A Season that Used to be right

Today starts 30 days Through Exodus...We took 2 weeks thru Genesis but I felt like we should take our time this time...

    As I started reading Exodus something stood out to me right away... Egypt was never supposed to be home. It was meant to be provision during a famine. It was a place that God used to keep Jacobs family alive when things got hard. That was it. Temporary, Necessary, But never permanent. And yet generations later, they were still there. Somewhere along the way, provision became the destination. And what once sustained them now controlled them.

    They didn't wake up one day as slaves.

It happened slowly over time. A new Pharaoh came along, one who didn't know Joseph, didn't know the story, and didn't remember the miracle. All he saw were people who had grown too strong, too many, too hard to control.

And that's when fear stepped in.They became slaves in the very place God had once used to save them.

    That feels uncomfortably familiar.How often do we stay in places longer than we should because they once helped us survive?

A job, A role, A relationship. A season that used to be right.

At first it was provision.Then it was comfort.

Then it was just...normal.

   Until one day we realize we're exhausted, restricted, and carrying weight we were never meant to carry.

   Exodus 1 reminds me that God will use seasons but He never asks us to build our identity in them. Our identity comes from him alone. And when it's time to move, staying will always start to feel heavy. The chapter doesn't end with freedom,we've got quite a ways tongo before that happens, It actually ends with things getting worse.

    But God is already paying attention. Deliverance always begins long before it shows up. God is always working behind the scenes to work things together. 

    So today, lets not rush past Exodus 1, let's sit with it for a minute and ask ourselves and Ask God to reveal, "What am I still living in that was only meant to help me for a season?"

    Not everything God uses is meant to be permanent. And not every heavy place is punishment, sometimes it’s just a sign that it’s time to move.

Love Pastor Mandy 

Ark of Hope Ministry 

Daily Reading Exodus 1