“I have seen the affliction of My people and…am aware of their sufferings. So I have come down to deliver them….Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh so that you may bring my people out of Egypt” (Exodus 3:7-10)

It is impossible to watch newscasts and read daily events without being impressed that we live in a world of suffering and oppression. Rioting and massive killing by the government in Syria and by insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq, human trafficking in India and victims of natural disasters that seem to occur with increasing frequency alert us to constant human tragedy. We continue to hear of Muslims and Christians slaughtering each other in Nigeria, AIDS continuing to decimate societies in Sub-Saharan Africa and homeless refugees fleeing to escape political violence and discrimination.

The headlines startle us with school shootings and several incidents of parents killing their children. Abortion is advocated as an “inalienable right” for women by political leaders, and a fragile economy creates crisis for many who are losing their jobs, having homes foreclosed and seeing life’s savings disappear. Scandals at the highest levels of business and banking affirm abandonment of the moral foundation in which our society once took pride.

While the world may reflect doom and gloom, history is replete with similar problems. Seeing this kind of world, God has come down to deliver us and provide a solution. Just as He intervened to deliver the Children of Israel from bondage and oppression in Egypt, He came down to earth as the incarnate Son of God to bear the sins and rebellion of a lost world. He came to provide hope and deliverance from conflict and oppression generated by our sin nature.

But having done so, He sends us to be the one’s to deliver the world out of the oppression of carnal bondage, chaos and turmoil. It was God that delivered Israel, but Moses was chosen to be His instrument to intervene, confront the powers of oppression and lead the people out to a promise of prosperity and blessing. God is calling us to be His instrument to deliver a lost world.

It is not government subsidies and assistance, social help programs, military intervention or a miraculous economic turn-around that will change a hurting world. It is Jesus Christ. And those of us who know the hope and salvation He has provided are the ones to proclaim Him as the ultimate solution to the godlessness and sin that is propagating the suffering and oppression propagated by carnal living. Yes, we are as overwhelmed and feel as inadequate as Moses, but if we don’t do it, who will?