Fri.’s Devo - Final Deliverance

Read: Exodus 13:17-15:18; Matthew 21:23-46; Psalm 26:1-12; Proverbs 6:16-19
Moses and the people left Egypt fully armed and carrying Joseph’s bones with them. God didn’t want to lead them through the land of the Philistines since they weren’t trained for warfare so he led them to the Red Sea.
Pharaoh woke up to the realization that he had let his whole slave labor force leave freely and changed his mind. He gathered all his horses and chariots and went after them.
When Israel saw them they panicked and started blaming Moses for taking them out of slavery into this. (How quickly we forget the sorrow and pain of our lives before God.) God told Moses to lift his staff over the sea and believe. The angel of God who had been leading them went behind them and became a column of thick cloud which made darkness on the Egyptian side and light on the Israelite side. The waters of the Nile split and formed a wall on both sides so the people could walk across on dry land. When the morning came and the Egyptians could see, they followed them across the dry path. When they got to the middle, Moses stretched forth his rod and the waters drown all the Egyptians in the sea.
Moses taught them a song of deliverance to remember this miraculous event and to praise God with.
In Matthew, the Pharisees wanted to know who gave Jesus the authority to heal and do all the miraculous things he did. He tested them with a question. He asked them if John’s baptism was from him or God. If they gave God the glory then he would be able to share spiritual things with them but since they were not willing to do that, Jesus was not willing to cast his pearls before swine.
Then, Jesus gave them two parables that illustrated this. The parables were about them. They were the son who said he would do what the father wanted him to do, but when it came down to obeying, he chose not to. They were the evil tenants over the synagogue and the responsibility to teach the Torah to the people. Instead they taught their own doctrine and took over God’s place. They were about to kill the son, but the Father would give them their due. They wanted to arrest Jesus right then, but they knew the crowds believed Jesus to be a prophet so they waited.
Lord, help us to be willing to obey and freely give out what you have freely given to us.