you; and this shall be the sign to you that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain [Horeb, or Sinai].

You would think that people who live in bondage, and suffer abuse and poverty would be happy to take the first exit to a good land, under the rule of a good God; but people are baffling. Moses would find himself leading a reluctant people who were still slaves at heart to life in Egypt. Our selective memory recalls the brief trifles like the onions, meat and spices of our old life; forgetting the daily lashings, futile drudgery and hopelessness that was our reality. People cling to the world they know even though it is a kind of hell rather than to trust God and be led into a wholesome place: they fear change. To enter the Promised Land takes faith in the one who made the promise. Spiritual poverty makes us distrustful of God’s generosity; pride inclines us toward continued reliance upon our own shabby resources. We fear the ‘giants’ who stand between us and wholeness; forgetting that God is with us, and will be sufficient to make us victorious as we abide in Him. When we shrink back from God’s call in our live, when we respond by asking, “Who am I?” we reject the power, presence, and blessings of God and remain in the land of misery.

Dear God,

I do not want to remember how many times I wandered in circles, looking back toward Egypt, complaining of Your remedy for my sin, shame and bondage. The path You take Pilgrims through for recovery crosses deserts, rocky ground, high hills and dark valleys. There are no unguarded moments in the realm of spiritual combat. The character you develop through hardship and the discipline You cultivate through testing become priceless treasures. The world scoffs, and thinks we pilgrims are worse off then before, seeing only the dusty path we follow. Those who are really on the path know Your presence, and power, and blessings: our faith has brought Heaven into view, there is no turning back. Help me to get those who still circle Sinai in dysfunction, who are stuck and vacillating between commitment and rebellion, to get firmly on the path, into recovery and wholeness, on the Way of Christ.

Amen

All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by

the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)

Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation

*New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)

I originally produced these blogs between 2006 and 2007, which were then published in my book, JMD Recovery Devotionals. In 2010, I am sending these out to a few people as I review them and see if my point of view has changed.

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