“WHEN THE LORD!”

Exodus 13:11-16

11 “WHEN THE LORD” brings you into the land of the Canaanites, AS HE SWORE TO YOU AND YOUR FATHERS, AND SHALL GIVE IT TO YOU,” 

12 you shall set apart to the LORD all that first opens the womb. All the firstborn of your animals that are males shall be the LORD's.

13 Every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. Every firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem.

14 And when in time to come your son asks you, 'What does this mean?' you shall say to him, 'By a STRONG HAND the LORD brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery.

15 For when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to the LORD all the males that first open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.'

16 It shall be as a mark on your hand or frontlets between your eyes, for by a strong hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt."

The children of Israel had been in Egypt for 430 years, eventually being help captive to Pharaoh and his hosts to work for them.  GOD, the CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSES, “promised” to deliver them from bondage and get them HIS Promised Land returned to them.  In the passage of Scripture above, GOD was reaffirming that HE was going to deliver them to Canaan, but the Red Sea loomed ahead and the children of Israel, who had already seen what GOD was capable of, were frightened out of their skin and cried out to the LORD.  

ALMIGHTY GOD had caused ten different plagues to come upon the Egyptians.  On the tenth plague, then the LORD (Exodus 12:29) struck down ALL of the firstborn sons of the Egyptians!  In these times, the firstborn son was seen as the heir of the family.  He was “set aside” to have birthright privileges.  To have your firstborn son taken away from your family was considered insulting and degrading.  And the entire nation of Egypt, at the time the most powerful nation in the world by most accounts, had their firstborn sons slaughtered by ALMIGHTY GOD!  This “act” grieved Pharaoh and his fellow Egyptians so greatly that they told the Israelites to leave, and take everything they wanted with them!  

Exodus 12:26-27 records this account very plainly, “26 And when your children (Children of Israel) say to you, 'What do you mean by this service?' 27 you shall say, 'It is the sacrifice of the LORD's Passover, for HE passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when HE struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.'" And the people bowed their heads and worshiped.”  The Children of Israel hadn’t even gotten out of the land of Egypt before they had FORGOTTEN what GOD had done for them!  

Am I any better?  After I have been delivered from the “Massive Brain Hemorrhage” in 2007, and quadruple bypass heart surgery in 2017, why do I worry and fret over life’s small problems? Most of the children of Israel never made it to the Promised Land because of their failure to acknowledge that ALMIGHTY GOD was able!  Will I fail to acknowledge HIM?  You have more than likely experienced times of deliverance in your life.  If you think you haven’t, you might need to SLOW DOWN and look a little more closely?  Will I be in a right relationship with GOD while on the banks of my Red Sea, or will I be whining “WHEN THE LORD” gets ready to deliver me?!!We need to make sure our hearts register that a WORD from GOD will NOT be unfulfilled!  It’s not IF HE chooses to do it, it’s “WHEN THE LORD” has planned it to happen!!!