Sunday, 21st February 2016
Rev. Daniel Poon
In Exodus 3:7-10, God reminded His people that He knew their situations and was always with them. He even prepared a Promised Land for them to enter. But the people did not recognize it and did not listen, they only saw the hardship in front of them and complained to God. It’s just like how we often don’t recognize that God is with us and knows everything about us. God sees everything in our lives, even before we see it. Moreover, God has prepared the eternal life for us, but it’s easy for us to see the life in front of us, not the eternal blessings. Rev Daniel reminded us that if we cannot see God’s eternal life, then we will only struggle in our earthly lives.
Technologies seem to make our lives easier than before, but somehow they open new opportunities for us and we become busier. We try to achieve goals we set for ourselves, as well as the expectations from others. At the end we become exhausted and lost the motivation to do anything. Jesus wants to set us free and that’s why God wants His people to leave “Egypt”.
Rev Daniel shared with us that everyone has their own “Egypt”. It may be something we try to get rid of, an old habit, a belonging, a place, an addition, a person, a past experience, etc. but somehow we keep going in circles, knowing that we shouldn’t go back to “Egypt”, but feeling so hard to give it up!
In the beginning, Egypt was a blissful land for the Israelite. It was where God answered Joseph’s prayer and made him important in Egypt to help his own people. But as time progressed, in Exodus 1:6-8 says that Joseph’s generation has passed and there are new kings who did not know Joseph. They only saw how the Israelite became bigger and stronger, therefore made them slaves. The blessing was turned into a curse.
In Exodus 12:40, it also tells us that the Israelite has stayed in Egypt for over 430 years. Rev. Daniel reminded us not to be too comfortable with where we are at the moment, because very likely it’s time for us to step out of our comfort zone, “Egypt”, and take a step towards the Promised Land God has already prepared for us. So where is your “Egypt”? Let us tune into God and receive the great blessings He has in store for us, beyond what we can see!