“Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: ‘Every boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.'” (Exodus 1:22 NIV84)

In our last devotion we started our discussion about the danger of forgetting the past. A Pharaoh had come to power who did not know Joseph. He did not understand the past. He didn’t have a clear picture as to why these Israelites were in his land. He did not have a proper way of looking at them because he didn’t have an understanding of their importance in his country’s past. This disconnection from the past allowed him to develop a false perspective of the people of Israel, and he began to see them as a threat. This change in perspective moved him to change behaviors. He began to oppress the Israelites, forcing them into harsh slave labor as a means to beat them down, keep them in their place, and reduce the perceived threat. But even in their slavery, the Lord continued to bless His people. Seeing that slave labor wasn’t enough to slow the growth of the Israelites, Pharaoh directed the midwives to kill any Hebrew boys they helped to birth. Because the midwives refused to do what Pharaoh asked, he finally directed his own people to kill the Hebrew babies by throwing them into the Nile. Look how far down the path of evil a false perspective took this Egyptian king. He is throwing Hebrew babies into the Nile to quell his unfounded fear of the Israelite people. All this because he had forgotten the past.

This lesson alone should cause us to look at the current perspective of our nation, state, community, family, and personal relationships and ask some serious questions. Are we living out patterns of behavior that betray the truth because we have based all our actions on a self-created perspective, rather than a perspective that flows from truth and reality? Aren’t we just as likely to go off the deep end as Pharaoh did, because we disconnect ourselves from the very truth that should keep us in check? Pharaoh ended up at odds with God because he was killing innocent baby boys because of his self-created fear of a people he ought not to have feared. Have we put ourselves at odds with God because we have forgotten or distorted the truth? It might be wise for us to spend some time today contemplating the roots of our current worldview.

What do we do if we find a little pharaoh in us? We openly confess our sins to God and reconnect ourselves to the truth. If we find ourselves in a boat drifting away from the dock, we often don’t realize it and tear the boat apart to build a new dock. What we should do is work to get ourselves back to the dock we left and re-tie ourselves to it. Our God is our dock of truth. We need to make sure that we are continuously connected to Him and His Word. We need to daily strengthen that bond. We need to be confident about our past, so we can rightfully walk toward the future.

Peace!

Pastor Tom

www.firmlyrooted.church