Rescue - Part 1 "Ready for Rescue" Exodus 1-12

I have heard so many say that they were not ready to be rescued until they hit rock bottom. I am not absolutely sure why this happens but I suppose there have been times in my life when I really was not ready to be made healthy. Perhaps I had lessons to learn by being in a mess. We have all been in messes but I would assume that sooner or later we would want to be rescued. So how do we get ready for rescue?

Being ready for rescue is a willingness towards obedience and faithfulness. As we look at the period of history most commonly known as the time if the exodus we can learn several ways to prepared ourselves for the freedom that comes from being rescued by God through others. First, I belive that we should recognize that oue mess has become unbearable. That it what the Israelites felt in Exodus chapter one. Here that had experienced population explosion and not everyone was thrilled at the rate by which God was blessing them. One of those not so thrilled was the Pharaoh who oppressed them greatly (Ex. 1)

A few things that we can learn from this begin with the fact that problems can become unbearable when others mistreat us as God is blessing us. This helps us understand that the existence of problems does not mean an absence of God. These types of problems are not because we have not anything wrong, but they become unbearable none the less. It is at those point when we must put our hope in the reality that God hears us as He heard the Israelites.

This leads us to our second thought on being ready for rescue. Believe that God will send a rescuer. The Israelites need a rescuer and God was raising up Moses for the job. Moses went through unimaginable difficulties as God matured him for his role in the work of God (Exodus 2-4). The account in these few chapters, reveal to us the reality that those God uses to help others often move through unimaginable difficulties themselves. These soon to be rescuers often have made huge mistakes. How they rebound from these mistakes through a willing to be used of God makes all the difference. This is what Moses did at his calling.

As God connects us with those He intends to use in our lives, we must realize that there may be moments when all is in the balance. This was true as Moses confronts Pharaoh in Exodus 5:1–11:10.  At this point in the story everything was at stake and God was working through Moses. For the majority of this account, things did not seem to be going very well at all. We even read of God hardening the heart of Pharaoh which seems to be counter-productive to what He had called Moses to do. Do you ever feel like God is working against what He called you to do? From this we learn that faithfulness is required as God works the hearts of those who don’t believe in Him.

Finally, in order to prepare ourselves to be rescued, we need to accept our invitation to participate. In Exodus 12 we see God requiring participation from the Israelites.  This participation in our own rescue is not without difficulty and faithfulness. Knowing that our rescue will positively affect the future generations of our families, will propel us to action.  The bottom line is, if you are not moving forward check your level of obedience and faithfulness to God’s process. As you prepare for your rescue, you may be becoming someone’s Moses.