Brighter Days Are Ahead
Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery... Exodus 6:9, ESV
In the scripture above, the Israelites had received harsh labor from Pharaoh. He had refused to let them go and put an extremely harsh requirement on them. Moses talked to God about what Pharaoh had done and God gave Moses words of encouragement for the people:
“I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord” (Exodus 6:2-8).
But the Israelites were so discouraged because of what they were going through that they did not believe Moses’s message from the Lord.
When our lives get hard and we cry out to God, sometimes things get worse and we easily become dismayed. It reminds me of when my father started to get sick and had to retire from his career. He was discouraged, but we were all glad it led to retirement for him. He got much better and eventually was glad to be free from work. A few years after retirement he was diagnosed with bone cancer. Our family felt like “God, he just retired! You healed him from his sickness. Why this now?” Everything felt hopeless but God brought us confirmation that He was with us.
The same week we all received the news about my dad’s illness my mother and sister went to a restaurant and while standing in line, a lady waiting came up to them and asked if she could pray for my mom. She laid her hands on her and began to pray. In the midst of her prayer, she said, “Your husband is healed of cancer.” God sent words of encouragement immediately to lift our spirits.
My father went through five years of chemo treatments, then one day the doctor said he didn’t have cancer anymore. My dad did not believe him. He told the doctor he wanted to continue to take the medicine. The doctor said, “I don’t know how to explain it, but you do not have cancer anymore.” The journey to healing was not always easy but God healed my father. The brighter days were always ahead - we just had to take the journey to get there. God reminds us in scripture “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” He also reminds us that he will never leave us or forsake us!
Affirmations: Matthew 10:20; Luke 24:32; Ephesians 6:19, Isaiah 55:11
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