From the land of Ham to the land of Canaan [Part -2]..
God prepared a Goshen in the land of Ham. Even If we make our bed in the depths, He is there. He knows our coming in and going out. He would help us and love us even if we live where satan has his throne. For all He cares are the people who have remained faithful to His name. But living in Goshen has its own problem.
The Israelites said to
them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat round pots
of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you brought us into this dessert to
starve this entire assembly to death. Exodus 16:3
God heard their cries
and remembered the covenant He made with Abraham and decided to rescue the
people living in Goshen. He brought them out of Egypt. But they rebelled against
God. They grumbled when there was shortage of food, and water. They always
remembered the comfort of Egypt. They loved Egypt so much that they even preferred
the graves of that land. They were ready to serve Egyptians as slaves rather die
as free people. In short, the blessings and comfort of Goshen provided by God became
an obstacle in the lives of Israelites. They were not ready to leave behind
their coziness for a while to receive the land flowing with milk and honey.
It might be true that we
have faced lot persecution in the land of Ham but its no secret that we have
grown in those situations. There were times when sons were snatched from the
hands of their mothers to be killed. But it’s no secret that Israelites grew
and multiplied in number. They were only seventy people when they came to Egypt
but their number grew to six lakhs in that cursed land. Alas, none of these six-lakh
got into the Canaan land. If they grew in the cursed land, their number
decreased as they journeyed to the promised land. If we are not willing to leave
the comfort of Goshen then the journey to the land of Canaan will not be easy
for us.
Canaan a land ruled by the cursed.
Do not make a covenant
with them or with their gods. Do not let them live in your land, because the
worship of their gods will certainly be a snare to you. Exodus 23:32,33
Israelites are blessed
but the land they stayed on was cursed. But their journey was to a blessed land
ruled by some cursed people. God waited for sin of these cursed nations to reach
its full measure. In a way Israel waited for more than four hundred years for
the Amorites and other nations, so that the measure of their sin was full and
the Lord was ready to cast them out of that blessed land.
God wanted Israelites
to drive all these nations away from that blessed land. On one place God commands
the Israel to show kindness to foreigners for they were also foreigners in the land
of Egypt. But here, God wants no friendship with the enemy. He wants Israelites
to drive away all the cursed nations from the blessed land.
We may have lived in
the cursed land and stayed with the cursed people. But remember to avoid the cursed
from entering our promised land. Sometimes we unknowingly make covenant with
enemy, and that would certainly be a snare to us. We are required to live in
the land of the cursed as blessed and preserve the blessed land by protecting it
from the cursed people.
In this journey, from
the land of Ham to the land of Canaan, one should keep in mind that the comfort
of Goshen is meagre in front of the blessings of Canaan. And to preserve the blessed
land one should always drive and stay away from the cursed people. God’s people
live as a separate nation in Egypt and same separation is required even in the blessed
land.
Goshen is temporary but
Canaan is permanent. Blessed is those who are called to live in Canaan. Such
people are chosen and kept in the QUIVER OF GOD.
May God bless you all..
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