Recognise your Blessings
Last year I started a series on Exodus which I stopped midway to pick up something that felt more relevant at the time. I also think I may have driven people to distraction with my abundant use of words which, like "Exodus", started with "ex"!For Lent 2024 I want to rework some of those devotions and then carry on the series.
The first one is very appropriate for Shrove Tuesday - "Recognise your Blessings".
So below is the series introduction slightly modified and also the first devotion.
Hope you have a blessed day!
Exodus Explored - Lent 2024
In Luke 1:46-47 we find Exult and Exalt in one sentence: Mary said, "My soul exalts the Lord, and my spirit has exulted in God my Saviour."
Exalt : To lift up God's name in praise
Exult: To be filled with joy - to be overjoyed - typically at what God has done.
Exodus exalts and exults!
We're going to spend the next few weeks exploring and exegeting this exciting book (if my extensive and excessive use of words starting with "ex" hasn't already exhausted or exasperated you!)
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In a monumental book that will explore the lows of oppression and the highs of liberation and the valleys, rises, twists and obstacles in between, things start incredibly simply by doing something we all know
about: Counting your Blessings.
| These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family: Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah; Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin; Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher. The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy in all; Joseph was already in Egypt. Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, but the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied greatly and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them. (Exodus1:1-6) |
Before speaking of the harsh conditions of slavery and oppression, Exodus begins with a simple tally of blessings: One dad and eleven brothers and their families (a mere 70 souls) joined their presumed-dead brother in a mini-exodus from a famine-parched Palestine to Egypt: a land flowing with grain and restored relationships and they flourished there.
Don't miss the exuberance of the verbs: "were fruitful", "multiplied greatly" and "became exceedingly numerous". There is a joyfulness about this blessing that should not be missed. Some might argue that this is not "exuberance" (exulting and exalting) but is actually just setting the stage for the threat that they posed to Egypt. However, the Israelite abundance was not a threat until a certain king came to power. (More on that another day...)
Exodus just explains and expresses the blessings that God bestowed on the nation and exalts our God and leads us to exult in His extensive providence.
On the eve of Ash Wednesday and Lent, it is just right to reflect on our blessings too...
The first step of Liberation is expressing our gratitude and wonder for the blessings we take for granted. What did you start with? How has God grown you? How has He provided for you in the past? What mini-exodus experiences have you had?
Why not pause to exult and then to exalt???
