Let My People Go!

"And the LORD spoke to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Let My people go, that they may serve Me."  Exodus 8:1

All week long, God's been reminding me about the plight of the Israelites, and their flight from Egypt so long ago.  It seems like everywhere I look there are references to this- from other people's Facebook status, random verses I find online, and even Andy has been building a set for a musical based on the life of Joseph.  It's just everywhere I look, and I feel like God is getting ready to free His people from a lifetime of servitude, and about to set them free! 

When Jacob and his sons first went to Egypt, it was a great thing for them.  They were in danger of losing everything- of starving to death, and watching their family and livestock starve to death.  God used Jacob's son Joseph to bring the family to Egypt to save them- and preserve God's promises to Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham.  But after years and years, and several generations, the Israelites were still in Egypt, only they were slaves to the Egyptians.

In the exact same way, debt comes to us.  We go into debt because we're doing something good.  We're going to college and getting an education, so we take out student loans.  We buy a car or a house, doing something good, and we take out loans for those.  We get credit cards and use them, because everyones says we need to build up a credit score to be successful in life, and the way to do that is through credit cards.  But as the years go by, we get more and more encumbered by this debt that was good in the first place.  And now, so many have been completely enslaved by this debt.  When we work our jobs and bring home a paycheck, it all goes to pay down debt instead of being used to help the poor or even take care of our own basic necessities. 

Over and over, the Israelite people tried to get free of their captives, but it took some amazing works of God to set them free in the end.  Over and over, the people around me have tried to get out of debt, only to find themselves in an even worse situation.  God is going to take care of His people.  God is about to do something really incredible that will cause us to be free of our captors.

Even better, when the Israelites were finally free of Pharaoh, the didn't just flee Egypt empty-handed.  They plundered the Egyptians.  The Egyptians filled the Israelites arms with gold, silver, fine clothes, and whatever they could carry. 

 "Now the children of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, and they had asked from the Egyptians articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing. ³⁶ And the LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they granted them what they requested. Thus they plundered the Egyptians."  Exodus 12:35-36

We are going to rise above this debt crisis and when we do, it is not going to be as destitute and penniless servants of God.  Instead we are going to rise up and find ourselves in an abundance that can only come from God above.  And then we will be able to reach out our hands to our neighbors and our friends and family and help them through their own periods of captivity. 

Take heart children of God.  The day is coming when we will be free of our oppressors, and that will be a mighty fine day, indeed, worthy of much rejoicing.