Back to Egypt

It sounds ludicrous to us when we read that the Israelites actually WANTED to go back to Egypt and be slaves again, slaves where their lives were “bitter with hard bondage” instead of going forward to what God had waiting for them in the Promised Land.  But we do it.  The exact same thing.

EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

We go back to poor choices we've made in the past.  Or stay in the places we are when we know it's time to move on.
The children of Jacob were first led to Egypt as a direct result of selling their brother, Joseph, into slavery.  So, they kind of enslaved themselves...(Read the story of Joseph in Genesis 37 – 46…it’s a good read, with sibling rivalry and jealousy, slave trade and prison, famine and heroes, even sex... it’s pretty much got it all!). 
I never realized that selling their brother into slavery is what ultimately led them to be enslaved themselves almost 100 years later.  The Pharaoh during Joseph’s time loved him and welcomed his family. But when Joseph died, and that Pharaoh died, a new King rose over Egypt and the new Kind didn’t like this super-procreating group of foreigners who didn’t worship him and were living in his land…so he started forcing them to work for him.  Exodus 1:11 says “Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens.” And verse 14 says “And the (Egyptians) made the children of Israel’s lives bitter with hard bondage”.  As the years raged on, their bondage and enslavement and abuse worsened.  Finally, none of the Israelites alive could even remember a time when they were living free. They maybe didn't remember that the poor choices of their forefathers, enslaving one of their brothers, had brought them to this very enslavement. They longed for freedom from their oppressors.

And God provided it.  God used his servant, Moses, to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt and toward a new land that He had promised to give them.  But there was a problem.  The “known” is always less scary and overwhelming than the “unknown”.  And even more often the enemies way is the easy way. You know, because he doesn’t fight you if you go his way! But, boy, does he fight you if you go the other way. Because he surely does not want you going God’s way. 
 
So, here they stood, free, and almost within arm’s grasp of the promise of God. And they faltered. It looked like it might be hard. After all, there are giants in them there hills!  And huge cities with even bigger walls. The fruit is good, sure. But getting to the good fruit is hard!  Ok, seriously, you have to read this! This is what they said once they heard the report of the land (Numbers 14:1-4):

“So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. (Ok,weeping, that’s understandable…)  And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or only we had died in this wilderness! (What?! For real, you wish you had died in Egypt or the Wilderness rather than face this land? Ummm…they continue…) Why has the LORD brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? (Does anyone else think of ‘Real Wives of L.A.’ when they read that drama?) Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” So they said to one another, “Let us select a leader and return to Egypt.”

Are you kidding me?

It sounds ludicrous to us when we read that they actually WANTED to go back to Egypt and be slaves again, slaves where their lives were “bitter with hard bondage” instead of going forward to what God had waiting for them.  But we do it.  The exact same thing.

EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

We choose our way.  We choose sin. We choose the easy road.  We choose the known way. We choose to keep going back to our Egypt instead of shaking off those slavery clothes and putting on the clothes of freedom that Christ offers.  We let the enemy convince us that it was easier when we did things the old way.  We listen as he whispers in our ear that we were happier in bondage.  But we weren’t.  We were not!  And we will never be. 

God looked at them and said, You want to die in the Wilderness, in mindless wanderings and no place to call home, go for it.  And that’s what they did.  They walked in circles for 40 years, homeless…all because they were afraid of what God’s way might cost them.  What did their way cost them? Their lives.  Watching their children grow up in the middle of nothing, as nomads.  Never seeing the fullness of the promise of God. All because their hearts yearned to go back to Egypt.

So, today, I am searching my heart.  I know I have several “Egypt” moments in there.  What are some things that I’m refusing to let go of.  What are some seasons of my life that I need to move on from?  I can’t go back to Egypt and forward to the Promised Land at the same time…

It would be easy to blame those Egypt moments on other people, you know, like, it's so and so's fault that I'm here, or that I did that, or that I'm this way.  But, really, God allowed it.  So it's not their fault.  Just like God allowed all that happened to Joseph, and for his family to come to Egypt, and for them to be enslaved.  My Egypt is my Egypt. 

But, right now, at this moment in my life, I feel like I’m in the Wilderness, on the brink of the Jordan, on the edge of the choice…

How ‘bout you?  Will you choose to go back to Egypt?  If you’ve made that choice before, take heart! God will bring you back to the choice again.  He even does that with Israel! I’ll talk about that tomorrow! But for now…

Don’t go back to Egypt.  Don’t even want to.