Va’era “And I appeared” Exodus 6:2–9:35 Ezekiel 28:25–29:21 Mark 3 A Personal Deliverance Most of us will read through this week's Torah portion in ten or fifteen minutes. We will have a tendency to forget that the events recorded here happened over a period of about one year. If we are not careful, we will miss out on the riches of the story and what is being taught. Though it is a very familiar story to most of us, challenge yourself to slow down and live the account, not just read through it. By doing so we will find many rich treasures others eyes may never see. Yes, this is a story of the deliverance of thousands if not millions of people, but it is also a story of deliverance of individual people. Each person, from Moses to Aaron to the smallest of the Hebrew children to those Egyptians who would be the first to be "grafted in," would have a story to tell to future generations. I will go so far as to say they still have a story to tell and in eternity they will share their story of "the time HaShem came to deliver us." In the midst of delivering all the Hebrews from the physical Egypt the people were in, HaShem was also delivering each person from his or her own personal Egypt. You see, Egypt is not just a plot of ground in the Middle East, but it also has a spiritual side. In short, Egypt is anything in our life that causes us to remain in bondage, which makes us fall short of serving God totally and completely. Moses had an Egypt in his life. He looked at it every time he looked in his mirror. What kept Moses in his own private bondage even when God had him stand in front of Pharaoh himself was Moses' image of himself. Moses may have been standing on the outside, but on the inside he was still as unsure of himself as he had been when standing at the burning bush. Now you may say this is a good thing and is what makes Moses the humble man that he was. This may be partly true, but humility brought on from a poor self image can be a destructive thing in the end. True humility is not seeing yourself as a good for nothing God is using for His glory, but rather true humility is accepting and using the strengths He has placed in you for His glory. In the story of the Hebrews deliverance we see this change happen in Moses. Follow me through this thought for a moment. We see the first four plagues brought on by the holding forth of the staff of Aaron. Moses had told HaShem he could not do the job, so Aaron was brought along side him to help. In the fifth and sixth plague, notice Moses is taking more of the spotlight and in 9:8 he takes the handfuls of ash from the kiln and throws them up in the air. On the seventh plague in 9:23 it is no longer Aaron's staff that is used to proclaim judgment, but it is the staff of Moses. From here on, even to the parting of the sea, it is no longer the staff of Aaron, but it is Moses with his own staff. There has been a transformation in the life of Moses, one that he needed to make if he was going to be of full use to HaShem. You may be saying, "This is just such a little detail," or "What does this have to do with me?" I believe it is a big detail and has much to do with each of us. Many of us have been taught we are just sinners saved by grace. We have been taught that humility was seeing ourselves as something just below the status of a worm. True humility was knowing that we were a nothing, but God was going to use us anyway because He cold not find anyone else that would respond. I would like to challenge that teaching, very strongly. A number of years ago I saw a sign which read, "God does not make junk!" This would have been a good saying for Moses at the burning bush and it is sure a good saying for us today. We all need to change some ideas and terms in our lives and see ourselves as the wondrous miracle He has created. We would honor Him and His word by agreeing with His word regarding who He says we are. Below I have placed just a few of the things He says about each of us who have come into His family through faith in Yeshua our Messiah. Read through them, copy them down and read them daily if needed. Read them until they become a part of you and they have changed your attitude about yourself into His attitude about you. Allow them to take you from using someone else's rod when standing in front of the Pharaoh in your personal Egypt to standing with confidence in your own rod. I am God's child. John 1:12 I am Yeshua's friend. John 15:14 I have been justified. Romans 5:1 I am united with Yeshua and am one spirit with Him. 1 Corinthians 6:17 I have been bought with a price. I belong to Him. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 I am a saint. Ephesians 1:1 I have been adopted as His child. Ephesians 1:5 I have been redeemed and forgiven of all my sins. Colossians 1:14 I am complete in Yeshua. Colossians 2:10 I am free forever from condemnation. Romans 8:1-2 I am confident that the good work He has begun in me will be perfected. Philippians 1:6 I am a citizen of Heaven. Philippians 3:20 I have not been given a spirit of fear, but of love, power and a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7 I am born of God and the evil one can not touch me. 1 John 5:18 I am the salt and light of the earth. Matthew 5:13-14 I am God's Tabernacle. 1 Corinthians 3:16 I am His workmanship. Ephesians 2:10 I may approach God with freedom and confidence. Ephesians 3:12 I can do all things through Yeshua who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13 I am a former gentile and now have been adopted into the nation of Israel. Ephesians 2:1-16 This is only a partial list of what HaShem says about you and me. Let us all determine to live by what He says and quit believing the lies our pharaohs and our Egypts have been telling us.