LIVING WORD DEVOTIONAL
By Pastor Mensa Otabil
Wednesday 9th March 2022
GOD’S MESSAGE TO HIS PEOPLE
Scripture Reading: Exodus 6
Therefore say to the children of Israel: ‘I am the LORD; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments._ Exodus 6:6
‘Therefore’ is an important word, meaning “for this reason”. It stands on what the Lord had said earlier about Himself and His covenant with their fathers – Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. In covenant, God promised that He would give Israel the land that their ancestors lived on as strangers. Now, was the time to redeem His promise.
On that basis of all that the Lord had said, He charged Moses with a message for His people. The clause, ‘therefore’ introduces God’s direct quotes through Moses to His people. In this verse, there are four messages from God to us.
I am the Lord. This is a statement to separate Moses from the Lord who sent him. Though Moses was relaying the words, they were not from him but from the Lord. This self-introduction is followed by direct actions that God will undertake on Israel’s behalf. All the messages are spoken in the first person.
I will bring you out. It means to move something or someone out of a particular place to another place. In this case, God would bring them from the place of carrying heavy burdens to a place without those heavy burdens. It was a promise He was to keep.
I will rescue you. It means to be freed from harm or imprisonment. In this case God would free His people from every harmful bondage. He would save them from the harsh treatment the people of Israel were enduring at the hands of Egypt’s slave masters.
I will redeem you. It means to bring out a person from slavery into freedom. In this case, it was freedom from the 430-year-old slavery in Egypt. In Egypt, there was no way for a slave to be redeemed. Nonetheless, God would redeem the children of Israel and set them free.
I believe God is saying those same words to us today.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, my trust is in you. I know that you will do what you have promised to do in my life. In Jesus’ name, Amen.