LIVING WORD DEVOTIONAL
By Pastor Mensa Otabil
Tuesday 15th February 2022
FACING PHARAOH
Scripture Reading: Exodus 5
Afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘Let My people go, that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness.’ ” Exodus 5:1
Finally, Moses met the Pharaoh of Egypt. This must have been a dramatic meeting! The last time Moses had been in the court of Pharaoh was 40 years ago. Since then, he had been in exile and in hiding. However, while in exile he had a supernatural encounter with the Lord. That divine experience broke all of Moses’ fears and gave him a new direction for his life.
God does not want us to be on the run forever. Sooner or later, He will bring us face to face with our fears. Is there something you’re running away from? Are you hiding from a past sin or failure? How long have you been on the run? After several years of hiding in the wilderness, Moses stepped out to face his past failure at leading his people out of Egypt. Today, we can also step out of hiding.
Not only did Moses come out of hiding to reconnect with his people, he took a further step to go and face the Pharaoh.
• Thus says the Lord. Those were the words that the Lord had asked Moses to use to address Pharaoh. This is the first time that the phrase, ‘thus says the Lord’ is used by a servant of God to make an announcement in the name of the Lord. By presenting his message with that introduction, he was stating the authority by which he had been sent to make the declaration.
Moses faced Pharaoh as a servant of God. He knew about the power of Egypt. He knew the power of their gods and their Pharaoh. All of that was nothing to Moses now. He had encountered the Creator of the Universe – the God above all gods.
God is able to hold our hands and lead us back to the place of defeat in our past and give us victory this time round. With him, we can confront our fears once more and overcome them.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, today, I boldly step out of every fear or failure that holds me back. In Jesus’ name, Amen.