Mensa Otabil - God Gives Favour
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Exodus chapter 11, verse 3: And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants and in the sight of the people. When God spoke to Abraham about his descendants, God had told Abraham that his descendants would go into captivity in a strange land, that they would serve, and then after slavery, they would come out with great wealth. So God had promised that the deliverance of Israel would be accompanied by a wealth transfer. Now He is fulfilling what He promised to Abraham; his descendants are coming out from captivity, and they are coming out with great wealth.
One of the things you have to understand is that God does not just deliver us; He doesn’t just save our spirits and souls. He also blesses us materially. The God who is concerned about your spiritual well-being is also concerned about your material and physical well-being. It’s the whole package of God’s deliverance. The passage says that God gave them favor but tells us that Moses was great in the land. In other words, God had magnified Moses. In all the back-and-forth between Moses and Pharaoh, the people saw that God was with Moses. The nation of Egypt was scared of Moses; they were afraid of him. He has been magnified. If Moses told them to do anything, they would do it because they knew words from the mouth of Moses would cause trouble.
The nation was in awe of Moses; they had seen the damage he had brought upon the land. So whatever he instructed, they were ready to do. As a result of that, God gave Israel favor with the Egyptians because these were Moses’s people. If Moses’s people came to you and said, «Hey, I need gold; hey, I need silver,» who are you to deny them gold and silver? What would happen if you didn’t give them the gold and the silver? They had seen what had been happening, and they didn’t want trouble. So the Israelites went out and asked for gold and silver, and the Egyptians willingly gave them gold and silver.
This is not stealing gold and silver from Egypt; this is receiving just payment for 430 years of labor that had not been well paid or compensated. God created an atmosphere that made these people dislodge their wealth to Israel. We see that God is behind the whole process because the passage says it is the Lord who gave them favor. Part of the reason was because He had promised Abraham, but the other reason is also that, somewhere down the line, God is going to build a place of worship for Israel. Most of the implements for the place of worship will require gold and silver.
So God is not just giving Israel money for themselves; yes, they will have some to spend, but they will also have to be willing to give to the Lord to build the Ark of the Covenant and the place of worship that God was going to set up. When God blesses us materially, yes, He wants us to take part of it for ourselves, but we must also be mindful that a portion belongs to the Lord and for the work of the Lord and what God has determined to do.
Now we see God’s favor comes upon Israel, and I pray that God’s favor will rest upon you, that God’s favor will turn negative situations around for you, that God will make you magnified in the eyes of your opponents, that your demands will be respected and valued, and you will receive a just recompense from the hand of the Lord. May the Lord favor your righteous cause in Jesus' name. Let’s pray. Say with me: Heavenly Father, give me favor wherever I go; cause people to deal generously with me. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.