Have You Settled?

Day 51:  Exodus 1, Psalm 51 and 1 Samuel 2

When a new king came to power in Egypt they were fearful of the Israelites who were in the land of Goshen, a bottleneck between the nations of the East and Egypt.

Two different decisions were made in this story, one by the Egyptians and one by the Israelites.

First, the Egyptians made a decision about the Israelites based on nothing but their location.  They were afraid that the Israelites would join forces with anyone who came to attack them in an effort to overthrow them.  So the Israelites were forced into slave labor because the Egyptians thought they might one day turn against Egypt.

Second, the Israelites really had it made in Goshen.  It was a fertile land between the Mediterranean sea to the North and the red sea in the South.  It was a perfect place for them to graze their flocks and herds.  Once they moved to Goshen to let Joseph care for them they became comfortable in their new digs.  They thought they had everything.

How many times have you made a decision based on what you thought might happen?  When we do this we take God out of the equation and run our lives by our own smarts.

Have you ever found yourself settling for what you think is perfect instead of what has been promised?  You find what you think is the perfect situation and you settle instead of pushing forward to God's promise.

Here's the problem, God was not in the land of Egypt.  The Israelites had settled in a perfect land without God.

When we jump to conclusions we take God out of the equation.  And when we settle we may have a good place but we don't get God.  Either option keeps us from God's best.