Israel in the Womb

My quiet time this morning was focused on Genesis 40 and 41. As I read about the events that lead to what became Israel’s captivity, the devotional portion referred to this as a sort of a time in the womb of Egyptian confinement; first as survivors of the famine and then as slaves freed by God. The premise that this was a time intentionally used to let a nation be grown as a baby grows in his or her mother’s womb is an intriguing one. I believe that this was a purposeful time, but I have never thought of it as such a transformative period.

The concept has stayed with me throughout the day, of how a nation is formed and launched into the world is probably in some ways metaphorical to the process of an infant growing and then laboring to be born. However, it was the reference to approximately 400 hundred years of captivity being that womb, turning the people from an embryonic tribe into a full-fledged infant nation, this really sunk in 

We have news reports of captivity today, people fleeing their homes due to bombing raids, dictatorial leadership, waves of refugees on neighboring borders and extremely unsafe conditions. I would think it would be common, even normal, to rail against this type of captivity rather than to see it as a time of purposeful growth. In no ways are the behaviors causing the crisis to occur acceptable. But, as I listen to the news I wonder what I can do in the face of such strife to impact a life positively. This becomes a reassurance to me that God can use the disastrous, the actions that rend nations to their core, to bring good.

Whether your world is safe from civil war or being torn to its foundation, let this be a reminder that the times of captivity are used as the growth period before the start of something new and wondrous.