A daily, 32-day Lenten Devotional Series by Rev. Dave Brown
Exodus 1:1-14
Family relocation stories are complicated. We start out in one place and end in another. Or else, we stay and our family members go. Such was the story of the sons of Israel. Joseph was sold into slavery and went with a caravan to Egypt. His life was filled with ups and downs, but the LORD was with Joseph and he became the second in command, directing Egypt’s Department of Agriculture. Many years later, his 11 brothers went to Egypt in search of food after a severe famine rocked the Middle East. When the brothers were surprisingly accepted and reunited with the brother they had betrayed, these 11 persuaded their father Jacob (Israel) to leave his home for the land of Egypt.
A daily, 32-day Lenten Devotional Series by Rev. Dave Brown
Exodus 1-20
It is the season of Lent for which the 40-year journey of the Israelites in the book of Exodus is a major theme. To follow God is the main message of Exodus, the 2nd book of Moses in the Torah in the Old Testament, or Tanakh, and of the whole Bible. ...The Book of Exodus has been called “the heart of the Old Testament”. Its message is fulfilled in the New Testament. It would be hard to find a single major topic of the Old or New Testament that is not exemplified in the book of Exodus. The Key to Exodus is in the name of the LORD, His supremacy and his saving action.” (Cole:18-19) Exodus looks back to promises made in the Patriarchal Age, looks forward to the arrival in the Promised Land and looks beyond to the final fulfillment of God’s promises in heaven. “When the song of the redeemed rises in heaven, it is the Song of Moses and the Lamb.” (Rev 15:3)
A daily, 32-day Lenten Devotional Series by Rev. Dave Brown
Exodus 12:14-28
The observance of Passover on the day of deliverance was not to be a one-time event. It was to be the celebration to keep forever as an annual feast. What should be remembered each year? And by what signs and symbols should these things be remembered? It was a hasty event in the first year, but God’s intention was that it should become a seven-day feast to be remembered in all generations.
By Roland Clarke
Most politicians in North America including educators, judiciary, media, as well as many businesses have bowed to pressure tactics from the LGBTQ lobby as noted in my previous article, "What does the rainbow signify?" Such capitulation is indicated by public displays of Pride logos and flags. More recently, however, there has been a growing push-back especially from Muslims and conservative Christians objecting to pro-LGBTQ inclusive sex education in schools which basically indoctrinates children, covertly or overtly. Shannon Douglas writes from a secular perspective for Woke Watch Canada on the Canadian Gender Wars. He reports on “the many…parent protests across the country...Thousands and thousands of them awakened to woke, keeping kids home from Pride Events.” (Click on the title bar to open the full article.)
...Or all of the above?
Blameless and upright, a fearer of God
A man truly righteous, no pious façade
One about whom God was accustomed to boast
And so one whom Satan desired the most
One day the accuser came breathing out lies
"It's Your holy handouts, his faithfulness buys"
In one desperate day his possessions were lost
His children all killed in one raw holocaust
– Michael Card, lyrics, Job Suite
*This piece corresponds to Chapter 2 in my latest book, The Reason of Job, with additional new material by Dr. C.J. Wiliams and James B. Jordan. Available on Wipf and Stock and Amazon.
Job and his story are highly memorable, though perhaps they are being forgotten. We learn about Job in the Hebrew Tanakh, the Old Testament of the Bible, where there is a book by his name. It is mostly a long poem. I have been surprised by some Christians and Muslims who are more familiar with Job than I’d expected, and by others who said they know little to nothing about him. Part of my goal is to rectify that. But it’s also to begin developing his motif. What is a motif? ...Read on.&