Anglican Daily Fountain Devotional 11th December 2020
TOPIC: THE WICKED TASK MASTER
TEXT: Exodus 5:1-14(NKJV)
1. Afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘Let My people go, that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness.’ ”
2. And Pharaoh said, “Who [is] the LORD, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, nor will I let Israel go.”
3. So they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please, let us go three days’ journey into the desert and sacrifice to the LORD our God, lest He fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.”
4. Then the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people from their work? Get [back] to your labor.”
5. And Pharaoh said, “Look, the people of the land [are] many now, and you make them rest from their labor!”
6. So the same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their officers, saying,
7. “You shall no longer give the people straw to make brick as before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves.
8. “And you shall lay on them the quota of bricks which they made before. You shall not reduce it. For they are idle; therefore they cry out, saying, ‘Let us go [and] sacrifice to our God.’
9. “Let more work be laid on the men, that they may labor in it, and let them not regard false words.”
10. And the taskmasters of the people and their officers went out and spoke to the people, saying, “Thus says Pharaoh: ‘I will not give you straw.
11. ‘Go, get yourselves straw where you can find it; yet none of your work will be reduced.’ ”
12. So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of straw.
13. And the taskmasters forced [them] to hurry, saying, “Fulfill your work, [your] daily quota, as when there was straw.”
14. Also the officers of the children of Israel, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten [and] were asked, “Why have you not fulfilled your task in making brick both yesterday and today, as before?”
STUDY: In today’s passage, Moses and Aaron approached Pharaoh and demanded for the release of the Israelites who were in bondage in Egypt, but Pharaoh arrogantly defied that instruction from the Lord and even questioned “Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice…?”Instead of releasing the Israelites, Pharaoh reacted to their request by adding more task and burden to them, and by so doing made them to groan in pain. The reason Pharaoh crushed them was because Israel was in bondage in Egypt.
Today, many people as a result of sin are groaning in pain because of the bondage of the devil. Sin is the greatest bondage and Satan is the worst and most wicked task master. Satan manipulatesand attacks people;he causes diseases, sicknesses, sexual immorality and various other forms of attacks. The more the Israelites asked Pharaoh for mercy, the more they were afflicted. In the same vein, the more people ask the devil for mercy, the more they are crushed, harassed, humiliated and reproached by the devil. The only escape route from the devil is Jesus Christ. If you give your life to Jesus and live in holiness and righteousness, then sin will not have dominion over you and Satan will not have power or authority over you(<a>Romans 6:14</a>).Do you want to be free from every reproach and harassment from the devil? Confess your sins now to God and ask Him to give you the power to overcome Satan.
PRAYER: Gracious God, please give me the power to fight valiantly under my banner against sin, the world and the flesh. Make me a true Christian solider until life end.
Daily Fountain Quote of the Day
“We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.”– Chuck Swindoll
Anglican Daily Fountain Devotional 11th December 2020 – The Church of Nigeria is the Anglican church in Nigeria. It is the second-largest province in the Anglican Communion, as measured by baptized membership, after the Church of England.