GOD’s Heart vs Man’s Heart II

Num.27:⁷ (NIV) “What Zelophehad’s daughters are saying is right. You must certainly give them property as an inheritance… and give their father’s inheritance to them”

Slavery is a painful reality of the fallen system that man created. So where does God come into all this? Clearly, the Bible acknowledges the slave’s status as the property of the owner (Ex.21:21, Lev.25:46). However, even though the Bible acknowledges the slave’s status and the system of slavery, God restricted the master’s power over the slave. This is where God began to come in (Ex.21:20); He put checks and balances, and even penalties in place to manage the relationship between slaves and their masters. God set things up in such a way that the servitude of a Hebrew debt-slave was limited to six years (Ex. 21:2; Deut. 15:12). And when a slave was freed, he was to receive gifts that enabled him to survive economically (Deut. 15:14). This is God’s provision.

Seeing all this made me realize that God actually cares for slaves and He creates a way out for them. Even though, somewhere at the back of my mind, I thought, why didn’t God just decree that there should be no slavery. God instructed that masters were to settle their slaves, and that was what happened to the Jews when they were leaving Egypt after four hundred years of slavery, remember? God ensured that the Jews collected everything that they had worked for – everything! Now we can clearly see God’s heart versus the heart of men. God is just, fair, and faithful; but man is mean and wicked and savage. Man seeks to subjugate man; God tries to set free.

The trend with slavery, subjugation, and injustices, from understanding scriptures, is that when someone rises and breaks it, God is excited. So, certain systems of injustice will persist, and God will work with it until someone rises to break it and demand for justice. Remember the story of the daughters of Zelophehad? Women were not entitled to own landed property. Even in some parts of Nigeria till date, a woman cannot own landed property. She either buys it in her husband or brother’s name. That is injustice, it is not of God and it will be broken in the Name of Jesus.

Num.27:² “These women stood before Moses, Eleazar the priest, the tribal leaders, and the entire community at the entrance of the Tabernacle.” May we have daughters that know who they are in God. May we have daughters that can stand before the Moses’ of this world and demand what is right, their right. We need to stop raising timid slaves; stop raising girls that believe the kitchen and the ‘other room’ is their boundary. It is so wrong.

Prayer: Father, indeed Your thoughts about me are precious and You have no misfortune in Your plan for my life. Let Your will be done in my life, in Jesus Name. Amen!