Today Daily Devotional

God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham. . . .
— Exodus 2:24

Life in the palace was a privilege. Moses had a privileged position, and he could go out to see whatever he wanted to. Then he could return to enjoy the comforts of palace living.One day, however, Moses saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew— an Israelite (one of his own people)—and he felt compelled to step in. Moses killed the Egyptian and buried him in the sand. But that violence became the reason why Moses had to separate from Pharaoh and run for his life out into the wilderness.Like all of us, Moses could do bad things as well as good things. He had killed a person— and that was bad, even if the man he killed was beating a fellow Hebrew. Moses also came to the rescue of the daughters of a priest in Midian. And that kindness led him to become part of a family, marrying one of the priest’s daughters and becoming the father of a baby boy.Yet something was missing. Moses named his son Gershom, saying, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land.” Though he had a new family, Moses was not living with his people, the Israelites. Back in Egypt, while he lived in the king’s palace, Moses had not lived with his people either. He had not yet received his calling from God.These wilderness years were a time of preparation for Moses, as God heard the cries of his covenant people and arranged to deliver them.

Dear God, help us know that when we are in the wilderness, you are still with us. May we listen to your call on our lives, wherever we are. Amen.

When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son.
— Exodus 2:10

A time of persecution for God’s people in Egypt led to a unique plan. God would raise up a leader for his people and eventually deliver them from slavery.A baby boy was born in Israel to a family in the tribe of Levi. Under the edict of Pharaoh, this child was under a death sentence. But his mother hid him and kept him safe. Then, after a few months, she placed him in a waterproof basket and set it near the shore among the reeds of the Nile River.The daughter of Pharaoh came to the river to bathe, and she discovered the baby there. The child was crying, and her heart went out to him. Pharaoh’s daughter wanted to adopt this baby as her own. So she worked out a plan with the boy’s mother, and when he was older, she took him to live with her as her own son in the palace of the king. “She named [the boy] Moses, saying, ‘I drew him out of the water,’” and his name reverberates throughout Bible history.As we continue in this journey of exploring God’s faithfulness, we again see that God can do surprising things and use all kinds of people to be instruments in his plan.The palace of Pharaoh became the place where God raised up a leader who would help to bring his people out of slavery. What seemed an impossible situation became a pathway to the future.

Dear God, when we cannot see a way forward, help us to trust that you hold the future. Keep us attentive to what you are doing in the lives of all people as you keep your promises. Amen.

Because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.
— Exodus 1:21

In our story today, at the beginning of the book of Exodus, we learn that many years have passed since Jacob and his family went to live in Egypt. Joseph, who had ruled at the king’s right hand, is long gone and forgotten. A new king reigns over the land, and this Pharaoh sees the Israelites— the descendants of Jacob—as a great threat to his power. So he aims to control and contain them.Pharaoh, the Egyptian king, put slave masters over the Israelites, using them as laborers to build new cities. The people of Israel kept multiplying, though, so the king also ordered that their baby boys be killed. Midwives, who were trained to be helpers in childbirth, were assigned to be killers instead.The authority of Pharaoh dominates this narrative, but another authority is at work in this story too. In fact, much of the early part of this book of the Bible is about battles between the gods of Egypt and the one, true God, who chose to bless all nations through the Israelites, the descendants of Abraham.The midwives trusted in God rather than the Pharaoh, however, so they chose to be servants of life rather than death. Their actions helped the people of Israel to increase, and the Lord blessed them with families of their own.Again we see that God is faithful to his promises.

Dear God, help us to be agents of life wherever we may be, and help us to honor you with our lives. Lord, thank you for blessing us, and may we trust and serve you faithfully. Amen.

“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”
— Genesis 50:20

Joseph brought his father and all his brothers and their families to live in Egypt so that they would have plenty during the years of famine. Their father, Jacob, died in Egypt, and after they buried him back at home in the land of Canaan, they all returned to Egypt (Genesis 46:1-50:14).Now Joseph’s brothers began to worry that he still had a grudge against them. While Jacob was alive, they thought they had a line of defense to keep Joseph from seeking revenge for selling him as a slave, but now they wondered what would happen next.The brothers sent a message to Joseph, in which they admitted their sins against him and pleaded for forgiveness. Although they had been living near Joseph for several years now in Egypt, they were still not sure of his feelings toward them. Had he really forgiven them? Joseph wept when he received their message. He had already forgiven his brothers, but it can take years for reconciliation to take shape.When Joseph’s brothers came to him, he reassured them and helped them to see again that God had intended all of this for good. Indeed, God was working out his plan to make their family into a nation that would bring blessing to all others (Genesis 12:1-3).This was a new kind of vision to help people see the amazing ways God works in our lives and in his world.

Dear God, help us to see not just the hurts and troubles in this world but also how you work to bring us life. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

“God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.”
— Genesis 45:7

Joseph had tested his brothers and had learned that they wanted to protect Benjamin, his younger brother, and to spare their father from any more grief. He could see they were sorry for what they had done to him so many years ago. So he told them, at last, who he really was, and they were stunned and terrified.The brothers knew that they had deeply hurt Joseph when they had sold him into slavery. They knew that their deception had also hurt their father. Their deception had served them in the moment, but now the truth was coming out. They were the reason why Joseph had come to Egypt as a slave. They were the reason why he had suffered for years. Now that Joseph was in a position of power, the brothers wondered how he would deal with them. No wonder they were terrified as Joseph made himself known to them.But Joseph saw the hand of God at work in all that had happened. And he explained to his brothers what God had done. Joseph testified that God had sent him ahead of them into Egypt so that his plan for their lives would continue—and much more: that the lives of many people would be saved.Again God was doing more than we would think or imagine— working out his promise to Abraham and making his family a blessing to the nations.

Dear God, thank you for your work in our lives—preparing the way for us, walking with us, and watching our backs so that we can have life with you. Amen.