Set Apart

Exodus 8: 22-23 “But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, where my people dwell, so that no swarms of flies shall be there, that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth. 23 Thus I will put a division between my people and your people. Tomorrow this sign shall happen.”
 
WHEN we treasure something, perhaps an heirloom, a special autographed picture, a favorite picture or even a special Bible, we tend to put those treasures in a place to keep them safe. We set them apart for safekeeping.
      Now, as he prepares to bring the fourth plague – waters turned to blood, frogs covering the land, gnats infesting the air - on Egypt, the Almighty God sets his people apart to protect them from the plague of flies to come. He tells Pharaoh, “I will put a division between my people and your people.” The LORD God wants all to know he is sovereign over all of his creation – mankind, the animals, the air and the water. His judgment is on those on oppose him. His protection is over his own treasured possessions, the Hebrew people.
      That is what God promised at Mt. Sinai after the Israelites left Egypt, “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine.” (Exodus 19:5) When God called Abraham to be the father of the Hebrews, he set Abraham apart from the world. He set apart Joseph to preserve his people in Egypt. He set apart Moses to lead them. And throughout the Old Testament and into the New Testament, the Bible records the people God set apart from the world, so they would proclaim God’s promises and protection for his people.
      That is our blessing today. God still calls people, sets us apart, to be his treasured possession. As he chose Israel to be his nation, he chooses the church today to be his Holy Land. You become a citizen of this Land when he sets you apart from the world to confess your sins and call on Jesus as your Lord.
      This setting apart is called sanctification. You are sanctified in Jesus’ blood to live under the authority and power of God’s gracious commands. He sanctities you daily as he guides you to a faithful life on the road to the eternal Holy Land.
      As you know this essential truth, your only response is to worship the LORD God. That was God’s ultimate reason for sanctifying and freeing his people from Egypt. Exodus 8:1b “This is what the Lord says: ‘Let my people go, so that they may worship me.’” This worship was not a weekly event. It was to be a lifestyle. Truly worshiping God is to constantly have a mind to know he is your God, who calls you to be his own. To worship God is to live in gratitude and joy that you are set apart for eternal life.
 
LIFE Link: Set apart some time each day to focus on God.