what? there weren't enough graves in egypt?

7/28/2019 What? There Weren't Enough Graves in Egypt?

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What? There Werent Enough Graves in Egypt?

M. C. Lang

There is a recurrent process I have witnessed in my life, and many of the lives around

me. It is the process of leaving slavery. The slavery to sin in a larger sense, but also in

very specific instances. We see this same process throughout scripture, and where the

thread jumped out at me today was, fittingly, in Exodus.! The pattern is something like this: God stirs a heart to be free from a particularslavery (the slavery to greed, fear, legalistic religion, etc. etc.). Then God does the

obviously logical thing and antagonizes the captor enforcing that slavery; I mean He

really really pisses the captor off so that things get much much worse for the captive

(that would be you and I). If you want a mental picture of this, just imagine God

winging bucket upon bucket of manure at an active high-powered wind turbine. This is

so that the victim captive might get a fresh glimpse of Christ. It was not just for theEgyptians that God brought the plagues in Exodus. I think it may have been more for

the Israelites. They were a captive, defeated people, disconnected from their God and

identity as His people. They needed to see those signs more than anyone. This can seem

rather problematic when, for example, the debts mount and mount and you have noway out of that financial pit that has only worsened since God spoke of freedom from

greed. In the midst of that time, when the bonds that enslave seem to tighten around

your neck, you are left like Job to call upon the Lord in perplexed agony; and He will

answer. But probably only after several well meaning and pretentious friends have

come along to tell you how to fix the problem. (As a side note, if you wish to prolong

your stay in hotel slavery, take your pretentious friends advice, which is usually some

variant on working harder for God).! The next stage is a temporary relief from the issue. It is a mirage of sorts that inreality is only a harbinger of much worse things. Just as Pharaoh let the Hebrews go and

then promptly changed his mind, so to with us. This is the point where you are trappedagainst the Red Sea with the Egyptians bearing down on you. It is when there appears

to be only one way to freedom: death. It is for a very good reason Jesus told us we must

lose our lives to find them. Death is indeed the passage to freedom in every case. God

brought the Israelites out to the sea to face death, and, like every person who ever

walked the earth, they whined; I believe it was something along the lines of: what, therewerent enough graves back in Egypt so you brought us to the desert? And this is where

it gets very, very interesting. Do you know what God said to His people in this

situation?

! 13Moses answered the people, Do not be afraid. Stand firm andyou will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The

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Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14The Lord will fightfor you;you need only to be still. Exodus 14:13,14 NIV (emphasis mine)

! This is an agonizing death all in itself, isnt it? Then again, maybe it is worse thandeath. Be still? Really? You mean now? Essentially the Psalmist echoes this when he

says in Psalm 46, Be still and know that I am God and it is in the place of stillness

restthat God brings deliverance. You see, stillness is that place when we have

finally given up trying to fix the issue ourselves, and begin surrendering the lies andfears around that bondage that have kept it so strong for so long; it is when death saps

all the strength we had to keep our heart hard, and His love begins seeping into that

secret broken place. And He will wait until the Egyptians are right on top of you if

thats what it takes to bring stillness to the part of your heart receiving freedom. Ive

found that Hell even wait until youve been pierced with the Egyptian sword, perhaps

even entirely slain, if that is what you need. But He will also be with you in the slaying,

and carefully and tenderly bandage your wounds as you are resurrected into newfreedom.! Inevitably, when I think on this repetitive process I am always left with the samequestion: Why would God allow such difficulty? I cant answer that fully, but what I

have learned is that God will go to any length to rescue His children from slavery, evento the Cross. And thats the thing that most of us dont realize, for in that stillness when

we receive freedom, we are receiving Jesus; for Jesus embodies freedom, He literally is

our freedom. And the only way to walk and live in freedom is to walk and live in Him.

That is the power of stillness, that is the freedom of death: death to self, death to the

demand for fairness, death to your rights.

! Naturally, there is one final twist here. The freedom you find in Christ is not whatyou expected. It is not a freedom from crappy circumstances. It is not a glitzy life of

money and perfect health. Peace is never really found in getting things as we want

them. However, the freedom in Christ is that circumstances no longer rule you, no

longer drive you, no longer impinge upon your relationship with God in the way theydid previously. So let the world, or the Devil, or the Oprah, throw dump trucks worth of

manure at the wind turbine, I will be still and know Himor I will die trying, and then I

will be still and know Himor I will die trying, and then I will be still and know Him

or I will die trying, and then I will be still and know Himor I will die trying, and then I

will be still and know Himor I will die trying

*Related definitions in this article from the Dictionary of Langisms:

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2Stillness: To stop covering oneself with the fig leaf, and be naked before God, stripped

of all your accomplishments, justifications, sacrifices, etc.

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what? there weren't enough graves in egypt?

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