For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return.
Philippians 1:10 (NLT)
I love when God opens our eyes to new themes in Scripture. Recently, while reading through Exodus 14, I was intrigued by a new parallel that I noticed between our lives and those of the Israelites.
By the time God called Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, they had been in captivity for 430 years. I’m not well versed in the daily lives of the enslaved Israelites, but I wonder how strong their faith was by that point. After 430 years of oppression, had they stopped praying and worshipping God?
In Exodus 14:12, we get a glimpse into their state of mind. As Pharaoh and the Egyptians pursued, the Israelites exclaimed to Moses, “Didn’t we say to you in Egypt ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians?’ It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”
At first glance, I thought how ridiculous for the Israelites to prefer slavery over freedom. But to the Israelites, Egypt was familiar. They had grown accustomed to that way of life; staying in Egypt offered security and certainty.
Aren’t we sometimes similar to the Israelites? It’s a different form of slavery, but it holds us just the same. Enslaved by:
- our success at work
- our image on social media
- the numbers on the scale
- the achievements of our children
- the envy of others
We choose to live in the comforts of the familiar – regardless of their captivities — rather than allowing God to pry idols from our hands and deliver us into a more peaceful and prosperous way of living.
Fortunately, for the Israelites, God sent Moses, the prophet “whom the Lord knew face to face” to offer a Godly perspective. (Deut. 34:10)
Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you. You need only to be still.” Exodus 14:13-14
There are times when we need a “Moses” in our own lives to gently remind us of what really matters in life. To surrender the idols that have a stronghold on our wrong thinking and priorities. To trust God. To seek His will for our lives.
And other times, we may need to stand firm in our faith as Moses did and lead someone else out of captivity and into the arms of our Savior.
No matter where we find ourselves today, I pray that God will give us the courage to move forward when the familiar holds us captive, preventing us from grabbing ahold of the “promised land” God has ahead for us.