I’ve been reading through the book of Exodus the past few days and am re-learning the story of Moses and the Israelites.
I encourage you to read the story because there is some seriously juicy stuff there, but for now, here’s a cliff note version to catch you up on where I am at.
God hears the cries from the Israelites and calls Moses to free them from the slavery and oppression of to the Egyptians. Through a series of miracles and plagues demonstrating God’s power, Pharaoh lets the Israelites leave. So Moses leads thousands of Israelites out of Egypt. 600,000 men plus women and niños to be exact.
After some time, poor Pharaoh realizes he has no one to brew his coffee or do his laundry, and instantly regrets his words. So he gathers up his troops and charges after Moses and the Israelites.
This catches us up to Exodus 14:10 which caught my attention over everything else:
“As Pharaoh approached, the people of Israel looked up and panicked when they saw the Egyptians overtaking them. They cried out to the Lord, and they said to Moses, “Why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness? Weren’t there enough graves for us in Egypt? What have you done to us? Why did you make us leave Egypt? Didn’t we tell you this would happen while we were still in Egypt? We said, “Leave us alone! Let us be slaves to the Egyptians. It’s better to be a slave to the Egypt than a corpse in the wilderness!”
But Moses told the people, “Don’t be afraid. Just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today. The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again.”
My first reaction was “seriously!?” God had shown His power through miracles and plagues. He rescued the Israelites from oppression and lead them by pillars of clouds and fire day and night. And STILL, they doubted God.
Because of fear, they would have rather stayed in slavery then trust God and wander into the unknown. They preferred oppression over freedom, simply because it was familiar and something they knew.
After hard core judging the Israelites for a few minutes, I realized my hypocrisy. I too, do this.
Many times, I doubt God can change and heal me. I stop having faith and let questions creep into my prayer life. And sometimes I choose the slavery way of life because I think its easier than changing.
I hesitate, and therefore choose a life that is less than. Less than all God wants for me. A life full of fear and slavery. Slavery to angst. Addictions. Affirmation. Cultural expectations. Pity parties.
Slavery to life.
Most of my life I have been a slave. A slave to caring more about what others think about me, than what God thinks, and it drove my actions to destruction. I was chained to my thoughts, my insecurities, and my eating disorder for years.
See, I believe when God declares freedom over our lives, He is reinstating that we are His children. Children born into families in slavery aren’t free to do as they choose. They are slaves to the lives of their ancestors.
Children born into families who are free, can do as they choose. That is us. We are in God’s family line. We are born FREE.
When the bible says we are free to worship God, I see this having two different meanings.
We are free to serve God in choice and free will. He will not make us worship Him. He gives us the choice to seek whichever life we want.
AND
We are free to worship Him. In other words, we are freed so we can worship Him. We are exempt from captivity and things that hold us down so we can run after Him.
Simply put: He wants us to be free in every way so we can live a full life.
He has gone before us to pave the way. I think we often forget how much God serves us through love.
The ending of this passage is fierce. Moses reassures his people of the power of the Lord by saying “The LORD himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.”
This passage doesn’t say life will be uncomplicated. I think that’s why it states “be calm”. But, it does inform us the LORD fights for us. What else could we ask for? If we team up with God, we are on the winning side.
After years of fighting this fight without Christ. I chose to fight with Christ. To be still, calm, and trust the LORD who wants so much more for me than I could ever dream up. I choose to step into freedom. Freedom from oppression. Freedom to step into a life a part from shackles and bondage. Freedom to worship my Abba Father.
