HE Did What?

You brought us into prison
and laid burdens on our backs.

~Psalm 66:11

Greetings, friend!
Have you been thinking about prison and burdens since Monday?
Are you ready to consider more?
Please take a minute and read from Exodus 1 below:

8 Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. 9 “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. 10 Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.”
11 So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. 12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites 13 and worked them ruthlessly. 14 They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.

~Exodus 1:8-14

Are you familiar with the events which got the Israelites to this point in Exodus?
There had been a famine in the land of Canaan, but the sons of Jacob heard there was food in Egypt so they went there to buy some. And ended up being brought to Egypt by their estranged brother (By God, actually!) to live.
(It is a fabulous story. If you aren't familiar with the details, I would highly, HIGHLY recommend reading Genesis 37 and 39-47. It will take a while. But it is soooooo good!)
So, anyway, God brought the Israelites to Egypt.
Then Exodus 1 happened.
Do you suppose when God had the idea to lead Jacob's sons to Egypt, He knew what was going to happen when the new king came to power?
Yet He still did it???
Although the Israelites were being saved from the famine when they left Canaan, I guess some would say God had brought them into prison. And laid burdens on their backs.
Now, take a look at Exodus 3:7 when the LORD was speaking to Moses:

7 The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering.

According to this verse, what was the response of the Israelites to their circumstance ?
What about you? Do you find yourself today feeling like you are in a prison, with burdens on your back? And what is your response to circumstances which feel that way?
Do you believe God can be trusted in the midst of them?
Even if He knew about them ahead of time and still allowed them to happen???
My friend, I believe HE can be trusted. Even if.
And I encouage you today to ask your Father to speak to your heart about His good purposes for the prisons and burdens that may be presently impacting you.
May HE grow your ability to trust, even in the midst of the struggle.