The God that set apart
“And in that day, I will set apart the land of Goshen, in which My people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there, in order that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the land. I will make a difference between My people and your people. Tomorrow this sign shall be. And the Lord did so”. Exodus 8, 22-24.
After multiple attempts to convince Pharaoh, Moses and the children of Israel were still faced with resistance. Pharaoh won’t let go of the people of Israel. In fact, he was not even moved by the signs performed by Moses and Aaron and instead, asked the taskmasters to increase their daily load and make their jobs harder.
A little note: Do you sometimes feel like the more you pray, the harder your problems become? Why? The answer is that your prayers are working. They are causing the strongman behind the scenes to react enough to reinforce his position and retaliate.
But from the third plagues in Exodus 8, 17-18, the Lord began to attack their powers. The magicians of Egypt could no longer replicate what Moses and Aaron did and admitted that it was the finger of God. By the time it came to the fourth plague, there was a clear demarcation between Egypt and Goshen where the children of Israel dwelt. The Lord put a difference between Egypt and Israel by providing an escape for Israel. There were plagues in Egypt, but Israel was untouched. They escaped all the calamities that were befallen their Egyptians neighbours, when the whole country was in agony and despair, Goshen was free from them: They escaped.
Divine escape:
To “escape” means to break free from confinement or control, to getaway, to get out or run away. The Lord set Israel apart so:
They can get away from the plagues. What was killing and destroying others was not near them.
He set His people apart so that they would be protected
He put a difference between them so that Israel will be preserved
Ultimately the Lord set them apart so that He can set them free from oppression. Generational oppression was terminated by divine intervention.
In these days and times, the enemy of our souls is not resting but the Lord will provide a way of escape for His people if they dwell in Goshen.
In Psalm 91, 1 it says: “He who dwells in the secret place of the “Most High” shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty”. As long as we dwell under His shadow, everything from verse 2-16 will be ours. We will escape “the snare of the fowler, the perilous pestilence, the terror by night, the arrow by day and the destruction at noonday. “He shall cover us with His feathers, and under His wings we shall take refuge”.
Note: God did not stop the plagues from happening, but He protected, preserved, and delivered His own. He made a way of escape for them.
Prayer Points:
1. Commit the year into God’s hands. Pray for divine protection.
2. Ask the Lord to mark you with His blood and pray for exemption as in Ezekiel 9, 3-7.
3. Pray that the Lord will fight those who fight you and take up your battles.
