Read: Exodus 6:1-3
Her name is Amy Bockerstette, and reading a bit of her story was a good way to start a Saturday. Amy is a 22-year-old young woman who has Down Syndrome, and next week, she will be making history. She will be the first athlete who has her disability to compete in a NJCAA national championship. Amy is on her golf team at Paradise Junior College, and she, along with her teammates will be competing in Ormond Beach, Florida in only a few days. One of the things that Amy is known for is the expression "I got this." She was playing a practice hole with a professional golfer, and she spoke those words prior to making a challenging shot that extricated her ball from the bunker. That video went viral. She spoke those words with joy and confidence, and yes, as she had predicted, she did make that shot, enabling her to par the hole. Those words are so much a part of Amy's life that she has started the I GOT THIS Foundation which provides people who have Down syndrome and other intellectual disabilities with golf instruction. Their goal is that these folks will be able to obtain scholarships and compete alongside typical golfers.
As I thought about Amy Bockerstette's confident words, I remembered Someone else Who has said the same thing many times and under a multitude of circumstances. He is the Lord. Let's spend a few moments looking at one time when Israel's Redeemer wanted to reassure His people with this truth. He wanted them to know "I Got This."
First, a bit of background. The Israelites had been in Egypt for more than 400 years. God had spoken to Moses, letting him know that the time for deliverance was at hand; so he, along with his brother Aaron, confronted the Pharaoh with this word from God. No surprise. Pharaoh was having none of it. So, he flexed his muscles and increased the burdens God's people had to bear, adding misery to misery in their lives. That is where Moses and the people are when we meet them in Exodus 6:1-13. The people are weary and worn out. Perhaps they had been thinking that Pharaoh would release them when Moses first spoke to him. Surely, they hadn't expected that things would deteriorate, making their lives even more difficult. With that in mind, I can understand their reaction to Moses' proclamation from the Lord concerning His mighty strength and ability to free them from those who had enslaved them. Sadly, they weren't comforted by Moses' powerful words; even so, let's see what God promised them.
1. God wanted to remind them that He had made a promise that He would give them the land on which they had merely been sojourners. It was a covenant promise that Abram received in Genesis 17:8.
2. God wanted them to know that He had heard their groaning. Though they were suffering, they were not in a place where God was unable to hear their cries.
3. God wanted them to know that He remembered His covenant. It was time to act. Yes, the years of waiting were at an end.
4. God wanted them to know that He had the power to bring them out of slavery and deliver as well as redeem them. Think of it. God was promising that the more than 2,000,000 people would be set free. No wonder it is said that He brought them out with a mighty arm. Though their present circumstances seemed very bleak to them, God reassured them that His power would accomplish their deliverance.
5. God would make them His special people and He would show them that He was their God. The scripture pictures this sweet relationship that God was speaking of in this passage, in Deuteronomy 7:6-9.
It would have blessed the people if they had rested in the truths Moses shared with them; even so, what I love about God is that He acted and delivered His people in His time, even though their weariness kept them from being comforted by His proclamations about Himself and His power. What was true about the Lord concerning the Israelites and His ability to take care of them is also true in our lives. We can know that God is saying in response to all that we face, "I Got This."
How do we know that? Because of the proclamations of His word. In Psalm 115:3, we are reminded that the Lord does what He pleases. Imagine that power. There is nothing that God cannot accomplish, no matter how unlikely it might appear to be. How different it is for us. We might approach a situation with vigor, joy and confidence. However, our strength and ability have limits. We so easily become weary just as the Israelites did. At those times, how thankful I am that God says to cast our cares upon Him, 1 Peter 5:7 because He cares for us. Back to the Israelites. In Deuteronomy 8:2-4, we are reminded what the Lord did for them after they were delivered out of Egypt. He led them for forty years. He fed them with manna. Their clothing did not wear out, and their feet did not become swollen. God surely showed them in tangible ways "I Got This." One more addendum concerning the Israelites. We are told in Joshua 21:43-45 that God completely fulfilled the promise He made to Moses. They did enter the land, in spite of a delay due to their unbelief. God fulfilled each promise that He had made to them, Joshua 21:43-45.
Let's make the truth about God that we have looked at practical by plugging it into a present-day circumstance. This morning we received a prayer request for a little girl named Lily. She has aplastic anemia and faces chemotherapy, full body radiation and a bone marrow transplant. The preparations for all of this begin at the end of May. The road is very long for this family with many details that I couldn't write in this venue.
Yet, as I thought of Lily and this devotion, I thought of God, the same One Who sustained His people through impossible odds in the wilderness. He has not changed, and because of that, we bring Lily to His throne, asking for His help in this time of need, Hebrews 4:14-16. If anyone might read this, desiring specific requests for Lily, please let me know, and we can send them to you. Lord, we thank You that, as the little song says, You do have the whole world in Your hand. I can so easily forget that; so, when I do, please remind me of Your sustaining and healing grace.
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