Egypt: The Good Life?

Joseph went from slavery to being second only to Pharaoh and had control and power and prestige in the land of Egypt. When his brothers came looking for food during the famine, Joseph was able to forgive them and invited them to bring his father down and live in Egypt during the famine. It seems that the Israelites enjoyed living in Egypt. It became comfortable for them and they didn’t return to the land that was promised to them through the Covenant with God. Very likely, Joseph had responsibilities that he didn’t want to walk away from. It felt pretty good being in power after being sold as a slave. And his brothers and their families enjoyed the ‘good life’ provided them in Egypt.

But what of God’s Covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob during that time? I don’t think the Israelites purposefully forgot the Covenant… they just lingered in Egypt because it was comfortable. God remembered the Covenant. I wonder if that may be why the Israelites were made slaves in Egypt. God was trying to make them uncomfortable so they would remember the Covenant he had with them. They belonged somewhere else – not in Egypt.

As time went on, the favor Joseph and his family had with Pharaoh was lost as new Pharaohs came into power. The Israelites became a stench in the eyes of the Egyptians. Was it because they were consuming the wealth of the Egyptians? Maybe the Egyptians didn’t ever really like having them there and finally the Pharaoh who liked Joseph died and there was no one to protect them anymore.

Whatever the reason, the Israelites found themselves slaves in a foreign land. “The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered his Covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob.” Exodus 2:23-24

I wonder when I am comfortable… what ‘good things’ have made me into a slave? When I get to the end of a day, does God say, “Well done good and faithful servant”? Or do I have regrets that I allowed some things in my day to consume me and keep me from being the Lord’s servant?

‘Stuff’ accumulates in our home. And then we need to take time to manage the ‘stuff’ around us. Does God mean for me to have all that ‘stuff’ or would he rather I share the blessings with others and have less ‘stuff’ to manage so I can have more time to build relationships with others? Have I become a slave to my ‘stuff’? Sometimes we go camping and it is so refreshing to just have a few simple things to deal with. I often come back thinking I need to back a truck up to the door and start shoveling! Did God send the Israelites on a camping trip to help them see they didn’t need so much ‘stuff’ or the comforts of this world?

Jesus tried to help us with this one… “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:25-34

Today I choose to not be a slave to things in this world, but rather a servant to the God who will meet all of my needs. I choose to not look back to Egypt for comfort, but to God for Covenant – the New Covenant established by Jesus Christ when he died on the cross and rose again. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is still around. He is still ready to build Covenant with anyone who will choose to follow him. Will I be a “Moses” and point people back to the New Covenant established by Christ even as I walk closely with him allowing him to transform my life daily? Or will I be an “Israelite from Egypt” who comes willingly, but then kicks and screams every time it gets a little tough? Another choice is to not come at all. How sad that some people choose to remain in their slavery even when they are offered a way out.

May God give me a tender heart filled with wisdom through his Holy Spirit to teach and bring along any who need to learn to follow him out of their slavery and into freedom in Christ.