A prayer for protection from a nation in shackles

Let me tell you a story about a prayer for protection. My father was a slave and my grandfather also, and so were his father and his grandfather. For almost four hundred years the offspring of Jacob has been subjected to harsh labor under the Egyptians. At first we enjoyed luxury and protection under the government of Joseph and the Pharaoh who favored him and his family, but those times are gone long ago. Now we live in despair. Our day is a long and tiresome struggle for survival. Those who are not fit for work or become sick face a common destiny: starvation and death. For those of us still alive, the future holds no hope of freedom. We wait only for a miracle that seems to be in store always for the next generation.

Prayer for protection

There is an old story that has been repeated over and over again around the fireplace of any Hebrew family. Its about a promise that God made to our father Abraham, and although many think that its only an invention of some desperate slave to alleviate his sorrow, the story remains as one of the main reasons that even today make us feel part of a nation with a higher calling than that of a mere commodity. According to this story, God Himself spoke to Abraham when he was an old man and his wife Sara was barren. The most amazing part for the thousands of eager listeners is not when God promises an heir to a couple who is too old to be grandparents, let alone parents. What takes away everyones breath is the blood chilling prophecy that sees Abrahams children hopelessly reduced to servitude during four long centuries. Their only salvation would come from God Himself and also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. This was the dream of all the people under oppression

throughout the land of Egypt. Their cry was one and the same: freedom!

A prayer for protection: Breaking the shackles

Had the God of Abraham forgotten his promise, or was He a God who wasnt true to His word? It had been a long time since they had had any news from this God who was supposedly so much interested in their welfare. They had been praying all this time for Gods protection and truly enough they had grown so numerous and strong that the Egyptians were afraid of them, but they still were nothing more than slaves at the mercy of a people who despised a God so feeble that couldnt free His people from bondage. For those of us who have the privilege of thousands of years of hindsight its easy to see how God was raising men like Moses and Aaron who would work powerful sings and wonders that would soon bring the people of Israel free from captivity. We may be tempted to see the lack of faith of the Hebrews in a patronizing way, but we must be ready to face that same trial. We are giving in a world slave to sin and for a time we were also prisoners until Jesus freed us. We were ruled by a ruthless master who wouldnt let us go to worship the true God, so we had to make a prayer for protection to the only one that could break the iron shackles that kept us away from the plan of God for our lives. There is a prayer for protection that all need to make. It is a protection that God is willing to give. A protection worth dying for.