don’t go back to Egypt
We all have our Egypt. there is something in each and every one of our lives that wants to keep us bonded, enslaved, and trapped instead of living in the abundant life God has for us.
In fact, this is nothing new. We see this happening all throughout Scripture, of people wanting to go back to their Egypt, whether literally or figuratively. One place we specifically see this happen in Scripture is in the book of Exodus. The book of Exodus is all about the Israelites exit from being enslaved to Egypt and God taking them on a journey to the Promised Land.
There is a bit of a back story that we need to examine before getting to the point of this blog post. The Israelites (God’s chosen people) were enslaved in Egypt for over 400 years. They were used to their duties as slaves and being a people in Egypt. But God did not call the Israelites to live in slavery, he called them to live in freedom.
To set the people free, God sent a plague to every Egyptian household, where the firstborn son would die so Pharaoh would let his people go. The Lord commanded the people of Israel to put the blood of a first born lamb on the doorpost of each house of Israel so he would pass over the house. This is a symbol of the ultimate Lamb to come (Jesus) that would one day shed his blood for all people. This imagery can be found in the New Testament in Scriptures such as John 1:29 and 1st Corinthians 5:7. After the Lord passed through the Egyptian households, Pharaoh became angry and ordered the Israelite to leave and worship their God outside of Egypt (Exodus 12).
In Exodus 13, we see the Lord give this instruction to Moses. the Lord said,
‘If the people are faced with a battle, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.’ so God led them in a roundabout way through the wilderness to the Red Sea. thus the Israelites left Egypt like an army ready for battle” (V. 17-18, NLT).
The people did what God commanded. We see in the next chapter that God commands the Israelites to turn back around to camp overnight. Logically, this doesn’t make any sense. they’re supposed to be going away from Egypt! but God has a perfect answer for why he is asking Moses to lead the people back. He tells Moses,
“And once again I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will chase after you. I have planned this in order to display my glory through Pharaoh and his whole army. after this the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD!” (Exodus 14:4, NLT).
Have you ever been so lost somewhere that you didn’t know where to turn next? I imagine that this is what the Israelites felt like as Moses kept leading them to the Promised Land, then back closer to Egypt. why in the world would the Lord make them turn around and go closer to where they were enslaved? As the word spread to the king that the Israelites had fled, Pharaoh regrets his choice and changes his mind. he starts to pursue the Israelites because he wants to take them back into their captivity.
The thing that you are enslaved to wants nothing more than to keep you enslaved. I don’t know what your thing is. Maybe it’s fear, anxiety, depression, complacency, pornography, alcoholism, generational curses, or anything of these sorts can all be things that want to keep you bound, because Satan doesn’t want you free.
As we read further in Exodus 14, the people of Israel are fed up with God and with Moses. they turned to Moses and proclaimed, "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 in Egypt than a corpse in the wilderness!” (V. 11-12, NLT).
The Israelites thought it better to be slaves than wanderers in the wilderness. What they didn’t realize and failed to see is that the Lord had a plan and a purpose for their wandering.
In the very next verse, Moses reassured his people. this is a verse many people love to quote, but I don’t know if we actually know the meaning of this verse and what it’s saying to us. Moses replied to the people, ““Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still” (V. 13-14, NIV).
The Hebrew words are really interesting here. Now, I’m not a Hebrew scholar, but I think digging into the original language of the text helps us to get a sense of what it actually means.
The Hebrew word for fight is yil-la-chem, which is the root word for lacham. This word means to do battle, make war, or engage in combat. Some scholars point out that this same root is tied closely to the Hebrew word for bread, which is lechem (it’s important to note that later on in the story of Exodus that God sends bread down from heaven, and later on Jesus calls himself the Bread of Life when referring to the story of the Israelites not trusting in God while wandering through the wilderness. this reference Jesus made can be found in John 6:35).
The Hebrew word for be still is charash, meaning to hold one’s peace or to be quiet. In this verse, the full phrase is tacharishun, which means to “cease your own frantic efforts; to refrain from arguing or fighting back”.
But here is what is easy to miss about the “be still” verse. The Lord directly responded to Moses and told his people,
“Why are you crying out to me? Tell the people to get moving! Pick up your staff and raise your hand over the sea. Divide the water so the Israelites can walk through the middle of the sea on dry ground. (VS. 15-16, NLT).
The Hebrew word for “get moving” is yis’u, which means to set out on a journey, travel, or pull up stakes. God commands them to take ground and march into battle.
Moses tells the people to be still. then the Lord tells them to get moving. some may see this is as a contradiction, but I believe that this is actually how faith is supposed to work. Being still isn’t being passive. It’s trusting that God is the one who is fighting on your behalf, and that your job is to obey whatever it is the Lord is telling you to do. Hebrews 11:1 tells us, “Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see” (NLT).
The enemy wants to keep whatever is binding you in control of you. He doesn’t want it to just have a part of you, he wants it to have every piece of you.
In the same way, the Lord wants every part of you to be free. not just some parts of you.
Stop trying to fix Egypt on your own terms and start trusting that God will bring you out of your Egypt, because He wants you to be fully free.
Let’s continue with the story. Moses raised his staff, and split the sea in two. While the walls of the water were up on either side of them, the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground, right in front of their enemy’s eyes. The army that had been chasing them back into slavery was gone, and gone for good.
That’s what freedom the Lord’s way does. It doesn’t just get you out of Egypt, it also makes sure Egypt can’t get back into you.
Whatever your Egypt is, the Lord isn’t asking you to just go through the motions and try your best to survive it. He’s making a way through the sea and the army coming after you so that you can be completely free of what the enemy has been trying to keep you bound to.
The story of the Israelites doesn’t end there. Scripture tells us,
“When the people of Israel saw the mighty power that the Lord had unleashed against the Egyptians, they were filled with awe before him. They put their faith in the Lord and in his servant Moses” (VS. 31, NLT). deliverance wasn’t just what God’s people were set free from, but who they came to believe because of it.
There is a quote in the The Knowledge of The Holy by A.W. Tozer that says, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us" and I believe this quote can be perfectly displayed through the story of the Israelites learning to trust that God is a promise maker and a promise keeper.
So, maybe the question isn’t necessarily “What’s your Egypt?” Maybe, instead, it’s this: is God calling you to be still, or to keep moving? Maybe he’s calling you to take the next step forward even if it doesn’t make sense. The Egypt that God will bring you out of can turn into your testimony to strengthen someone else’s Egypt they’re walking through.
The story of the Israelite’s isn’t just history, but a picture for all believers in Christ. We see Paul give believers the same imagery of freedom in Galatians 5:1. Paul proclaims,
“So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law” (Galatians 5:1, NLT).
The Israelites walked out of Egypt through the Red Sea, and Paul reminds us as Christians that Christ has completely removed the yoke of slavery from our lives. Freedom isn’t something you’re given once, it’s something you have to keep standing in, believing in, and proclaiming over yourself. The same Egypt that chased the Israelites through the Red Sea will do everything to keep trying to take you back to bondage, even after the sea was closed in on your enemies. Paul’s charge to the believer is the same one as Moses’ charge to the Israelites: don’t go back. stand still. watch the Lord fight for you.
Name your Egypt today. then, ask God if this is a “be still” moment, or a “get moving” moment.
As believers, we know we are fighting not for victory, but from victory, and that changes how we fight. Whatever your Egypt is, Christ has already set you free from it. The question isn’t if you’re free, but if you’re fighting as someone who knows they are free.
