The story of God rescuing His chosen people out of their heavy bondage under the Egyptians is one of the most familiar and dramatic stories in the Old Testament. The Hollywood version, The Ten Commandments, was released when I was 13 and had only been a Christian for two years. Seeing it on the big screen in color was a thrill for a young believer and it encouraged me to read that account in Exodus. Although they took some “artistic license” for the most part that movie followed the Biblical account. I wouldn’t begin to try to review the whole story here. You can read that for yourself.
How does that story relate to God setting us free from the bondage and penalty of sin? There are some differences, of course, between God’s covenant with His chosen people then under law with animal sacrifices and His covenant with us today under mercy and grace with the sacrifice of Jesus, but I think there are some lessons for us as well. They were rescued from bondage under Egypt as a nation; we are rescued from bondage under sin one at a time. They had been enslaved for 400 years so there was no one to tell them what it feels like to be free; we have the testimony of everyone who has been set free from sin over the last twenty centuries. God still hears and answers our plea for relief just as He did theirs. We too have a “wilderness experience” after being set free. They failed that test and as a result that entire generation did not enter the Promised Land. I think we can learn from their failure. They kept holding tightly to selective memories of the food and shelter they had in Egypt while forgetting the brutally hard labor they endured for those privileges when they should have been looking forward to the new life God prepared for them. We have the Holy Spirit to give us strength and the ability to let go of the old life and grasp firmly to our new one. But, sadly, there are still some people today who fail that test. Please don’t misunderstand. I’m not writing about fond memories of loved ones or positive experiences in our past. Those are wholesome and I cherish them. I’m writing about that comfortable old habit we want to hold on to that no longer belongs in our new life.
There is a drawing that always brings tears to my eyes when I see it. There is a little girl grasping a tiny teddy bear in her hands. Jesus is reaching out to take the tiny bear with one hand while holding a much larger one behind his back with his other hand. The girl is saying. “I don’t know, Jesus. I really love this bear.” I think that is the way we look when we receive a new life from God through Jesus Christ and then try to hold tightly to a comfortable piece of our old life instead of letting go and opening our hand to receive the full blessings of our new life. Let go of the old and you will be amazed at what God places in your open hand.