Welcome to today's encouragement from our daily bread.

I'm Wyn Collier, and today's piece is called God of Freedom.

President Abraham Lincoln had emancipated people held in slavery two and a half years earlier,

and the Confederacy had surrendered, yet the state of Texas still hadn't acknowledged the

freedom of enslaved persons.

However, on June 19, 1865, Union Army General Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas,

and demanded that all enslaved

persons be released.

Imagine the shock and joy as shackles fell off, and those in bondage heard the pronouncement

of freedom.

God sees the oppressed.

And he'll ultimately announce freedom for those under the weight of injustice.

This is true now, just as it was true in Moses' day.

God appeared to him from a burning bush with an urgent message in Exodus 3.

I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt.

He not only saw Egypt's brutality against Israel, but he also planned to do something about it.

I have come down to rescue them, God declared, and to bring them into a good and spacious land.

He intended to declare freedom to Israel, and Moses would be the mouthpiece.

I am sending you to Pharaoh, God told his servant, to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.

Though God's timing may not happen as quickly as we hope,

one day he'll free us from all bondage and injustice.

He gives hope and liberation to all who are oppressed.

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