“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.” Exodus 20:2
Egypt. A place you’ve been for what feels like forever. It’s all you’ve know. While other countries may seem amazing, you don’t fantasize too long because you don’t want to get your hopes up, all for them to be crushed any how.
A different way of life than what you are currently living sounds great, but you don’t see it happening. It feels impossible.
You’ve accepted more or less that things won’t change. How could they?
In this place you feel alone and forgotten. Some people around you still pray and hope in God, but you question what good that will do?
How can people say God is so good and in control when He has abandoned you? He’s been silent for years! Nothing has changed and it’s very difficult to believe that anything ever will.
I’m enslaved to this place and way of thinking. I can feel its grip on me. I know I don’t have the power or strength to escape this oppression.
This way of thinking.
This addiction.
This low self esteem.
This relationship.
This bad habit.
This bitterness.
And it’s the smallest whisper within me that says…
…but I want to escape. I want to run with nothing holding me down.
But it’s Egypt. This is who I am.
But you make it personal. You speak to me, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.”
You didn’t send someone else on behalf. No. You are my God, and you came to my rescue. You took hold of me and brought me out of my Egypt. The place I thought was impossible to leave. Where I thought my roots had run too deep.
There is a moment of relief. Of exuberant joy. As I look into the face of the One who rescued me from the inescapable. My eyes move down Your face and onto the arms that are embracing me. The joy and relief in my heart quickly turn to sadness and concern. The strong arms that hold me are shredded and coated with blood. I immediately look up to meet Your eyes that surprisingly display love, more than a grimace of pain.
I then realize that the Lord brining me out of Egypt was done so at a cost.
Fear suddenly tries to grip me again. My God gave up everything, scarified everything to save me. Was I ready? What about all my things back in Egypt? What will everyone think? Can I at least go back and collect my belongings?
Fear breathes to life this swirling storm of doubts in my mind.
It’s His gentle calm voice that brings me out of my thoughts.
He says, “If we’ve left the country where sin is sovereign, how can we still live in our old house there? Or didn’t you realize we packed up and left there for good?” (Romans 6:2)
“When we went under the water, we left the old country of sin behind; when we came up out of the water, we entered into the new country of grace – a new life in a new land!” (Romans 6:3)
I was confused. I did not understand what His words meant.
But then I caught glimpse of His reflection on the water. No longer a bruised and beaten man but a healthy and whole man, who was practically shining like the sun. It was then I understood. The water was the death. The suffering, and the burying. When I came up, when I crossed the border, it was a resurrection. A new life. “Each of us …raised into a light-filled world by our Father so that we can see where we’re going in our new grace-sovereign country.” (Romans 6:5)
Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined walking away from Egypt into a new free country.
To think that someone saw me all these years in my pain and darkness, and took note of me. Yet He wasn’t just an onlooker, but actually crossed the border into my Egypt, and rescued me from captivity, even when I had become comfortable enough to stay there.
But “He drew me out of deep waters.” “He pulled me out of that ocean of hate, that enemy chaos, the void in which I was drowning. They hit me when I was down, but God stuck by me.”
“He drew me out of deep waters.” “He stood me up on a wide-open field; I stood there saved – surprised to be loved!” (Psalm 18:16-19 MSG & NLT)
And to think of all the others back in Egypt…if only they knew the freedom, and the love that was seeking them out.
Give these songs a listen:
The New Country by Amanda Lindsey Cook
Amen by For King & Country
Rescue by Lauren Daigle
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