Stress Test Devotional May 18
May 18, 2024
EXODUS 1:8-9, 11, 13-14, 22 | 8 Now a new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. 9 He said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we.
11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor. They built supply cities, Pithom and Rameses, for Pharaoh.
13 The Egyptians subjected the Israelites to hard servitude 14 and made their lives bitter with hard servitude in mortar and bricks and in every kind of field labor. They were ruthless in all the tasks that they imposed on them.
22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall throw into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.”
History has its heroes and head liners. It also has its underdogs, who live and work on the underside of events. God has a passion for underdogs and He works often on the underside of history. The Egyptian Pharaoh was famous and powerful, the lord of the Nile. His Hebrew salves drew no focus from the broader world and had no power. Yet God chose them to be the vehicle of His self-disclosure, the instrument of His purpose. They were the victims of the Pharaoh’s paranoid fears, suffering under the injustice of forced labor and then a genocide designed to reduce their numbers. This narrative of oppression is the backdrop for the emergence of Israel under the leadership of Moses.
The underdog theme is present throughout scripture.
How does it fit with Jesus’ birth?
With the choice of disciples?
With the launch of the Christian movement?
Have you ever been an underdog?
