13 Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years.
14 And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions.
[Genesis 15:13&14]
So, it was part of my God’s Master Plan that the Israelites would become slaves in Egypt for 400 years before coming out to inherit the Promised Land. It wasn’t an accident at all that after the death of Joseph, a Pharaoh who didn’t know Joseph ascended the throne and decided to make the Israelites slaves. Four hundred years is such a long time. They actually spent 430 years as slaves in Egypt. If we assume one generation to be 70 years, that is six generations! If God was able to bring them out of that bondage nonetheless, then He’ll bring us also out of whatever quagmire we find ourselves in, in the Name of Jesus!
Sometimes, I wonder whether God couldn’t do things some other way. Why can’t God just choose the straight course and avoid the curves, the mountains and the valleys? Why would the road sometimes pass through the valley of the shadow of death and not a smooth plain with a zero gradient?
Of course, He can; but chooses these other paths that aren’t the straight courses. We may not always understand initially, but we must trust Him and be patient; knowing His plans for us are always perfect, even when we don’t understand.
Jesus told the two disciples on the way to Emmaus, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” (Luke 24:25&26). Jesus understood that No Cross, no Crown. Like the two disciples, we’re sometimes the foolish ones, slow of heart to believe. Lord, we need mercy and grace.
So, I’m telling someone by the authority of the scriptures that what you’re going through is part of the Master Plan. Even where you brought it upon yourself by wrong choices, it’s still part of the Plan. All things will work together for our good, the scripture says.
The Lord strengthen our weak hands and feeble knees to soldier on until we come out with great possessions like the Israelites and gloriously like Christ from the grave. Amen
