Prayers in Egypt

God answers prayers -for nations!

As I’ve been reading and meditating on the opening of the book of Exodus over the last few weeks, the stunning developments in Venezuela and Iran have provided a dramatic backdrop, making me consider this story from a different angle. The familiar account of how God rescued Israel from Egypt is one of the most riveting scenes in scripture and was meant to forever be a reminder of God’s power, His covenant with His people, and His justice. It’s a story that foreshadows the cross, the ultimate deliverance from the world and the powers of darkness.

But notice, it all begins with the people of Israel praying.

Ex 2:23-25,3:7-9

“During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.”

“Then the LORD said, ‘I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey…’”

Israel had no other recourse. Their God was their only hope. Four hundred years earlier, wily Joseph had counselled the Pharaoh to purchase all the land owned in Egypt, in exchange for grain the people needed to sustain themselves through the famine. They even had to sell themselves into servitude. The end result was that all of Egypt’s land was either owned by the Pharaoh or the priests of Egypt’s idols, so all of Egypt was overtly dedicated to demonic idolatry (Gen 47:23-26). The whole nation had become a demonic stronghold, oppressing God’s people, leaving them with no hope-- except for the Lord.

So Israel prayed. They cried out to God.

I’ve wondered what prayers have been lifted to God in our day from the oppressed and impoverished people of Venezuela, or from the prison cells and secret underground churches of Iran. I’m not making a political statement on Trump, but I am noticing that in our day as well as in Israel’s history, when there is no hope and tyrants hold all the cards, God still answers prayer. Sometimes in sudden and dramatic ways.

HOW DID WE GET SO PASSIVE?

I’ve been pondering all this while I’ve been wondering what makes Canadians so uniquely passive. Why have we become resigned and numb to the rampant corruption, waste, and deterioration of our society? Even a short decade ago, it was scandalous for a politician to be caught in a lie, or for even millions to go missing from public accounts. Today, billions are routinely wasted, and nobody bats an eye at a bald-faced lie from government. We no longer expect spies to be arrested, murderers to remain incarcerated, or immigration frauds to be deported.

Even when we vote—formerly, our one place of political power—we now can’t be sure that our MP, MPP, or MLA will stay loyal, representing us and our concerns. It’s become acceptable for them to abandon their constituents and cross the floor for personal opportunistic gain.

Uniquely across the western world, the Canadian ruling class has solidified a lock on power and has become blissfully deaf to objections from the ordinary people, because they can. We can voice opposition, sign petitions, or attend marches, but it doesn’t move the needle.

I was talking with a friend not too long ago who shared that he didn’t really track with geopolitical developments—you only have so many hours in a day—instead, he sought to lean into the gospel and be faithful to what God has asked him to do. Fair enough. I imagine many of us can relate to that position and find ourselves there as our default.

Yet I wonder, how many of us have been conditioned into disengaging from the political arena because we have felt so powerless? Disengagement is a way to avoid the pain of helplessness, as our society disintegrates, seemingly unchecked, before our eyes.

I’ve never believed that politics is the answer to see a nation fundamentally change (that can only come by the Spirit, through the gospel); however, I do believe we have a civic duty to our nation and our children to do all we can to be salt and light, influencing political outcomes. The state is not neutral; any more than Egypt was. Secularism is not neutral, it’s undergirded by ideology and worldviews, which if not Christian, are at some level, hostile to Christianity.

OUR HOPE IS IN HEAVEN — NOT IN PRINCES

The most important activity however, remains prayer. If we think about Israel’s plight in Egypt and how they cried out to God, this should inspire us to follow suit, especially if we feel our democracy has deteriorated to the point that we no longer have a meaningful voice. There is One in heaven who rules the nations and invites us to pour out our heart to Him.

Let’s however, notice some of what surrounded Israel’s season of prayer. Perhaps this will help us to know what to expect, so we are not discouraged when our ideas of how God should answer end up being so different from what we experience.

WHAT ISRAEL EXPERIENCED

1. It took a long time of gradually increasing oppression before Israel began to pray in earnest. While I’m sure there were some who started praying sooner, for most of the nation, the slow, incremental, tightening of the screws and losses of freedoms kept being accepted and absorbed.
   
   Of course, this begs the question, how much have we accepted without turning to prayer? How many small losses, which on their own seem like we would be over-reacting if we opposed them, have built up to create a cultural oppression? In my neighbourhood, a lovely Christian hospice was shut down by the government because they wouldn’t offer MAiD. They were caring for the dying in incredibly respectful and loving ways, but the government would not allow them to continue because of their Christian convictions. This is one small example of the chipping away of our freedoms, in this case, it’s religious freedom and freedom of conscience.
   
   Sure, I know some churches and groups have gone quite extreme and cried “persecution” at any restrictions (especially during Covid), and this hasn’t helped anyone. But in our desire to not to be reactionaries, we have likely accommodated too much without objection and most importantly, prayer.
   

2. The second thing we want to notice is when God started moving in response to their prayers, He sent Moses, and things immediately got worse. Suddenly, Israel was being punished by having to make bricks without straw. I wonder if they prayed all the more, more fervently, crying out to God? After all, what else could they do?
   
   While this was terribly hard for the Israelites, this short season of crushing served to break all apathy or willingness to accommodate their oppressive situation. It also separated them more distinctly from the Egyptians and bonded them together as a people. These changes prepared them to leave.
   
   Something else to notice about this moment is that Israel blamed Moses for their increased hardship, rather than the Egyptian taskmasters. Do we do this? Do we side against our brothers and sisters who are objecting to our cultural oppression because we don’t want to be associated with them and risk being called a Christian Nationalist (a nebulous term that’s become quite the slur), or some other such label?
   

3. The third thing that happened was the plagues. Chaos broke out; it was fearful and disorienting. We sit on the other side of this mighty work of deliverance, so have the benefit of understanding what God was doing and how it was going to end. But imagine being right in the middle of the plagues, not knowing if God was actually delivering you or if the whole world was falling apart! How long would it last? Would you survive? Would things ever go back to normal?
   
   In these days, people often, instead of commenting on the weather like we all used to do as our go-to small talk topic, will say something like, “crazy days we live in, eh?” or make some comment about Trump. But in a quiet moment when people really have a chance to get honest, so many of us feel that the daily drama in the nations or even the shock of what is happening in our own nation, is too much to process. Like the Israelites in Egypt, we too feel the anxiety of what looks like chaos, with everything spiralling out of control and our peaceful, predictable life being upended.

So how do we respond to this?

Of course, you’ve caught that I am encouraging us to pray for our nation because God answers prayers for nations.

But as we do, let’s hold our ideas of how God will answer, loosely. It may take longer than we want. It may look stunningly different than our expectations.

It may involve a season of hardship and overt persecution. This doesn’t mean that God isn’t answering, in fact, it might be a sign that He is! It may mean we need to bravely associate with and encourage those who take a more public stand even if they are labelled with slurs meant to intimidate or silence them.

And it may mean we need to see through chaos with eyes of faith, knowing that our God is stronger than all the demonic strongholds of this world and has absolute ability to judge them even as He cares for His people, giving them His peace, provision, and protection in the midst of upheaval.

HOW’S YOUR HEART?

Have you disengaged from even following what is going on because it feels too overwhelming?

Have you quietly given up on prayer for the nation because things just seem to be getting worse, not better, and it’s too disheartening?

Have you allowed your confidence that God rules the nation and answers the prayers of His people to be undermined by doubt?

Friends, let’s return to a robust, enduring posture of intercession for our Canada, not looking to political solutions to save us, but to the mighty and merciful hand of God! Here’s a wonderful psalm to meditate on. Allow God to use it to strengthen you to keep praying for our Canada.

Ps 146

Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
² I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

³ Put not your trust in princes,
in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.
⁴ When his breath departs, he returns to the earth;
on that very day his plans perish.

⁵ Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord his God,
⁶ who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them,
who keeps faith forever;
⁷ who executes justice for the oppressed,
who gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets the prisoners free;
⁸ the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
the Lord loves the righteous.
⁹ The Lord watches over the sojourners;
he upholds the widow and the fatherless,
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

¹⁰ The Lord will reign forever,
your God, O Zion, to all generations.
Praise the Lord!