Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you. (Deuteronomy 15:15)


God has used the story of the Israelites being set free from their slavery in Egypt to speak to me at many different points of my journey.


This blog has resonated with me over the past couple weeks http://stufffchristianslike.blogspot.com/2009/07/575-refusing-gift-of-desert-road.html


It is about the gift of the desert road based on Exodus 13:17-18
“When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, "If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt." So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt armed for battle.”

Excerpt from blog “I love the simplicity of that. God knew that if the Israelites took the short way, if they took what probably seemed like the logical route, they'd face a war they weren't ready for and would probably willingly return to slavery. So out of love, out of a deep, big love for His people, he took them on the desert road.”


I've been thinking about the Israelites time out on the desert road that He took them out on...

…and the Lord with that deep, big love would deliver them when the Egyptians came to try to reclaim them as slaves. The Isrealites had just tasted their freedom and very quickly their captors were on their heels trying to bring them back into bondage.

(Exodus 14:13-14) Moses said 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."


…and the Lord would demonstrate the depth and breadth of that love by having them pass through the Red Sea on dry ground displaying His power and destroying the power that had long oppressed the people.

(Exodus 14:29-31) But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. That day the LORD saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. And when the Israelites saw the great power the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.

…and the Lord returned the sea to its shore, closing the way behind them, and setting a boundary between the land of captivity and the land of promise.

The lyrics of a Sara Groves song “Painting Pictures of Egypt” speak to me of His lovingkindness closing the waters behind me, so that I will not return to that place from which I have been delivered.

I’ve been painting pictures of Egypt
Leaving out what it lacked
The future seems so hard
And I want to go back
But the places that used to fit me
Cannot hold the things I've learned
And those roads closed off to me
While my back was turned

Today, I am looking toward the promise and trusting God to fight for me on the desert road, to make a way through the waters though there seems to be no way, and to set the boundaries that will lead me into spacious places.