The Purpose of Freedom (I):
“And you shall say to him, ‘The Lord God of the Hebrews has sent me to you, saying, ‘Let My people go, that they may serve Me in the wilderness;’ but indeed, until now you would not hear!” (Exodus 7:16, New King James Version).
This is the key Bible verse for the “Come and See” devotional today.
Everything happens or exists for a reason. Thus, the Bible states: “to everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1, New King James Version). At the same time, we are familiar with the common saying that if the purpose of a thing is unknown, then its misuse or abuse is inevitable.
The Almighty God had a specific purpose in mind when He called Moses to lead the rescue of the children of Israel from over 400 years of captivity in Egypt (read Exodus 7). That purpose was clear, as suggested by our key Bible verse for this message; thus, the purpose was to SERVE. The main reason for their deliverance was so that they would offer steadfast service and worship to the Almighty God alone and no one else! In due course they were delivered from their bondage by the mighty hand of God, who divided the Red Sea allowing the Israelites to walk on dry ground to their freedom.
However Moses failed to tell them in clear terms about the purpose of their freedom from bondage. Their ignorance continued until the Lord gave Moses the Tablet of Law written with His own fingers. Unsurprisingly, the first two of the Ten Commandments reiterated the purpose of their freedom: SERVICE. Thus: “you shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them.” (Exodus 20:3-5a, New King James Version).
We should note that the Ten Commandments were first verbalised. Thus, Exodus 20:1 records: “and God spoke all these words, saying.” Nevertheless, God had to write the Commandments in stone tablets to ensure there would be no ambiguities regarding the purpose of their hard earned freedom (read Exodus 32). As this writing was taking place, the Israelites made a golden calf and began to worship it as their God.
We all seek total freedom from all kinds of bondage, but often we fail to recognise the reason why we should be free: the only one who frees people from captivity completely is God and He does this so that we may serve Him without restrictions. John 8:36, 21st Century King James Version reads ““If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” The questions we need to ask ourselves are: why do we seek freedom and what would we do when we are free? What are we doing with the amount of freedom we currently enjoy? What are we doing with our financial and intellectual freedom? Do we want to serve God or serve our selfish objectives? Remember, the purpose of your freedom is to serve God alone.
Let us pray: “Father, let my freedom be complete. Help me not to deviate from the purpose of my liberty,” in Jesus’ Mighty Name, Amen.
This message was brought to you by Evangelical Ministries International (EMI). We know this message has been a blessing to you. Please share your testimonies with us by visiting our website www.evangelicalministries.org or contact us on info@evangelicalministries.org. God bless you!
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