First off, if you’re an email follower of this blog, please excuse the multiple posts in a day while I play catch up. I have good reason for missing a few days, but now I’m back and we’ll continue on while catching up at the same time.

In some ways, I like to prepare. In other ways, I hate it. When I’m heading out on a long trip across the country or overseas, I have a standard spreadsheet for everything I always bring with me and extra worksheets for each type of trip I go on. My list is very different for a one week cross-Canada road trip than it is for a two week trip down the Amazon. I prepare for my expected journey.

But there are some journeys that are more difficult to prepare for. And some yet that are nearly impossible to prepare for.

In Exodus, God is preparing Israel for a big trip. A really big trip. They’d been occupying and enslaved in a foreign country for 430 years and now it was time to go home. Their numbers had increased greatly along with their belongings and livestock. An open invitation and blessing had become oppression.

Every time Moses approached Pharaoh and said, “Let my people go” while Pharaoh responded, “no” was preparation.

For every negative response, God was preparing Israel for a greater miracle.

Every time they were turned away, God was working in the heart of the king toward a greater show of His might.

The darker the situation became for Israel, the greater the potential for a miracle became—and that’s exactly what happened.

Not only was Egypt destroyed and Israel allowed to leave, but they were encouraged to leave and blessed in their going out. They were blessed in and they were blessed going out.

In what may seem to be a great time of anger and frustration, God may be preparing for an even greater miracle.

Daily Bible reading: Exodus 11-12, Matthew 18:21-35