Exodus: the beginning

Based on my previous post, i've decided to commit one hour of my day to Christ, after admitting and confessing that i have no been treasuring my relationship with Christ enough. And what better time to start than right now !

I decided to go through the book of Exodus, I heard from a fellow brother that its a great book, and I'm excited to learn from it. This will be a challenge because i barely turn to the Old Testament, so im praying God opens my eyes to what he wants me to learn.

If any of you are curious, this is how i plan on scheduling my hour.

Worship
Prayer
Scripture Reading
Take Personal Notes/Summary
Read Content (I'm following this content. HERE)
Take Other Notes
Re-read Scripture Passage
Post
Prayer

Simple stuff, I basically just hope to take it more serious and have it sink in more and more. So let's begin with Exodus 1.

Looking at the context of the book, Exodus (takes place during the 15th century, B.C.) continues to story left off from Genesis, as Joseph brings his family to Egypt to escape the famine. In the first chapter, we see that the new Israelites brought in are treated poorly, and because their numbers were growing, the king tried to control their population by having the baby boys be killed off at birth. But because the Israelites were faithful, they saved the boys and God continued to bless them. Eventually, the Pharaoh decided to have all baby boys be thrown into the Nile river.

Quick side note on characters.
Jacob - the father of Joseph, son of Issac, and grandson of Abraham
Joseph - the 11th son of Jacob, with the colourful robe, sold off by his brothers to Egypt (Genesis 37)

So how does this relate to us? Reading the content, it opened my eyes, as it takes you deeper. If you think of it from the perspective of the Israelites, can you imagine being treated so poorly, having your own son killed off or thrown in the river? How horrible would that be? Yet something that stood out to me was the strength and faithfulness of the Hebrew Women (v. 19), they feared the Lord and followed Him instead of the King, and saved the boys. Of course, God blessed them more as they showed their love and faith in Christ. We have to learn to be faithful to Christ at all times, and he will continue to bless us if we learn to remain in Him.

As well, in times so tough, could you rejoice? Can you find joy? Lets make it more realistic. Well today, i had a tragedy, tripping on the stairs with my food, and spilling it all over my new white sweater, or lets just say you've been having a bad day. Can you rejoice? How do you respond to such a difficulty? These can easily be considered trials in our lives. Big or small.

"anything that causes us to take our eyes off Christ can be considered as a trial."

Are your eyes fixed on God? Because thats the only time when we can find joy in the daily obstacles we face. He gives us strength and hope to carry on. Learn and practice fixing our eyes on Christ who sustains and forever reigns, and who will not fail us. Trials are overcome by faith, and as we overcome these trials, perseverance is produced.

verse of the day: James 1:2-3

² Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.