"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)
We forget. We forget really easily. The people of Israel have been out of Egypt just four weeks & they are already wanting to go back. Did you catch that? They want to trade their four week old freedom in God for the slavery that oppressed them & their ancestors for years. We forget too easily!
This past weekend my wife & I attended an "Adopted for Life" conference with Dr. Russell Moore. He & his wife adopted two boys from Russia. He mentioned the first time that they went to the orphanage where the boys lived that the silence was eerie. An orphanage full of kids was also full of silence. He mentioned that babies cry because they need something. After a while, if no one answers they cease to cry. As they were leaving the orphanage one of their future sons fell on the ground & cried. He cried because he was sad to see them leave. It was a sad sight but also a reassuring one.
When they came back to pick them up for good, as they were driving away, their boys were crying & reaching back toward the orphanage. All they had ever known was that orphanage. It was a horrifying place & yet it was familiar.
Sometimes the familiar, even if it is harmful to us, seems preferable to God's best for us. God's best is such a mystery & we know what to expect out of the familiar.
The children of Israel are like theses two infant boys leaving the orphanage. They hadn't been out of Egypt very long & they were already complaining & ready to go back. How could they say such a thing?
But before we criticize them, we have to ask ourselves, aren't we like this as well? Don't we sometimes find ourselves reaching back for the life we once had before Christ? Maybe it's sin or a lifestyle that's more comfortable or more familiar. We think that the enslaved life we endured before could actually be better than the freedoms of God. We forget too easily.
We forget the affliction we endured before Christ. We forget all of the things that enslaved us. We forget what we gave our lives too. We forgot all the ways we hurt God, ourselves, & others.
Following God into the wilderness maybe less familiar but it is infinitely better! Having God in the wilderness is better than being without him in the slavery of sin, satan, & self.
Dr. Moore is taking his now twelve year old boys back to Russia soon. He's not sure everything to expect. But he's pretty sure when they leave the orphanage this time, his two sons will not be reaching back but rather enjoying the forever family they are apart of now.
Where in our lives are we reaching back? Why aren't we enjoying the family that we have been adopted into?
Let's leave behind once & for all the slavery of sin & follow God into his freedom.
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