I came across this in my devotions today from Exodus 29:46 “I am the one who brought them out of the land of Egypt SO THAT I COULD LIVE AMONG THEM. I am the Lord their God.” (NLT, emphasis mine). It struck me this morning that God’s stated motivation for delivering Israel from their bondage in Egypt wasn’t simply so the Israelites would no longer be slaves, or that they would inherit the ‘Promised Land’. Certainly those were good and part of the deal but His purpose was bigger, better and, if you will, a little more selfish.
Hear me out before you get your knickers in a bind. Besides God describes himself as JEALOUS on a number of occasions.
What was His stated purpose here? That He might live among the people.
We need to understand something here: Egypt here represents a life of bondage. Just as God delivered Israel from their bondage in Egypt He desires to deliver us from our bondage to our ‘Egypt’ (sin). Why? Because He desires to live among us but can’t do so in the presence of sin. He wants to deliver us but not just so we can be free from whatever has control over us, and not even just so we can have a ‘get out of hell free’ card.
More importantly, more selfishly (on His part), and more humblingly on our part (is that even a word?) He wants to live with us, to walk and talk and build a passionate relationship with us! The problem arises, though, that God is holy and cannot be in the presence of sin (or, better yet, sin can’t be in His presence). His solution? Separate me from my sin (as far as the east is from the west, according to the Psalm 103:12)
I don’t know about you but it seems pretty incredible to me that God would care enough about this simple man to be willing to deliver me from my past and the things that had hold over me just so He could live with me! I am all for a relationship like that…how about you?
Pastor Brandon
Mountain View Christian Center 