Finding Favor

Now the Lord had said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you go from here, and when he does, he will drive you out completely. Tell the people that men and women alike are to ask their neighbors for articles of silver and gold.” (The Lord made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and Moses himself was highly regarded in Egypt by Pharaoh’s officials and by the people.)

- Exodus 11:1-3

God’s people in Egypt had a strange relationship with the rest of the people who lived in the land. They were – at the same time – both a despised minority and looked upon favorably. How can this be?

Over and over again in the Scriptures we read about times when God’s people in captivity improbably find favor, rise to the surface, and bless their captors. Egypt thrived when Joseph-the-slave served as their prime minister. Babylon benefitted from Daniel-the-captive’s wisdom. The Persian king leaned heavily on Mordecai-the-captive’s advice. Secular kingdoms advanced on the backs of God’s people.

One of our favorite speakers talks about creating a culture where even our non-believing neighbors might say, “I’m not a Christian, but I sure like hiring them for my business.” Or: “I don’t want to be a Christian, but I sure would like my son or daughter to marry one. Or: “I don’t agree with Christians, but they sure do make great neighbors.” Around CCC we hear all the time “I don’t go to church, but if I did I’d go to your church.”

Salt is salt wherever it goes. Light is light wherever it goes. God invites us to graciously be his salt and his light wherever he has sent us today. Sometimes we will meet with resistance. But other times, he wants to open up doors for us to find favor even with those who don’t agree with us.

But this requires our participation: integrity, honesty, love, diligence, excellence, humility, refusal to gossip, boast, or play politics all speak to our non-believing culture in ways that are sometimes strange but also (for many) endearing.

How might you act in such a way that if God wanted to give you favor in a non-believing context your behavior would be a helpful contributing factor, not an obstacle? How has God already given you favor with people because of your faith?

Leave a Comment

Comments for this post have been disabled.