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Day 18, or January the 18th.

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God is the only truly reliable one.

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Our thought today is rooted in Exodus chapter 1 verse 17.

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The midwives, however, feared God, and did not do what the King of Egypt had told them

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to do.

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They let the boys live.

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Now the big picture surrounding this verse.

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Four hundred years have passed by since Joseph settled in Egypt, but now his family and those

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of his brothers, the sons of Jacob, have grown into tribes, and a vibrant nation is born.

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However, they still live as refugees in a land that is not their own.

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Many generations have been and gone, but little progress is evident.

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Then a Pharaoh comes to the throne who didn't know anything about Joseph.

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It could have been as the result of one of several coups that Egypt experienced throughout

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its long life as an ancient world superpower.

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The new rulers feared what this large group of foreigners could do, so steps were taken

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to keep them under control.

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They began by making them slaves with standards deteriorating, until living conditions were

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intolerable.

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In the end, the authorities even tried to enforce integration by killing all the Hebrew

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baby boys, so that in time mixed marriages would be inevitable.

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In the midst of all this, a baby boy is born, and then left in a basket on the River Nile,

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where an Egyptian princess rescues him, and adopts him as her own.

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She names him Moses, and he was destined to become the greatest lawgiver and leader the

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children of Israel ever had.

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And now our action-step for today.

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There are times when we have to decide who is in charge of our lives.

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Is it God or the modern thinkers of the day?

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The midwives in ancient Egypt decided that God knew best and followed him.

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A brief look back at history will show you that mankind tends to repeat the same old

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mistakes.

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So you choose.

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Are you going to remain on the hamster wheel of modern thinking, knowing that it would

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all change again soon?

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Or are you going to follow the word of God that never changes, because it doesn't need

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to, as its author is unchangeable too?