I love reading a story in the Bible that I’ve read before and coming away with something new. A new insight, a new thought, or a new perspective. Life does that – time goes by, we have new experiences, and we find that what we thought we knew is actually even more beautiful than we first imagined. The Holy Spirit nudges us and things come to life!
Reading the words in the beginning from Genesis 1:1 offers something different for someone in their mid-forties than it does for someone in the single digits. It’s still too much to comprehend, but we tend to have a greater appreciation for the story of creation because of the knowledge, experiences, and maturity we’ve picked up along the way. Well, we can hope that there’s been those things accumulated.
Other parts of the creation story can illicit giggles and blushing faces – for the less mature audiences of course. Like this verse:
And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. Genesis 2:25 NASB
As I was reading through the story of God leading His people out of slavery in Egypt, the study book I was following suggested that part of God’s purpose for leading them through the wilderness was to establish an intimacy with His people – a oneness. Intimacy isn’t always referring to a sexual relationship – that’s just a physical representation of what is going on emotionally, relationally, and spiritually. He set them free from being slaves to Pharoah, but they were still very much in the mindset of being slaves.
Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? Romans 6:16 NASB
God had worked miracles through Moses in order to procure the freedom of His people, but the foundation needed some work. They had never known freedom from Pharoah, so when they finally experienced it, it’s no wonder that there was a bit of disappointment. We all have different types of hard that we face in life. Parenting is hard. Having out-of-control kiddos is hard. We get to choose our hard. As they continued beyond the Red Sea, walking in obedience to God instead of Pharoah, the new type of hard started to settle in.
In Egypt, they probably had a daily routine. They knew they were going to eat certain foods (there was a variety, too), they would perform certain tasks, and while they had taskmasters that required certain expectations to be met, they, too, probably had expectations for the care they were to receive. It was hard, but it was a hard they knew. An unknown hard is typically a bit more uncomfortable.
But God was out to draw them to Himself. He wanted to teach them to depend on Him because He desired to meet their needs, to turn to Him for everything they needed or wanted, and to trust Him even when they couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel – or in their case, wilderness. That all leads to intimacy.
It was a lot to ask. We might read through the story of their being set free in Exodus and wonder how they could be so forgetful, dense, and stubborn. But then I realize that I am guilty of being forgetful, dense, and stubborn. It doesn’t take long for newness to wear off, complacency to set in, and I am definitely not the most patient person out there. And I have cravings for all kinds of different foods!
But God knew that they would never be free from Egypt when they were carrying a bit of Egypt with them. They weren’t bound by the shackles anymore, but they were still carrying the chains. They were headed to the Promised Land, but they were still carrying Egypt in their hearts. According to Romans 6:16, we can only be a slave to one master. The Israelites were no longer getting their mail in Egypt, but they hadn’t done a change of address either.
As one of the many forgetful, dense, and stubborn humans around, I can imagine how difficult it would be to long for something but be too afraid to step out and take hold of it. They had been beaten down mentally, physically, and spiritually for over 400 years. They were groaning instead of praying (Exodus 2:24) – as hard as life has gotten for me (usually because of me), I’ve still been able to find the strength to pray. I can only guess that intimacy – oneness – with a new taskmaster was the last thing they were interested in.
As I’ve been thinking this over, my mind jumped to Adam and Eve in their nakedness. They were used to being in the presence of the Lord and there was no shame. That changed when they chose to put their trust in the wrong master. From that moment, God has been in pursuit of restoring intimacy. His desire was for the Israelites’ hearts to be turned towards Him, but He knew they still longed for Egypt. So, for over a year, He kept them in the wilderness – not as punishment, but as a type of debriefing period.
Even at their best, they could never stand naked before God without shame. Even when they were on a spiritual high, they fell short of being worthy to dwell in His presence. I think about how terrible that must have been like, to have God break the chains of their slavery, provide for all their needs (water from a rock, manna and quail from the sky, and clothes and shoes that never wore out), and lead them through – and to – a land they had only heard about… and they felt shame in His presence.
But isn’t that us, too? We’re in a different covenant – a far superior covenant – and all of those things have been provided for us through Jesus’ death and resurrection… and more. Our shackles of slavery have been shattered, He provides for all our needs, and we have the Holy Spirit inside us as our own personal guide through life on earth.
But do we stand naked before God without shame? Or are we still reaching for the fig leaves? Are we still dragging the chains of our shackles, stressing over the state of the economy, and searching through secular self-help books and podcasts for direction? Because of Jesus, I have a worthiness I could never earn to stand naked before God without shame – and cast all my cares on Him.
Because of the cross, I shouldn’t stand before God in my nakedness and question whether He is pleased with me or not. He’s pleased with Jesus; therefore, He is pleased with me. Jesus paid the ultimate price so that we could have the option to experience true freedom and true intimacy. Do you want to take hold of Promised-Land-living? Are you trying to embrace what Jesus already provided? We can only do that if we drop the Egypt that we’ve been carrying around.
Take time to look these verses up – read and reread them. As you take hold of them, you’ll be letting go of what you were never created to carry.
