Taskmasters of the world

Exodus 1:11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Ramses.

The Jews in Egypt had grown well and the Pharaoh was very frightened because of their might and to control them, they had used taskmasters to ensure they perform heavy work. Satan uses a similar stand against us where he is really worried if we would escape his dominion or enslavement and become God’s free people. Our meditation today is on how Satan plans well to make us become his slaves.

The first thing we should learn is in verse 8 where there arose a Pharaoh who did not know Joseph. This person was the only reason of survival and so, the savior to the whole nation. But a king in the third or fourth generation had completely forgotten and this shows how grateful the kingdom is. This is how the world will receive any goodness from us. We would think that our work will produce well and keep us safe. We may think how our kindness to others will give back one hundred times. But the world which is an enemy is so selfish that it will consume all the goodness in us and throw us away in hell. John 15:19 explains how our efforts to please the world by making peace with it will throw us in hell.

The devil’s first plan against us is to use taskmasters. These people’s job is to ensure that we are in slavery. They do not allow us to think. Taskmasters slowly consume all our energy and will. Video games, cinema, TV serials are such task masters. We are not building anything of our own here. Their purpose is not to build a city or anything good, but to afflict us with heavy burdens. In Ex 5:10 we read how they work by just making our sufferings worsen. There are some taskmasters who seem to be good in our eyes like education, business ambitions, art etc. But these consume us more that the evil taskmasters. It is OK to work, but to spend all our energy is not good.

The truth is that we are already strong and mighty but ignorance had blinded the whole country of Israel. That’s why the Lord wants us to know the truth. The truth is that the Lord has made everything that is necessary for our redemption and has given us strength. The truth is so important that everything else is a lie. The truth can be only one thing but lies can be many. The truth is that we are mighty and too many for the enemy. The truth is that we can easily beat the enemy because God has made us strong. But we had not known this and allowed the enemy to plot against us. This is the reason why Jesus said that if we know the truth, it will set us free. This knowledge alone is sufficient but since we had allowed the enemy to enslave us and consume our strength, now we need a savior to come and save us out of the world. This is what we read in Isaiah 52:3.

The enemy has is cunning and planning to make us fall into their graves. We read that in 1 Peter 5:8. It is important that we do not take the enemy easily. Our resistance to him in primarily by being watchful and a sober mind. A lack of such an alertness will make us a prey for his deception. In John 8:44, when a person calls himself not enslaved after sinning as the son of the devil and he is a mighty tool of the devil and allows himself willingly for the devil’s purpose.

The devil knows that if we join his enemies, we will easily overcome him. And so, he makes sure that we become weaker and weaker day by day. This attitude in us not to look for external help is again useful to the devil. He wants us not to join others through prayer and fellowship. Also, he is sure that we will not initiate the revolution from inside because we look at him as our father.

The devil builds cities using our efforts to store his wealth. The pornography we watch in our teenage will be stored inside us to deceive adults. One sin like a small lie can bring forth bigger storehouses for Satan. So, let us be careful in our lives.

Amen.