God’s People Cannot Be Stopped
“But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites.” – Exodus 1:12
Exodus 1 opens with a powerful picture of God’s faithfulness to His people. Even in a land where they were enslaved, mistreated, and pressed down, the Israelites grew and flourished. What Pharaoh tried to use to crush them became the very thing that propelled them forward. As we read through the book of Exodus, let it be an example that no force on earth can stop what God has promised or what He has blessed.
I have seen this truth in my own life. There have been times when I felt the weight of pressure and opposition pressing down on me. Places in life where it seemed like nothing was working the way I hoped, and the challenges were piling higher than the victories. Yet it was in those very moments that God was working, growing something deeper in me. What looked like setbacks became preparation. What felt like oppression became the soil for God to bring increase in ways I could not see at the time.
This same truth applies to you today. You may feel pressed down by circumstances, opposition, or even the heaviness of life. You may wonder if anything good can come out of your situation. Exodus 1 reminds us that oppression is not the end. God has the power to cause you to flourish even in the most difficult seasons. The pressure you are under may actually be the very place God is multiplying strength, wisdom, and grace in your life.
Here are some ways to apply this message:
- Identify one area of your life where you feel pressure or opposition and write it down.
- Pray, “Lord, help me to trust You in this area and to see how You are still at work.”
- Begin to thank God daily for how He is multiplying strength in you, even when you cannot see it yet.
- Speak God’s promises over yourself by declaring, “What the enemy means for harm, God will turn for good.”
- Surround yourself with people who will remind you of God’s faithfulness when life feels heavy.
Today I want to encourage you that the same God who caused His people to multiply in Egypt is working in your life right now. No amount of pressure, hardship, or opposition can cancel God’s plan for you. What feels like the enemy pressing down may actually be God setting you up for greater growth and blessing. Hold on to the truth that He is faithful and unstoppable, and because you belong to Him, so are you.
Today’s scripture reading: Exodus 1
1 These are the names of the sons of Israel (that is, Jacob) who moved to Egypt with their father, each with his family:
2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah,
3 Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin,
4 Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.
5 In all, Jacob had seventy descendants in Egypt, including Joseph, who was already there.
6 In time, Joseph and all of his brothers died, ending that entire generation.
7 But their descendants, the Israelites, had many children and grandchildren. In fact, they multiplied so greatly that they became extremely powerful and filled the land.
8 Eventually, a new king came to power in Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph or what he had done.
9 He said to his people, “Look, the people of Israel now outnumber us and are stronger than we are.
10 We must make a plan to keep them from growing even more. If we don’t, and if war breaks out, they will join our enemies and fight against us. Then they will escape from the country.”
11 So the Egyptians made the Israelites their slaves. They appointed brutal slave drivers over them, hoping to wear them down with crushing labor. They forced them to build the cities of Pithom and Rameses as supply centers for the king.
12 But the more the Egyptians oppressed them, the more the Israelites multiplied and spread, and the more alarmed the Egyptians became.
13 So the Egyptians worked the people of Israel without mercy.
14 They made their lives bitter, forcing them to mix mortar and make bricks and do all the work in the fields. They were ruthless in all their demands.
15 Then Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, gave this order to the Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah:
16 “When you help the Hebrew women as they give birth, watch as they deliver. If the baby is a boy, kill him; if it is a girl, let her live.”
17 But because the midwives feared God, they refused to obey the king’s orders. They allowed the boys to live, too.
18 So the king of Egypt called for the midwives. “Why have you done this?” he demanded. “Why have you allowed the boys to live?”
19 “The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women,” the midwives replied. “They are more vigorous and have their babies so quickly that we cannot get there in time.”
20 So God was good to the midwives, and the Israelites continued to multiply, growing more and more powerful.
21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.
22 Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Throw every newborn Hebrew boy into the Nile River. But you may let the girls live.”
Journal:
- Write down an area of your life where you feel pressed down.
- Write how you believe God can use that situation to grow you and bring about His purpose.
The Daily Dose 