Remember the Rescue
By Carolyn
Hulliberger
“In your unfailing
love you will lead the people you have redeemed.
In your strength
you will guide them to your holy dwelling.”
Exodus
15:13 (NIV)
The
book of Exodus tells of Irsael’s rescue from bondage: the great story of Moses,
the plagues, Pharaoh’s stubborn heart, the first Passover. You can almost hear
a musical crescendo when reading of the parting of the Red Sea…the Israelites
passing through the waters that then destroy the Egyptians.
After
the adrenaline has cleared their bodies, when the celebration clean-up is
complete, the Israelites walk, and walk, and walk. The whole nation - -
thousands and thousands of people - - follow Moses into a desert. For three
days, they travel with no water. And they whine…and complain…and God shows
Moses how to provide water (Exodus
15:25).
Fast
forward a couple of months. Now the nation of Israel is so hungry they
complain, “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around
pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into
this desert to starve this entire assembly to death” (Exodus
16:3). How quickly the whips of slavery or the plagues were forgotten! If
you’re like me, you read this and want to smack some sense into somebody. How
could they have forgotten how bad it was? Why would they romanticize Egypt?
What’s
your Egypt?
Let’s
face it…most of us have an “Egypt.” It could be a place that God has rescued us
from, a sin that had the power to destroy us. The initial release from it is a
triumph! God has provided! He will help me overcome! And we sing His praise.
Then
we have to walk forward, following our Savior. We get thirsty, the food is
gone, our feet hurt, and before we know it, the chains of what was left behind
look comfortable compared to the desert that we are moving through. The
temptation to run back to the familiar is powerful. It is at that moment that
we must remember the rescue. Our saving God promises, “When you pass
through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be
burned” (Isaiah
43:2). The God of our rescue is also the God of our desert.
GOING DEEPER:
1.
Are you tempted to return to your “Egypt”? Don’t keep it a secret. Pray for God
to reveal someone to help you be accountable and walk with you through the
desert.
2. If you don’t have an “Egypt,” journal about God’s
goodness to you now for when you’ll need those words later.
FURTHER READING:
Along
with caring for her family, Carolyn works as an insurance representative,
serves in Oakwood Church’s Student Ministries with an awesome group of junior
high girls, and is the treasurer for Women’s Ministries.
