No Turning Back
One of the most interesting things I find about the Israelites is their forgetfulness. We see, particularly in Exodus, that as soon as things got hard, as soon as they faced an obstacle, they always questioned as to why Moses ever brought them out of Egypt; a place where they were held captive, a place where they were heavily oppressed, a place where they cried out to the Lord because of the suffering they went through.
Yes, that place.
Exodus 14: 10-12 (emphasis added)- “And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. Then they said to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.”
Exodus 16:3 - “And the Israelites said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and ate bread until we were full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this entire assembly with hunger.”
Exodus 17:3 (emphasis added) - “And the people thirsted there for water, and the people complained against Moses, and said, “Why is it you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”
When the Israelites were faced with Egyptians on their right and on their left, the Lord delivered them. When they were hungry or thirsty, the Lord provided! In every situation that they faced, the Lord brought them through. So why is it that they were always complaining about going back to Egypt? It’s like they still had no faith even after all that the Lord had done for them!
Exodus 17:7 (emphasis added) - “So he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contention of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
You see, Egypt was a place of familiarity for the Israelites. It was a place where they didn’t have to have faith to know where their next meal would come from, or how they would survive another day.They had gotten comfortable with being slaves! Upon coming out of Egypt, that familiar place, that’s when things started to get real for the Israelites! Hence the complaining, the lack of faith, and ungratefulness. Their discomfort caused them to miss being slaves…Can you believe it?
Antoine Bradford, a Christian artist, wrote a song called “Living in the Promised Land” (attached below) and in his song, this verse really ministered to me. He says:
“How could I ever want to be a slave again?”
Take a second to think about that.
Why would we ever want to be slaves again? Why would we want to go back to what Lord has delivered us from? Lest we be fools!
Proverbs 26:11 - “As a dog returns to his own vomit, So a fool repeats his folly.”
No matter how hard things may seem, or how difficult the road ahead may become, settle in your heart that going back is not an option. The more excellent way will never be easy, but it will always be worth it.