The In Touch Daily Devotional. Now available in easy to read large print. Order yours today. male announcer: “In Touch,” the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. Next on “In Touch,” “The Mighty Hand of God.” Dr. Charles Stanley: Sometimes we read the Bible and we know that the story is true, but somehow we don’t get the message.
Very important you get the message of this passage of scripture because all of us could be guilty of doing the same thing that these Egyptians did. And so when we look at this passage, do not look at it just as some historical fact, but is God saying something to me? Is there a pattern here that was found in the life of Pharaoh that could be a pattern I find in my own life? So let me catch you up on where we are.
God spoke to Joseph who is in prison, who interpreted a dream. Ended up, Pharaoh of Egypt freed him, took him, his family of about 70, put them in Goshen, in Egypt, the best of the land. And now almost 400 years have gone by, so a number of Pharaohs. This particular Pharaoh looked around and thought, “Those Israelites, those Hebrews, are growing and growing,” and they’re probably somewhere around 2 million by now, “and they’re in the best of the land.
If we were to have an enemy, they may side up with our enemies. So in order to prevent any problem here, I’m just going to enslave that whole crowd.” And so he put Israel into enslavement, building him monuments to himself and so forth. Well, somebody grew up in his family, that is, in the family of Pharaoh’s daughter.
And he happened to be a Hebrew. He grew up and was educated in Pharaoh’s palace. Then he made a mistake. He got banished on the other side of the desert, and now God is speaking to his heart, and at a burning bush, God gave him his next big task. That is, “You’re to go back to Egypt. I’m going to set My people free.
” Now naturally, Moses had lots of questions to ask, but the truth is that was his commandment. So what we have here is God using Moses to work in the life of Pharaoh in a way that isn’t just something distant from the way you and I live, but it should be a lesson to us. And so I want us to notice what’s happening.
