The Egyptians treated the Israelite people as their slaves. They forced them to work harder by oppressing them. But as Exodus 1:12 says, the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread! Why? Because God’s hand was upon them. And even though the Egyptians seemed to have the upper hand, they came to dread the Israelites because of how they multiplied.

We too can multiply even in our middle of our fiercest battles. When things seem like they are going from bad to worse, those are the times we need to hold fast and trust the Lord. He might not remove us from our battles. We might still have to go through them.

But our oppression doesn’t have to defeat us.

Often when we feel divided in certain areas, God might be multiplying us in other areas.

When life was awful at work, the Israelites were multiplying at home.

 

Sometimes we look for the blessing to be attached to the battle. We want things to get better. We want God to remove us from the battle. But maybe we should broaden our perspective.

What if in the midst of the battle we are in, the Lord is doing something awesome in other areas of our lives? 

A few years ago, I went through a difficult battle with a close friend. I tried to do everything I could to fix the relationship.  I prayed over and over asking the Lord to heal our broken friendship.

But He didn’t.

But through the division He was multiplying. He did a deep healing work in my own heart. During that time, He also brought other precious friendships into my life I might not have had otherwise.

Months went by before it finally dawned on me.

God didn’t give me the healing I asked for, but He gave me the healing I needed. 

When I look back, I can see multiplication in the midst of the oppression. And I know I would never have multiplied in the ways I did had I not gone through the struggle.

Sometimes we have to divide in order to multiply. 

Lord help us to trust You—trust that You have a plan–even in the midst of our battles. May the struggles of life cast us into Your arms. Help us fight well, Lord. Help us to multiply in the midst of our oppression. And help us to allow You to multiply what we need–not necessarily what we want. And when the world looks as us, may they see Your beautiful multiplication in the midst of division. All for You, Your honor, Your glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen.