Leaving the Land of Egypt
(Blog written by Judith Cooke, a Marriage and Family Therapist with Christian Counselling Services. She has an M.Div in Counselling from Tyndale Seminary.)Do you know the story of the children of Israel?
No?
Let me tell it to you.
God’s children were in Egypt for many, many years. At first it was a good place, where they had homes and families and work and food. It was safe. But then events took place that turned it into a dark and fearful land. God’s children were hurt, over and over again, by the people of the land.The Egyptians made them into slaves, forcing them to work hard, and then harder, and punishing them when they couldn’t keep up.
The burdens carried by the Israelites were very, very great, and so they moaned and wailed and cried out to God for deliverance. God heard them and, after what seemed like an eternity, he acted. He brought them Moses, to lead them out of Egypt, out of the place of their pain and exile. Moses and God worked hard to get the people out of Egypt, and when the people were finally free, at least on the outside, a strange thing happened: they wanted to go back to Egypt.
God was inviting his children to a beautiful, spacious, safe place, a land flowing with milk and honey, where he would dwell with them, and they wanted to go back to Egypt.
How is this possible? It makes no sense.
But maybe it does.
The children of Israel had lived in Egypt for hundreds of years. It was in the blood, now. It was all they knew. When they got out into the desert, being led by God whom they hardly knew, and crazy Moses, they were scared. So they acted out of their fear. When it seemed like there wouldn’t be enough food to eat and water to drink, it didn’t make sense to them to trust that they would be provided for; it made sense to be afraid, and long to go back to the place where there had been food and water— even if it wasn’t a good place.
When they were out in the desert, with their leader Moses up a mountain for weeks, they felt lost and abandoned, and it made sense to them to manage their fear by building an idol they could see, rather than trusting a God whom they couldn’t.
They protected themselves from the fear of the unknown by listening to people who confirmed what they feared about the danger ahead, rather than hearing the voices of people who spoke of hope and the goodness of God.
Inside themselves they were exiles, longing for home; but they thought home was the land of their exile, with all its pain and suffering. They fought to go back there, instead of moving ahead into the new country, which was meant to be their good home. It was beyond their ken to conceive of a land where they could be free, which is very understandable.
It’s difficult to imagine being free of burdens that have always been yours, so much so that it seems if they were taken away, you wouldn’t be you any more.
The most beautiful part of the story of the children of Israel—God’s special people—is that God was longing for them to allow him to bear their burdens.
“In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.” Is 63:9
“Listen to me…you who have been borne by me from your birth, carried from the womb: even to you old age I am he, and even to hair white with age will I carry you. I have made, and I will bear; yes, I will carry and will save you.” Is.46:3,4
“Blessed be the Lord, who bears our burdens and carries us day by day, even the God who is our salvation.” Ps 68:19
We also see the heart of God in Jesus; he came to us, his special children, to bear our burdens.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Matt 11:28
“Cast your burdens on the Lord, for he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7
It’s important that we don’t skip to the end of this story and conclude that the moral is “I have to give my burdens to God.” Maybe for some people it’s easy to do, but it’s not for many of us. It is more important to understand why we don’t give our burdens to Jesus. Like the Israelites, we have lived with our burdens for a long time, and it’s difficult, perhaps terrifying, to conceive of life without them. It makes sense that we would rather manage and protect our pain— it’s what we know. If we get mad at, and critical of, ourselves for doing that, we make our misery increase.
What makes more sense to me, is that we approach our burdens, and the way we hold onto them, with compassion and curiosity. Then, as we come to understand our fears, the grasp we have on our burdens may loosen, and we may begin to find it safe to open our hands, and allow the kind and gentle hands of Jesus to hold our pain, and to fill the place where it was with himself.
“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matt 11:29-30.