And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. (Exodus 3:7-8)
As I read this passage this week, I felt the Lord speak a simple truth to me.
Where God is taking you is always better than where He brings you from.
A simple truth, really, but a truth I have not been able to get away from. We see in these verses that the sorrow of the Israelites had moved the hand of God. He was bringing them from slavery into a good land, a large land, a land flowing with milk a honey. What he had for them was so much greater than captivity of Egypt. These are the facts. There is no doubt. There is no arguing. He was taking them somewhere far better than where they were.
And yet, just a little bit later, we find the Israelites have forgotten this obvious truth. In Exodus 17, the Israelites become angry because they cannot find water and rather than trust the God who has miraculously delivered them from Pharoah and parted tthe Red Sea to provide, they doubt. “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” (Exodus 17:3 ESV). And again in Numbers 11, dissatisfied with the miracle bread that God has provided, they complain, “We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic; but now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, besides this manna before our eyes,” (Numbers 11:4-5 KJV).
It seems incomprehensible that the Israelites would cry out for Egypt, that there would be any desire in them for the land of their affliction. They were whipped. They were beaten. They were murdered and forced into slavery. There children were treated as animals. They lived in sorrow.
But despite all of this, they chose to accuse and complain as if Egypt was more desirable then the land promised to them by the Lord. As if, God’s deliverance were a punishment instead of freedom.
You see, somehow the Israelites became so focused on the difficulties of the journey that they glorified the captivity they were delivered from instead of focusing on the promise before them.
And if I’m honest, sometimes I do that very same thing. Because the life of a Christ-follower is not always easy. The road we are on does not always make sense and sometimes there is deep pain and heartache. But this does not diminish the promise of the land that lies before us. And it does not loosen the chains of the land that lies behind us.
We will face days when it feels like we are in a barren land with no water. We will have to choose to be satisfied with the manna God provides to keep us alive even if we would have chosen something different. We will fight and overcome our own Caananites, Hittites, and Jebusites who believe they can keep us from taking hold of what God has given us. We will march on when it seems like the days are long and the nights are short and we are weary beyond belief.
Because where God is taking us is always better than where He brings us from.
We cannot allow troubles to cause us to grow disheartened. God is taking you to a place far better than you can imagine. And the journey will not be easy, but let each step you take serve as a reminder of your deliverance. Rejoice when your feet hit the ground each morning and the chains you were once bound by are no longer there. Rejoice in the tribulations when you no longer hear the slave masters harsh words but hear the voice of God speaking truth and peace. Rejoice when God continues to provides in ways you never expected. Rejoice when you feel barren because you know that God will always provide water to your thirsty soul. Rejoice when you are weary of walking but you choose to go on because you are one step closer to His promise and one step farther from your captivity.
Rejoice in the journey because our God is taking us to a land that is so much better than where he found us.
A Peace of My Mind 