“And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigor: and they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigor.”— Exodus 1:13, 1413And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigor: 14And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigor. (Exodus 1:13‑14).
THE sufferings of the Israelites under a cruel government that hated them and spurned the God they worshipped, proved to be the very opportunity Jehovah desired to display His grace to the one and His righteous judgment upon the other. Israel was chosen in the furnace of affliction that they might know the loving-kindness of the Lord and might become His peculiar treasure, a nation living under His direct protection and special care. As we think of the beginnings of our own nation, we cannot but be reminded of similar circumstances. Persecution because of hatred of their conscientious, religious convictions, drove the fathers of the republic, the early colonists, from Europe to America, where, in a most marked way, the divine providence watched over them and gave them a home in a new world. No one can be familiar with the philosophy of history without realizing the large part that oppression had in preparing a people for new and better things under the fostering care of God. The God of Israel is the God of our fathers and is still our sure resource. People learn in affliction what they often fail to learn in more favorable circumstances—their own helplessness and God’s omnipotence.
“He knows the way I take, He tries
My life by fire. Then sweet surprise
His love hath planned;
He brings me forth, when tried, as gold,
And every care comes, I am told,
At His command.
All sorrows that long years have brought,
All careless blunders others wrought
That cause me grief,
All disappointments, all despair,
Are His appointments and His care:
He brings relief.”
—Mrs. Edgar F. Johnston.