"Wherefore then do ye harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? when he had wrought wonderfully among them, did they not let the people go, and they departed?" - 1 Samuel 6:6
God rules in the kingdoms of men with equal
authority as he rules in the kingdom of heaven. He has limitless dominion
and power. To the righteous, there is great comfort and rest knowing
that God is in your corner. To the wicked, only defeat. So, what
hope do you have if you would choose to fight against God? And what
reason to do so, when there is complete and total deliverance available to
whosoever will?
The Jews spent four hundred years as slaves in
the land of Egypt. Cruel bondage, and harsh labor; serving under
Pharaoh. Then one day, God instructed Moses to go down to Egypt and
lead them out. Moses obeyed, but when he arrived Pharaoh protested (no
surprise there). Moses then went back and told God that Pharaoh was
not going to let His people go. Pharaoh stood in absolute defiance
to God Almighty and God responded with a miraculous show of force. Pharaoh
was hardheaded, but by the time the showdown was done, he let the Jews go, in
fact, the Egyptians were begging them to leave. God’s deliverance
was so great that generations upon generations would hear and tell of the
mighty Exodus out of Egypt and the full deliverance into Canaan land. The
analogy is such to our spiritual lives. When you live in sin, it
becomes slavery. Hopefully, there comes a point where you cry out to
God because you just want to be free. The scripture tells us that if
we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. This is a deliverance
that God has prepared for you and a grace that he is willingly offering
you. The devil would have us continue in bondage, blind, deaf, and
laboring in our sin. Slaving away with hard hearts, denying the
wonderful works of God. Rejecting the full deliverance in
Christ. When you decide to follow him, he will bring you out of
bondage and it will not be a half-way deliverance. Moses didn't know how
he was going to even speak to Pharaoh, at first, and the Jews didn't want
Moses’s help, the entire mission seemed impossible, but God majors in
impossible. God swooped in, delivered them, and the power of God was
mighty in their lives. So mighty, in fact, that it became a rallying
point to the Jews and a terrifying reminder to their enemies. God
can deliver you from sin in such a fashion that it will resonate with the world
around you. In the past, you may have only been living in defeat and
enslavement; a consistent and reoccurring state of “I can’t help it.”
However, when Jesus shows up, with great power, the deliverance is so wonderful
and drastic that you change and those around you begin to say, “there is
something different.” It’s Jesus! The only thing that made the
Jews God’s chosen people was that God chose them. When Jesus went to
the cross, he chose you.
The Hebrew writer asks: “How shall we
escape, if we neglect so great salvation;” Why would you neglect so
great a salvation? So great a deliverance? He can and will be a
saving force in your life, he will be the greatest force in your life.
Jesus Christ can bring a great deliverance, and when he does: you will know it,
the devil will know it, and everyone around you will know it.
