Psalm 81:5

Psalm 81:5

"I am the God who speaks"

History records that the baby son of two Hebrew slaves was spied by an Egyptian princess in the bullrushes of the River Nile and she took the child home and raised him to be a prince. 40 years later the prince, who we know as Moses, unlawfully killed a man and had to run for his life and he became a shepherd in the Sinai desert - another 40 years! God called the 80-year-old Moses to go back to Egypt and to confront Pharaoh until he gave permission for the Hebrew slaves to leave their bondage and to travel, en masse, into the wilderness. Endless acts of miraculous deliverance followed until, 40 years later, the Israelites reached the Promised Land. The power of this verse of Psalm 81 is that it tells us none of the above but simply states that God went out against Egypt. In other words, these events were not Moses’ doing, he didn’t plan it all or make it happen, he was just an obedient servant in his Master’s hands. 

When you study the word “statute” from the Bible’s perspective you discover that it is a boundary that God puts in place to enable holiness. In other words, when He took the Hebrew slaves out of Egypt, He was setting them apart for Himself, He made them holy. He was making a distinction between two nations and calling one of them to become His chosen people. That is the statute that was established with the house of Joseph, the man who had established the Israelites in Egypt 430 years previously. 

This Bible story in Exodus introduces us to a God who speaks often, just as He did with Abraham in Genesis. He speaks to Moses and Moses speaks to Pharaoh. God speaks in judgement against the Egyptians, He speaks against their gods through the plagues, He speaks against their military might at the Red Sea and He speaks powerfully to the Israelites through the cloud, the pillar of fire and the provision of food and water. His is an unknown voice because it has no face, and it is often an unheard voice because God’s actions are also His words. What a God! Look out for Him speaking to you today. 

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