RPG Adults
LIFE’S CHANGING SCENE
MONDAY, MARCH 31
Genesis 50
Exodus 1
Make my day count for Jesus.
LIFE’S CHANGING SCENE
Reading through Genesis 50 and Exodus 1, there is that inevitable sense of loss and sadness as one by one, the familiar names are removed from the Stage of Life: Jacob, then Joseph, followed later by “all his brethren, and all that generation” (Exod 1:6). It brings to mind the famous Psalm of Moses: “For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night. Thou carriest them away as with a flood…” (Ps 90:4-5).
These lines from the pen of Isaac Watts, the great man of God, express the same thoughts:
“Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly, forgotten as a dream
Dies at the opening day.”
Genesis closes with the death of Joseph, God’s great deliverer in the land of Egypt. His parting words were prophetic: “…God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land” (Gen 50:24) unto the land promised by God. Exodus opens on a solemn note: the twelve had passed from the scene. True, there was a great flurry of reproductive activity, but with the passing of years, fortunes changed for the children of lsrael. Initially, favoured guests in the land, enjoying the hospitality and resources of Egypt, they had now become the object of envy and hostility.
Humanly speaking, the problem was one which defied human solution. We see the same kind of problem (though not as acute and explosive) in various countries today, where large immigrant populations create socioeconomic and ethnic conflicts. The difference with the Israelites is this: they were God’s people and God was committed to bring them back to their homeland in Canaan.
The stage was set for the greatest rescue operation in history!
THOUGHT: (Read Ecclesiastes 7:2.)
PRAYER: May I treasure the days Thou givest me on earth, to use them in obedience to Thy direction, Father.