Walk Like an Egyptian

Your flesh has a driving purpose to be considered better, to make life better for itself. It also has a strong instinct for self-preservation when it is threatened. We trust ourselves to know what is good for us, and often follow blindly after whatever we desire. Do not be deceived, your flesh desires slavery, that is slavery to sin.

Remember how God took the Israelites out of Egypt? Was the Lord doing them good? Well, I think so, if what He said to Moses was any indication of their situation.

"I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings." "The cry of the sons of Israel have come to Me, furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them." Exodus 3:7 NASV

They had no life in Egypt other than that of slavery. God miraculously leads a whole nation of 2 million people out of the bondage of one of the most powerful countries of that time.

Freedom! That is until they got trapped between the Red Sea and Pharoah's army.

"Then they said to Moses, 'Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we spoke you in Egypt, saying, 'leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians'? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness."

They feared death and thought slavery would be better. Is that a reasonable assumption? Is that a good enough reason to lose trust in God's plan?

But then God reveals His incredible power to save them, once again, from Pharoah, by leading, may I remind you, a nation of 2 million people between two walls of water and then drowning Pharoah's army in that same body of water. In all of this, not a single Israelite has died because not a single battle has been fought.

Rejoice in salvation! That is until a month later:

"And the sons of Israel said to them, 'Would that we had died by the Lord's hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger."

Now they fear death by starvation. They would have preferred dying in slavery with full stomachs. They would rather be slaves with their pots of meat than follow God in the wilderness. Flesh is not a fan of suffering.

So the Lord sends them bread from heaven to eat.

At Rephidim, there was no water. So the people said,

"Why, now, have you brought us up from Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?"

They fear dying of thirst now, so the Lord gives them water from a rock.

At Mt. Sinai, Moses brings all the people to the foot of the mountain to meet God. How does God reveal Himself? They hear trumpets blast and thunder, see the mountain engulfed by fire, smoke and lightning, and feel the ground shake violently. This is their God who brought them out of Egypt and they are thoroughly frightened.

A year later they leave Mt Sinai, and after journeying three days, the grumbling starts again.

"We remember the fish which we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic, but now our appetite is gone. There is nothing at all to look at except this manna."

Unbelievable isn't it? They longed to be back in Egypt so that they could eat all the fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic that they wanted! God has promised them a land flowing with milk and honey, freedom to live in their own country, freedom to worship Him. They want something else, something they think is better,

something easier. So when the Israelites finally do reach that land, they are too afraid to enter because the people of the land are too strong to fight and they can't win.

"And all the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron; and the whole congregation said to them, Would that we had died in the land of Egypt!"

Oh no, not Egypt again?

"Or would that we had died in the wilderness!"

So now we think the wilderness is a better place to die.

"And why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become plunder; would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?"

Right, the Lord went through all that trouble to bring you out of the land of Egypt just so you can be killed and your wives and children be made slaves all over again.

Well, now they get their wish to die in the wilderness.

There's one more grumbling session when they run out of water.

"Why then have you brought the Lord's assembly into this wilderness, for us and our beasts to die here? And why have you made us come up from Egypt, to bring us in to this wretched place? It is not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, nor is there water to drink."

Still looking back on Egypt after all this time.

(NASV Exodus 14:11-12; 16:3; 17:3; Numbers 11:5-6; 14:2-4; 20:4-5)

It only takes three days, three days, after the marvel of walking between walls of sea and seeing the Lord's awesome power in destroying the whole Egyptian army, for them to lust after Egypt. A month after leaving, they wish they were back, because in Egypt, they had plenty to eat. There is so much complaining, fear of dying, exaggeration, mis-representation of the Lord, twisting the truth of the past to seem better. Just like the Israelites, our flesh hates to suffer, but even worse than that, it will choose to please itself, even if it means being enslaved.

Moses, we read, had a different attitude.

"By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharoah's daughter; choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God, than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin; considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward." Hebrews 11:24-26

"We all must eventually figure out what the 'Egypt' is in our life and measure it against the unsurpassable riches of knowing and relating to Christ intimately." Joseph Stowell

What are your "treasures of Egypt" that you desire more than Christ? For me, it is not economical or material gain, but emotional gain through relationships. Meaningful relationships provide affirmation, companionship, a sense of worth, pleasure, bonding. Though God created these relationships for mutual joy and satisfaction, my desire for them was for my own fleshly satisfaction. As a result, I was repeatedly returning to the sin of jealousy, in essence, returning to slavery.

The flesh wants you to go back to Egypt, back to slavery in sin. The flesh wants you to walk like an Egyptian, but that isn't who you are in Christ.

"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit."Romans 8:1-4 NASV

Are you trusting that your flesh wants what is best for you?