Exodus 5, an amazing microcosm of daily life, grants a clear picture of what bondage really looks like; the trigger that often begins a ‘new enslavement’ and the human heart’s response to it.
It remains all about 2 kingdoms, and man, standing between the two. The first kingdom calls us to sacrifice and to the freedom to serve Jehovah. The other kingdom’s response is always the same. “Who is the Lord? I do not know the Lord,” and an ever increasing enslavement to abiding bondage.
Pharaoh, that earthly reflection of our great adversary, mirrors Satan’s own behavior toward us. Even though we are children of God, he doesn’t let go easily. Neither, for that matter, does our flesh, a vehicle he just loves to use. The more we long to go, to spend time with God, to meet with Him offering the sacrifice of self, the fiercer our enemy fights against us … throwing up one obstacle after another.
Exodus 5 paints a clear picture of man’s choices to such attack. The leaders of Israel lay out a clear road, all too familiar to my feet. They turned to man in seeking freedom from increasing bondage. Moses, on the other hand, didn’t waste a single word on man, but turns straight to God … for clarification … for reassurance.
Yes, he’d forgotten what God had told him before setting a foot in Egypt, forgotten that Pharaoh wouldn’t let the people go, forgotten that God would be in pharaoh’s refusal. But Moses’ heart still knew where to turn. Not to man, but to the Almighty.
I look back on these last few weeks and would like to say my life has mostly reflected Moses. However, when I think on the energy spent, the words spoken, the attitudes I’ve walked, I can’t. Like the leaders of Israel, my heart sought man, man’s solutions, man’s severance from bondage … with a token cry to God when no one seemed to listen.
As difficult as seasons like these past months for me have been, they’re a good eye-opener to who really holds my heart. All too often it’s been the pharaoh’s of life. However, God is into relationship, restoration, and by His grace, it will be said of me as it was said of Moses.
