For while we were yet weak, in due season Christ died for the ungodly. Rom. 5,6


 IN GODS PLAN

Psalm 105:12-26

   12 When they were only a few men in number, Very few, and strangers in it. 13 And they wandered about from nation to nation, From one kingdom to another people. 14 He permitted no man to oppress them, And He reproved kings for their sakes: 15 "Do not touch My anointed ones, And do My prophets no harm." 16 And He called for a famine upon the land; He broke the whole staff of bread. 17 He sent a man before them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave. 18 They afflicted his feet with fetters, He himself was laid in irons; 19 Until the time that his word came to pass, The word of the LORD tested him. 20 The king sent and released him, The ruler of peoples, and set him free. 21 He made him lord of his house And ruler over all his possessions, 22 To imprison his princes at will, That he might teach his elders wisdom. 23 Israel also came into Egypt; Thus Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham. 24 And He caused His people to be very fruitful, And made them stronger than their adversaries. 25 He turned their heart to hate His people, To deal craftily with His servants. 26 He sent Moses His servant, And Aaron, whom He had chosen.

  
What we read about here is altogether a plan. We get a little glimpse into Gods council. How God was going to lead the people, and this leading was suppose to be a role model for His congregation to all times – also here tonight!
   “For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” (Rom.15:4). And to his friend and fellow worker Timothy: “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.” (2 Tim.3:16).
   It is written for teaching! As God dealt with them He will also deal with us – as God was back then, so is He now. And then we see that it wasn’t just “a dance on roses,” to be in God’s plan. If so, it was certainly not roses without thorns!
   Joseph, who had the main role here – in an odd way sent ahead of his own, to be a rescuer, the day the disaster came – was sold as a bond slave of his own brothers. How painful do you think it was? “They afflicted his feet with fetters, He himself was laid in irons “we read. (v.18). He spent 7 years in an Egyptian prison whole – and why? Because he wanted to do what was right to God, and not be led astray in adultery with another man’s wife. 7 years! Not because of a crime – but to do what was right to God! Funny how God rewards people, right?
   But there was a plan here!

   We also read about Gods peoples living situations in this psalm: “When they were only a few men in number, Very few, and strangers in it. And they wandered about from nation to nation, From one kingdom to another people.” (v.12-13).
   Don’t you think you can hear the word of Jesus then – this is also about you who walk with Him now: “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” (Joh. 17:16). And: “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world." (Joh. 16:33).
   Peace in Him, tribulation in the world! In their relationship with God they have got their feet planted on a rock – in their relationship with the world, a wavering foot. They haven’t settled down anywhere, or in anything in this world.
   But in this condition, where you always feel like a stranger, like one who doesn’t fit in, will the Word of God still count as much today as back then: “He permitted no man to oppress them, And He reproved kings for their sakes: Do not touch My anointed ones, And do My prophets no harm." (v.14-15).
   Many arrogant preachers (false teachers) has stolen this word from God, for their own advantage! By this, they want to stop all questioning about their role! Watch out! - you can end up attacking God Himself and sin against the Holy Spirit! I guess you have heard this before? The Word of God says quite contrary: (
1 Thess. 5:21; 1 John. 4:1).
   But for you who lays at Gods feet - it’s like hearing the word of Jesus again, isn’t it? “Be of good cheer! I have overcome the world.”
   And if He allowed them to be exposed for anything evil, it was a part of a plan – something that would be to their advantage. Just like it was for Joseph.
   God was going to send a famine upon the land, as we read in our passage: “And He called for a famine upon the land; He broke the whole staff of bread” (V.16). It was Him who did this too! This was done to drive His people – the people of Israel – to Egypt, where He had sent a rescuer ahead of them. God made sure that Pharao had met Joseph, and the spirit that was in him. Now he was the greatest man in the country, after Pharaoh himself. This was what they met when they had to flee from the famine!
   Don’t you think God has a way out for you too? Don’t you think He has a rescuer for you too, the day the need starts to drive you in a certain direction? When sin becomes alive and perishing a reality – the day you must say: There is nothing to live by here! There is nothing that can keep me alive here!

   But then truth is exposed! What did God want with all of this? After a while the people ended up as bond slaves under the Egyptians. And the more – and therefore stronger – they became, the harder the slavery, the bigger the burdens Pharaoh – this world’s ruler – laid upon them. And when they started talking about letting the people of Israel to leave Egypt, the real heavy burdens came, to force the people to kneel, empty their energy, so they had more than enough with the day as it were, and could not manage any uproar.
   This is how Satan carries on, with the person who has started to think about salvation. He rages. And lays it out for you how hard it will be for you, if you should think of being a Christian. All things you have to renounce, and all things you have to bear – and keeps adding on like this, to convince you that it is after all a lot better to remain in Egypt, than to suddenly become a stranger in the eyes of your neighbor.

   But God said to Moses – and Moses he went!
   You know, back then people had each their own god – and then they valued one god up against another. It was a bit like this: My god is bigger than your god! As you may remember from when you were a child: My father is stronger than your father! A certain peoples condition also witnessed about that peoples god! It's just like you can hear it from a lot of so called Christian preachers to day!
   You have to see this on the background of this, because suddenly appears the representative for the slave people’s god and stands before Pharaoh, the mightiest in the known world, at that time, and demands that he lets the people go!
   Can this god, who is god for this pitiful slave people be stronger than then god of the Egyptians? That was foolishness in the eyes of the heathens, also back then
   Can that God who is hanging crucified on a tree, be stronger than he who is ruling the whole world with his power
   Yes, do ask that question right now! Now when the sky is darkening. God’s people seems so little and weak and spread around, what gains distinction as great in a spiritual context is mainly religiousness, and religiousness cannot overcome the world, because it is of the world! And the obvious world becomes more and more obstinate and rude in their persecution of that which is of God. Ask this question: Can this go well with us
   That’s why God has given us this picture about the deliverance from Egypt! Because, how did it go? Did this slave people’s God manage to deliver them? Yes, with a mighty hand, it says.
   Now this deliverance from Egypt is itself a picture on salvation. As they went through The red sea from everything that persecuted them – we hear as in the song, about the red drops of blood that calls out from Golgotha. The enemy cannot reach us on that side. The only way there, is through the blood of God’s Lamb, and the enemy will not go through there. No enemy can touch your salvation, you see, it is safely secured by someone who no one can rob anything from.
   This is what Jesus says, when He speaks about where the treasure is: “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal” (Matt.6:20).
   Do you see? What you have in heaven is kept safe!

   God shows us in this picture – the deliverance from Egypt – that the power structure is not how it seems for the natural eye. We shouldn’t look at it the way the heathens do, because they are spiritual blind.
   When Pharaoh’s big army, went out with their shiny wagons and with a loud noise - you could surely see the dust cloud after them for a long time - the people did never doubt that the people of God would come back oppressed and in chains – but the result was quite different, no one ever saw the big army ever again!
   “God is still on the throne, and He remembers His own!”

   There is one thing you should be aware of: Have I entered into the kingdom of God, through these red drops of blood that calls out from Golgotha? And no less: Do I live under these blessed drops of blood today? In this very hour?
   Well, they are once and for all shed on the heavenly altar – in the holy place, right before the throne of God – so there shouldn’t be any reason that you would stand on the outside of this blessing. Unless you meen that you have found a better way!

   Paul speaks of a better way – yes, not only of a better one, but the best one: The love! And then I will let you know where you can find it – where it is revealed: “By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John. 4:9-10).
   This is the best way! God’s love – that found a way for us, lost sinners! Do you hear the call from these drops of blood?

E.K.

Holy Bible, New American Standard Version
Translator: Benedicte Holtan Smart