Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them. Exodus 1:6-7
I was prepping for an upcoming Bible study series in Exodus yesterday evening and my wife pointed out something important to me in chapter 1 and verse 7. (Due credit to her!)
“The Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them.”
That sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Scripture is taking us back to the beginning, in Genesis. It’s Creation language! That’s what God wanted from the start. Be fruitful and multiply. But then sin entered the story and got everything tangled up.
And yet, here these words appear again. Except it’s not in the Garden, but in Egypt of all places.
Nothing about Egypt feels like the place where God’s purposes would be unfolding. His people aren’t home, nor are they free! And it’s about to get a whole lot worse, not better. If you and me were picking a setting for “be fruitful and multiply,” – this would not be the place! But there it is anyway.
God is just continuing what He started, without bothering to ask permission from the circumstances.
How often do we quietly assume that certain conditions have to be in place for God to really be at work? Things need to settle down… life needs to get a little cleaner, a little more predictable. Maybe then there can be growth and fruitfulness.
But that’s not what we see here at the beginning of Exodus. God doesn’t wait. His people are multiplying in the worst place imaginable, under a ruthless king, and heading directly into the wrong kind of future. And still, somehow, they’re increasing in numbers!
His promise to Abraham is being kept. And in horrible circumstances no less.
God doesn’t seem nearly as limited by environment as we are. He doesn’t need ideal conditions to keep His word moving forward. He just does it. And most of the time He does it quietly, and in places that feel more like survival to us than opportunity.
This all reminds me how God’s work can so easily go unnoticed, and how we tend to condition God’s activity based on our own circumstances. As if there’s such a thing as a not-so-good time for God…
Well, that’s enough for now. Hopefully this has given you some means of encouragement today.
Former Blackout Artist 