In the past months and prior, there has been tension in the USA and abroad over the killings of innocent people. You are wondering where is God in all of this? Do we still have hope?
My dear friends, God is still supreme in the midst of disaster; the plans He has for people and nations never change. We can go back in history and we notice that God’s plans for his people Israel didn’t fail. It started with Joseph, Jacob’s younger son, who was sold by his older brothers to the Ishmaelites, and who became a leader to Potiphar, Pharaoh’s captain of the guard. Joseph was put in charge of Potiphar’s household but Potiphar’s wife saw that as an opportunity to get close to Joseph and when Joseph didn’t respond to her advances, she had him put in jail.
But God gave Joseph favor in prison and the warden put Joseph in charge of the prisoners, and he interpreted dreams for the cupbearer and the baker who were previously employed by Pharaoh. The cupbearer was reinstated to his position while the baker was hanged. Joseph asked the cupbearer to remember him, but two years past and nothing happened until Pharaohhad a dream and no one can interpret it. Joseph told him that there would be seven years of harvest followed by seven years of draught.
Joseph was placed as Governor of the whole region to oversee the food storage. Eventually, his brothers came from Canaan to purchase grain and recognized who he was and reconciled with Joseph. The entire family and other Canaanites moved to Egypt because of the economy, but Joseph had died and a new king was placed who did not spare anyone. When the Israelites had no livestock to barter for grain, they were forced to work as slaves. God heard their cry when they cried to God for help and this was the basis for the long road from Egypt back to Canaan.
God used Moses, with the rod, someone who couldn’t speak well, to speak to Pharaoh and tell him “Let my people go.” All the perils the Israelites experienced, including hunger and thirst, God provided with manna and water in the desert. The rod was used to bring about plagues in Egypt as well as to part the seas so that the Israelites could walk on dry land as well as bring the seas to its original place so that Pharaoh’s armies could be destroyed.
The Israelites were not a perfect people. They sinned by being angry, doubting God, and worshiping idols. Some died and never made it to the promised land. God has always given them as well as you and I, a second chance. His words were and still are: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and move from their wicked ways, I will hear their cries and heal their land.” God is saying this to us today. Will we hear his voice and turn from our wicked ways? If we do, He will heal our land. Prayer is the hope we have in God.