SATISFIED TO BE A SLAVE

Ex. 14:12

The children of Israel that were with Moses at this time in the wilderness were all born in Egypt. They had all experienced working as slaves in the slime pits, they all had experienced the humiliation of someone telling them where to work and when to go and when to come. For all their lives they had felt the pressures of the Egyptians lording it over them. And here they are, saying to Moses, "Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians."

How foolish it may seem for someone to be in such a sad condition and someone comes to give help and is rejected. There are people that are stranded in floods and help arrives. There are people that are trapped in tunnels and mines and help arrives. Joy and relief usually come to the heart of the person needing help. Before we write off the Israelites as being foolish, let's look at our world and our own lives. Not every one has a knowledge of our blessed Lord, not every one knows the joy and peace that a born-again believer has , and there are those that will not come to Jesus Christ for they love for the moment living in darkness.

John tells us that the Lord Jesus came unto his own and his own received him not. Jesus came to his own people, he had been promised years ago. Israel's prophets had written about him and Israel had long yearned for his coming but they had a preconceived idea how he would come, and what he would do when he got here. But Jesus came on his own terms and in the way the Father had planned for him to come and they rejected the only One that could deliver them from themselves and the Egypt they were living in.

Mankind has long searched for peace but it seems that man's search has only ended in more pain and suffering. "Man in himself has not the ability to find peace." Look at the world today. Wars are raging around the world even though man has signed peace treaties by the hundreds. Peace can only come from a heart that has peace within it. When man makes peace with the Peace-giver, he then can live in peace even when storms are all around him.

The unregenerate man is living in darkness and many enjoy it for a short time. John tells us in 1:4-5, "In him was life; and the life was the light of men. The light shines in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not."

We do not have to continue to live in the darkness of the world. As Moses was the deliverer of the Israelites leading them from the slime pits of Egypt to the land of milk and honey where everyone would live under his own vine. Jesus Christ came to this earth with redemption for the soul of man, peace for the world as only the experienced one can tell you. You can be set free from the habits that destroy your body and mind if you so choose. Are we going to say as the Israelites did, leave us alone and let us serve the Egyptians or do we say, We will serve the Lord.