4 I also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they sojourned.5 Furthermore I have heard the groaning of the sons of Israel, because the Egyptians are holding them in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant. 6 Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. 7 Then I will take you for My people, and I will be your God; and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8 I will bring you to the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you for a possession; I am the Lord.’” (Exodus 6:4-8)
Good question. Sometimes we think that all we need from God are His blessings. We want Him to answer our prayers, to meet our needs, to make us more comfortable, etc. We often assume that our priorities — what we really value and want — are the same as His. But contrary to this assumption, what the Lord wants to do is to deliver us from everything that enslaves us, everything that makes us less than what we are destined to become. Just like Israel, we are prevented from fully expressing and living out our calling as His children, to become fully human — free to love and worship God and to love one another — simply because we are in bondage. We may not be enslaved to a human Pharaoh like Israel, but we are nevertheless in bondage to sin in particular — it’s power, products and penalty abounding. What a wretched situation we are in! Who will deliver us? The Lord, of course. This is what He wants to do in our lives, to deliver us from every root or evidence of sin that prevents us from imaging God. So starting today, be more interested in your transformation. This is God’s will for you. This is also how you are to perceive your negative situations in life. Be patient and cooperative. God is not finished with you yet. He is working to transform you. Just say, “Lord, thy will be done for my life as you wish.”