{"id":4143,"date":"2022-08-02T12:44:37","date_gmt":"2022-08-02T17:44:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nazareneblogs.org\/pastorscott\/?p=4143"},"modified":"2022-08-02T12:44:37","modified_gmt":"2022-08-02T17:44:37","slug":"devotional-on-exodus-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/devotional-on-exodus-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Devotional on Exodus"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure style=\"width: 1600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-Ke6gehjOkuY\/XOw0r0xMjwI\/AAAAAAAA7qs\/j9o4xlMZdgEmqC9KJpXmXm_PV9oCwPTxQCKgBGAs\/s1600\/2013-10-22%2B16.28.18.jpg\" width=\"1600\" height=\"902\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">2013 &#8211; Natchez, MS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Living between the promise and the blessing<br \/>\nExodus 1: They made them miserable with hard labor.<br \/>\nCenturies earlier the Lord spoke to Abraham and made wonderful promises to him. Abraham\u2019s descendants will number as the stars in the sky and they\u2019ll have a land to call their own. When Jacob follows his son Joseph\u2019s direction to relocate everyone to Egypt, the Lord promises to go with them and to bring them back to the Promised Land. Now, Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph are all dead and while the promise of a multitude of descendants is being fulfilled, the people with the Promise are enslaved in Egypt. Generations are being born into slavery, living and dying having never known freedom. It occurs to me that being on either end of the process is the place to be. Living between the promise and the blessing isn\u2019t nearly as much fun. At the beginning there are thrilling encounters with God; dramatic experiences filled with expectancy. At the end, of course, is the thrill of obtainment; God\u2019s Word being made real. In the middle, though, is uncertainty; hanging in there when the circumstances tell us to surrender. The thing is that much of life is lived between the promise and the blessing. For instance, there have been many generations of Christians since Jesus promised to come back. They&#8217;ve lived their lives believing in that which remains unseen. The only prescription for dealing with living between the promise and the blessing is continued trust. Today, I\u2019m reminded that the Lord has made certain promises to me and, even though I don\u2019t yet see the blessing, I chose to trust in him as one who is always faithful. I build my life on that firm foundation here between the promise and the blessing.<br \/>\nTake Away: Most of life is lived between the promise and the blessing; it\u2019s no wonder that God places such high value on faith.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Living between the promise and the blessing Exodus 1: They made them miserable with hard labor. Centuries earlier the Lord spoke to Abraham and made wonderful promises to him. Abraham\u2019s descendants will number as the stars in the sky and they\u2019ll have a land to call their own. When Jacob follows his son Joseph\u2019s direction [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1493,7],"tags":[106,124,340,485,1108],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4143"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4143"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13782,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4143\/revisions\/13782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}