"Then the LORD said to him, "Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there."
Genesis 15:13 (NIV)
I am always encouraged when I read Genesis 15 and the record of the great promise of God to the man Abram! I get encouraged because this promise brought me salvation. God’s irrevocable promise to a sinful man made righteous by faith fills me with hope!
Romans 4:21-25 makes this comparison between us and Abram:
"Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification."
Not by works, but by faith. God said it – so we believe it and are saved! But I must confess that my spirit of encouragement wavers when I get to verse 13 of Genesis 15. I wonder WHY? Why would God’s good, pleasing and perfect will involve suffering for Abram’s children? If I am part of that promise by faith, then I wonder if I am part of this prophecy of suffering. The Egyptians were brutal to the Israelites, they were slaves and were mistreated – and I wonder - why was this part of God’s plan? To be aliens - separated from the promised land - and then mistreated as slaves for a long period of time - how can this be part of the glorious promise of God? WHY is suffering part of the promise?
This article gives us an idea of how things in Egypt haven’t changed very much over these thousands of years.
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