There are so many life lessons to be learned from the Exodus chapter in the bible.  I find so many parallels to my life that I could spend most of my time here.  I sit here on my high horse as I read and boast that I would have acted better than the Israelites did.  I would have trusted God for deliverance and lived with greater faith and appreciation.  But deep inside I know the truth about how my faith wavers and how I rebel against God's will for me.  I would really like to draw a parallel of myself to Moses but if I am honest I would have to admit that my life is more accurately reflected by the Israelites.  Although God performed miracle after miracle to transport the Israelites safely from Egypt to the Promised Land, the people seldom stopped complaining and rebelling.  

As I am within a year of my fortieth birthday I find bright new relevance in Exodus.  I feel as if I am coming to a crossroad.  Will I continue to wander as I have for the last forty years and spend an additional 40 years in the desert or will I change my actions, my attitude, my choices and follow Joshua and Caleb into the Promised Land?  Today I examine my life in relation to the book of Exodus and I am making a choice to be honest with myself and God.  I refuse to walk away the same as I came.  I make a commitment to take the words from the pages and apply them to my life.  I invite you to join me and allow God to speak to you through the amazing story of Moses and the Israelites. 

After 430 years of being captive and living as slaves, God leads the Israelites out of Egypt.  It seems to me that this alone would be indisputable evidence to them that they could trust God but very soon after their faith is shaken.  How many times in my life have I been freed from a heavy burden and knew my deliverance was from God and yet my faith was shallow and fleeting.  The honeymoon phase of witnessing answered prayer ends and I step back into doubting God; time after time after time.  I do the same thing over and over but want different results.  In applying scripture to my life I seek to stop this vicious cycle.  To be honest, I am not sure how yet, so my active step will be to pray and ask God to show me.

As they camped beside the Red Sea they turned and saw the Egyptian army coming at them. In their fear, again their faith wavers and they question whether living as slaves in Egypt would be preferable to dying in the desert.  Good ole Moses tells them to stand firm and see God's deliverance; which is, in my opinion, always the biblical answer.  Even in light of that, sometimes I choose to remain in slavery rather than face the problem and experience God's deliverance.  Why would any rational person choose bondage over freedom?  This presents itself in my desire to overcome a past of chronic abuse that keeps me from living in the present fullness of Christ.  (There are varied opinions about whether we need to go back and dig up the past or just give it to God and not look back.  That is a whole other subject that I will address in a future blog.  For now I would just like to state that in my life it is important for me to reconcile with my past.)  I think that choosing to remain in slavery is because on some level I don't trust God with these issues...I refuse to let go and turn them over to Him.  I must believe that the grief, shame, guilt and pain from the baggage in my past (and even my present circumstances) is too big for even God.  I am selling God short.  I am denying His absolute power.  The unreconciled bondage from my past (whether that was sin I committed or sin that was committed against me) holds me in slavery and effects how I function in my spiritual walk.  If God's word is true, then as a believer in Christ as my savior, I must be willing to walk through whatever unresolved issues remain and I must do it with prayer and immersion in God's word.  I must rise above whatever emotions that I am so scared of and step out in faith that God is all powerful and He will see me through.  And finally, I must be patient and allow God time to work it all out and resist the urge to step it up a little by coming up with my own solutions.  I must remind myself daily that God really doesn't need my help! 


The Israelites walked to safety through one of the most dramatic acts of God in the parting of the Red Sea.  I would like to think that if I were there, that event alone would sustain my faith for life.  Not only did God provide a way for them, they also watched as God swallowed up their enemies in the Red Sea.  Here comes the honeymoon phase...they danced and sang in celebration.  Surely such miraculous events would make their faith solid.  But it was not to be.  They had experienced a miracle of incredible magnitude.  Then just three days later they found themselves in the desert without water and they complained to Moses. (Note here that instead of petitioning God for water, they groaned to those around them.)  Thankfully Moses did look to God and God provided purified water.  This was a pattern that they seemed to follow for 40 years.  Things got rough, they whined and complained to Moses.  But Moses trusted God and so God came to the rescue.  How many times in my life do I whine and complain to everyone around me about my circumstances instead of presenting it God and allowing Him to deal with it?  I am afraid if you would quiz my husband and my friends and, if they were honest, you would get the answer that I do this frequently.  Then when God, in His incredible grace provides a way, I sing and dance my way through the honeymoon phase and stumble right back into unbelief.  I should change my name to "Queen of the Doubting Israelites"!  So how can I apply this to my life to make real deep changes?  It seems fairly clear to me...I make a conscious choice to stop whining and complaining to everyone around me and I take it up with God (with the understanding that asking for someone to stand with me and pray for me is different than whining).  I think I will start practicing today.

To avoid making a novel out of this, I will stop here and I leave you with this, something that we all know but at times I forget: The Bible is just a novel if we passively read it.  When we work to apply it to our lives, It becomes the very breath of God that empowers us to walk in victory.  God bless you as you journey through its pages.

Through His Blood,
Marcy