The people in the Church at Galatia were saved already. Salvation wasn't the issue yet slavery still was. They left Egypt but Egypt was still inside them. Unfortunately, the same holds true for us in the walk we have with God. Once saved the devil has lost the war for your eternal soul but he is working overtime to win the battle of what you do with your salvation. If you spend your salvation constantly looking back to Egypt then you never look forward to the Promised Land He has laid out for you. To take the "Christianese" out of that statement what it means is that the more you are struggling with yourself, the less people you affect for the Kingdom of God. The less people are affected, the less people who come to the foot of the cross for the salvation we already enjoy. I understand that a lot of western Christianity has confused the matter to think that somehow this is all about us and our comfort here on earth but the reality is that it is not. Once we are saved it should now be about those on the outside looking in and their eternal destination. Just because we do not discuss it enough in church anymore doesn't mean that there still isn't a heaven to gain and a hell to shun.
So this is not just about salvation. It is about sin in general. It is about anything that hinders our work for God. The Bible says that He has called each one of us to a specific work. That work is hindered if we are constantly dealing with the Egypt still inside of us. It might be a secret sin in our lives. A poll once found that 54% of pastors admitted to viewing pornography within the past year -- that was pastors! And realize that the number must be higher because those were the ones who were willing to admit it! But Egypt might not just be a sin issue. It could be a relationship that is not of God. We are so desperately afraid of being alone in this life that we are too easily willing to compromise. The Bible repeatedly warns us about not being unequally yoked. And realize that doesn't just mean non-believer and believer. Attending church doesn't make you a Christian any more than sitting in a garage makes you a car. Is their life their faith? Is their doctrine rooted correctly in the Word of God? Is there peace in the relationship or constant turmoil? Unfortunately for a lot of us our Egypt is the slavery to a bad relationship. Maybe it is not sin or a relationship issue but it could be guilt about something from our past or fear about our future. Our Egypt can be anything that is hindering our walk with God. Hindering our development in Him. In some cases it is quite apparent. We all know folks who are literally crawling into heaven. They walk with absolutely no power of Christ in their lives. Others see generational curses continuing through them into their children because they refuse to walk in the power God has obtained for them. The result is a church that is overtly inward-focused instead of working on the Great Commission. That is the devils plan beloved. To have us so wrapped up in our struggles that we cannot be at work for God. But God has given us the Bible and the history of the Israelites as a message. The first thing we have to realize is that the pull of Egypt is real and it is strong:
"If only the LORD had killed us back in Egypt," they moaned. "There we sat around pots filled with meat and ate all the bread we wanted. But now you have brought us into this wilderness to starve us all to death." -- Exodus 16: 3 (NLT)
Look at the glorification of the slavery they suffered under! For 400 years they were enslaved! Remember the verses above? Oppressive and brutal slavery made up of ruthless and crushing labor! That is what they are remembering fondly! That may seem ridiculous to us now but think how sometimes we make excuses for the things we know God wants to weed out of our lives. Think about how we can make the sin seem not as serious as we know it is. Think how we can stretch the limits of reality to excuse the relationship we know we shouldn't be in. Think how we can create a monster out of the events of our past or the uncertainty of our future. The truth is we can do the exact same thing. We can be on our way to the Promised Land God has ready for us. It has freedom from your past! It has assurances about your future! It has the right Godly relationship He intended for you that will lead to a lifetime of joy and not just fleeting moments of worldly happiness. The Promised Land He has for you sees your bondages from sin completely gone! Yet there we too can be -- on the journey and looking back to Egypt. Looking back in fondness at the cruel and harsh slavery we lived in. We are out of Egypt but God is still working on getting the Egypt out of us.
Our key verses today provide three lessons for us to gain more insight into our journey. First of all note that God chose to NOT take the quickest route to the Promised Land. Unfortunately in this country we are used to everything being done on a microwave scale. We want what we want and we want it yesterday. Sorry! God does not operate that way:
But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord isn't really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. -- 2Peter 3: 8-9 (NLT)
Despite what we might feel, the Lord is not dragging His feet beloved. He is not forgetting about us. He is not procrastinating. I know this much, when I have tried to do things according to my timetable I always seemed to have a problem with timing. God never has such problems. When Joseph was released from prison he was ready to be Prime Minister of Egypt. Not one day too early and not one day too late. So we may feel like there has to be a quicker way to that Promised Land and God is letting us know that there is and He chose to not take it. Why? Because the challenges along the easy path are actually worse and harder to face than on the path you currently find yourself on! On the current path you only grumble about Egypt and look back fondly. On the easy path God knows you would actually return to Egypt with the challenges you would face! Let that truth resonate in your Spirit for a second. The path that appears to be easier is actually the harder path for us! The path that appears easier to us will actually break our Spirit faster!
There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death. -- Proverbs 14: 12 (NKJV)
