MONDAY, FIFTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
Ex 1:8-14, 22 Ps 124:1-8 Mt 10:34–11:1
FEAR CANNOT STOP DESTINY
When people in power become unsettled by the strength or growth of others, their instinct is often to control rather than to understand. Pharaoh sees the growing nation of Israel within his borders not as allies, not as contributors, but as a danger. This fear leads to a strategy rooted not in justice but in oppression. Heavy burdens are placed upon the people. They are worked to exhaustion. Life becomes a daily grind of survival. The motive is to break their spirit, to weaken them from within. But something unexpected happens: The more pressure is applied, the more the people endure. The more they are pushed down, the more they rise.
This reveals something powerful about how God operates in the midst of suffering. Human plans may be rooted in fear, but God’s plan is rooted in faithfulness. What was meant to destroy His people becomes the soil for their growth. Even when circumstances seem bleak, there is a divine strength that sustains. Pharaoh does not stop there; his cruelty escalates. A command goes out to destroy the future of a people before it can take its first breath. It is a heartbreaking moment, a reminder of how far fear will go when left unchecked. Yet even here, hope is not lost. What was intended for death becomes the place from which deliverance will rise.
There are still powers in the world that act out of fear, that try to suppress what they do not understand. There are still moments when life feels like nothing more than hard labour under a harsh sun. But the same truth remains: God is not idle in our pain. He is never far from the cries of His people. When life presses hard against us, when the future seems uncertain, we must remember that our God is at work behind the scenes. Out of suffering, He brings strength. Out of fear, He draws faith. And when the time is right, deliverance comes, not from power but from promise.
Response: Our help is in the name of the Lord.
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