On a scale of 1 to America, how free are you tonight?

Did you fall for that pick up line?  No?!  Being a young single woman, I've heard my fair share of cheesy pick up lines, and I get it.  Sometimes you really don't want to be free.

With today being Independence Day, I've got freedom on my mind.  I wonder why I so often choose to live in bondage when I've already been set free. 

I've been reading in Exodus about the Israelites and their ever changing affinity for bondage and I can't help but relate.

The Israelites had been living under Pharaoh's bondage in slavery in Egypt for 430 years.  Awaking each new morning with that same heavy anvil hanging around their neck for  FOUR HUNDRED AND THIRTY YEARS!  They were suffering greatly and it was seemingly hopeless.  They cried for rescue and in Exodus 2:24-25 it says "God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.  God saw the people of Israel- and God knew."

You see, the Israelites were God's chosen people and God had a plan for them- and it didn't involve slavery.  God promised to deliver them from their bondage.

You probably remember the story of Moses and the Nile turning to blood, the locusts, hail, frogs, etc.  Well, after 10 unmatched displays of  God's power and authority over Pharaoh and the Egyptians, deliverance for the Israelites came.  The Israelites were FREE!

The story is far from over.  Remember the Red Sea?   The Israelites, under Moses' command, take off for the promised land.  Exodus 13:21 says "The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light."  The very presence of God was with them.  Suddenly, they came upon The Red Sea.  An impassable ominous body of water.  Coming behind them was an infuriated Pharaoh with ALL of his army, chariots and horseman.  They were trapped.

Put yourself  there for a minute.  Here you had spent your entire life as a slave, suffering under this man, Pharaoh.  You have finally been freed from him with the hope of a new life only to see a foreboding body of water in front of you and your oppressors on all sides.  I can't imagine the tension and fear stifling the air.  Facing what they could only conceive to be certain death, the Egyptians cry out,

"Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?  What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt?  Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: 'Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians'?  For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness." Exodus 14:11-12

How those hollow words echo in my unbelieving heart.

I get it.  I hate being a slave.  I hate living in bondage.  I can see beyond this.  I want more.  Yet when I'm standing in front of the one thing that is keeping me from walking in freedom (My Red Sea of sorts), I begin to shrink.  My fear laden eyes begin to shift and all I can see is the very thing that enslaved me encroaching on me again.  Instinctively my fickle heart cries out.  "This is too scary!  I'll never make it to the promised land.  I will surely die here!  I'd rather be in slavery.  At least there the suffering was familiar; my haggard body has been worn with that weight. LEAVE. ME. ALONE!!!"  And in some twisted way I find a thin layer of comfort, as a smoke screen, in that resolution to misery.

But God, in His mercy, is relentless in wooing me and leading me out of my bondage into a life of freedom.

The Lord tells Moses to stretch out his staff over the sea and part the waters so that the Israelites could walk through The Red Sea on dry land.  He also promised to destroy the Egyptians. 

Remember that pillar of cloud that was before them?  It says in verse 19, "Then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel." 

Moses tells the people "Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today.  For the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again.  The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent."  Exodus 14:13-14

I LOVE this picture.  Right smack in the middle of their unbelief and resolution to simply give in to a life of slavery and bondage, God intervenes.  He makes a way.  He stands between them and the evil that threatens to ensnare them again.  He protects them.  He fights for them.

Are you standing in front of an ominous Red Sea?   Are you afraid to walk forward into freedom because for all your eyes can see you are walking into certain death?  Are you distracted by the enemy's army that seems to be descending upon you in all directions?  Are you ready to submit again to the shackles of slavery because it seems easier than to trust in a God that promises you more?

FEAR NOT! STAND FIRM!  Quiet your quivering heart.  You have only to be silent.  He makes the way.  He destroys the enemy.  He fights for you.  Trust Him.  Walk forward into freedom. 

Then join Moses' song of praise, "The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him....You have led in your steadfast love the people  whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.  The Lord will reign forever and ever!" Exodus 15:2,13,18.

LET FREEDOM RING!