Exodus

Exodus

Eácodov
Transliterated: Exodus
1. exit, departure
2. departure from life, decease

4When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 5Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. –Colossians 3:4-5.

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? -Hebrews 12:7.

For the past two months, I’ve been working in Covington, IN, which is about a 30 minute commute one-way. On bad-weather days, it can be a pain getting to work, but for the most part, I’ve enjoyed my time in the car.

Part of “redeeming the time” has been listening to the radio and playing cd’s. A close friend of mine handed me a cd by Andrew Peterson entitled, “Behold the Lamb of God: The True Tall Tale of the Coming of Christ.”

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been listening to the songs, and their meaning is pretty deep. A recurring theme throughout the album was the nation of Israel anticipating Jesus Christ to free them from bondage. Interwoven with this theme is also a message for the believer: Anticipate Jesus Christ to free you from spiritual bondage.

What’s ironic about all this is that we’re beginning to study the book of Exodus. When I looked up the word Exodus, it means to exit or depart; the word is also used to describe physical death.

When I read that, the Lord began to deal with my heart… “there’s some things you’re going to have to leave behind, if you’re going to follow me. There are some things (habits/earthly desires) you must put to death.”

Okay. There might be a few things I need to deal with before I can/we can go on with the Lord. And with that in mind, I sat down and read chapter 1 of Exodus. That’s when this jumped out… “13 So the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with rigor. 14 And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage—in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. All their service in which they made them serve was with rigor.” Exodus 1:13-14.

My first thought was "hmm... dully noted, Lord-- let's avoid the whole bondage thing and get on with whatever you have for me." Unfortunately, I can be pretty stubborn; and it usually takes a degree of suffering to bring me to a place of submission.

Oftentimes, the Lord has to make us uncomfortable in order to get us to respond to His leading; He allows us to experience the consequences of living according to our earthly desires so we will turn and follow Him. He’s just simply preparing us to move on. For the Israelites, He allowed their lives to become bitter, hard and rigorous so they would want to leave Egypt… so they would be ready when He called.

Do you find yourself being afflicted? Has your life become bitter and full of rigor? Is there something you need to come away from and leave behind? Is there an earthly desire or habit that needs to be put to death? There’s a good chance the Lord is trying to get your attention. There’s a good chance He’s preparing you to move on.