[Feb 02]--Behind The Scenes

Exodus 2:1-10

I remember as a kid reading the stories in the Old Testament using one of those Picture Bibles, and my favorite story was the Exodus. I read comic books a lot as a kid, and the first few chapters of Exodus were similarly“action-packed.” The Hebrews are oppressed, God steps in to intervene, and we see tons of incredible miracles. Quite frankly, a lot of the New Testament was boring compared to that.

As I got older and more familiar with my Bible, however, I discovered something: Most of the time God doesn’t work that way. This doesn't mean that he can’t or won’t perform miracles today—I certainly believe he does. But throughout most of human history, the times that the Lord has worked out “in the open” like he did in Exodus are rare. Most of the time he works “behind the scenes.” Imagine yourself as a Hebrew during this time. You're woken up at the crack of dawn for another day of back-breaking work while your Egyptian masters stand over you with whips. The threat of another infant slaughter is hanging over your head at all times. The promises the Lord made to Abraham seem so far away, and it looks like God has abandoned you. He certainly seems silent enough. Where's the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Why doesn’t he do something?

The answer is, he has. He's saved Moses out of that murderous purge of all the infant boys, and even has had the boy raised in the household of Pharaoh himself. In that house, he'll be raised with all the education of the most advanced society on the planet, inadvertently preparing him to lead a nation. For over forty years, the government of Egypt will be preparing him to bring about its own downfall. But you don’t know all of this, because the time is not yet right. God is at work, just behind the scenes.

Maybe you feel like that Hebrew. It feels like your situation is hopeless, mostly because it looks like the Lord has abandoned you. He’s up in heaven somewhere, and he either doesn’t know or doesn't care what’s happening in your life. That might be how it looks, but looks can be deceiving. I promise, he's at work in your life, but he’s doing it behind the scenes. When the time is right, you’ll see his handiwork and know that he is God.

Father God, your plan is infinitely better than anything I could come up with. Help me to remember this, and to trust you. I need to walk by faith, not by sight.