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.
