The Lie of Egypt | Romanticizing the Chains God Has Freed You From

In this episode of Bibles and Botox, we talk about a dangerous pattern in the human heart: when obedience to God becomes costly, we start looking back at the very things He delivered us from.

The Israelites were rescued from Egypt after generations of slavery. God heard their cries, made a way through the Red Sea, and led them toward freedom. But when the wilderness became uncomfortable, they began to romanticize the place of their bondage.

They remembered the food.
They remembered what felt familiar.
But they forgot the chains.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Why we tend to look back when following God feels hard
• What the story of Israel reveals about our own hearts
• How sin edits our memories and makes bondage look attractive
• Why obedience can feel costly, but still leads to freedom
• What it means to trust God when the wilderness feels long

This conversation is for the woman who feels tempted to go back, back to old habits, old relationships, old comforts, old patterns, old ways of coping that God has already called her out of.

Because the truth is this:
The chains you escaped from were never freedom.

If you have been in a season where the past looks appealing, where obedience feels hard, or where surrender feels costly, this episode will remind you that God is not leading you backward. He is leading you forward.

Toward healing.
Toward transformation.
Toward the kind of freedom only Christ can give.

Listen in and be reminded: don’t go back to Egypt when God is leading you to promise.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey friends, welcome to Bibles and Votox. If you have been listening for a while, I'm so glad you're here again. And if you are new to the podcast in this community, welcome. We're happy to have you. So glad you found us. On this podcast, we talk about faith, identity in Christ. Eventually we'll get to beauty and wellness, but I'm so hyped up on the faith piece. We haven't even gotten there yet. And the real struggles that Christian women face in everyday life. And no matter where you are on your faith journey, this is a space for you to learn and grow. I am just sharing messages that I feel like Jesus put on my heart and things I am learning in my everyday Bible study. I am no expert. I just love the Lord and want to share his love with everyone. So that's why I do this. Before we jump in today, I want to share something really fun. We are partnering with Joy Creative Bibles. They make beautiful custom engraved Bibles. It's joycreative Bibles.com. And I have one right here. It says she is clothed with strength and dignity and she laughs without fear of the future. And that is a Bible verse engraved right on the front. And I'm going to be giving this away. If you want to enter the giveaway, like this video, leave a review of the podcast and share this episode with a friend who might need it. And the first person who does these three things is going to win this gorgeous Bible. And if you don't win it, check out their website because they make absolutely beautiful Bibles if you need one or know someone who does. All right, so let's get into today's episode. I have titled this episode The Lie of Egypt: Romanticizing the Chains God Has Freed Us From. And you may be asking, what does that even mean? What does Egypt have to do with me? What are you talking about, Jen? And I will explain that to you. So I've thought a lot about this, and I think there is a strange pattern in the human heart. And that is when obedience to God becomes costly. So when he asks us to do something, when following him requires some kind of sacrifice, or it's uncomfortable, or we have to have patience or really trust in him, and we can't see him. So that's really hard. We begin to look backward. We begin to look back at the place of bondage God had rescued us from because it starts to look very attractive compared to our present-day circumstance or what God is calling us to do in that moment. The chains we once begged God to escape and release us from start to begin to appear attractive again. Maybe it's that ex-boyfriend who used to hate me from time to time. Maybe actually was good for me. I mean, we went to dinner and had a great time together and we did have some fun times, and I did like a sister a lot. Or maybe that addiction to porn wasn't so bad after all. I felt pretty good when I watched it, and you know, maybe that wasn't so bad. I kind of miss it. Or perhaps, as many moms that I know, maybe drinking myself to an oblivion, you know, three to four nights a week in the name of mommy wine time was actually fun and something I should go back to. But the truth is, none of that was really fun. And that was oppression. And it suddenly begins to feel like a security blanket when God is asking us to do something hard, when he's asking for our obedience. Why? Because rebellion romanticizes bondage when obedience in faith becomes costly. Back to that analogy of a toxic relationship or whether a breakup, a broken friendship, perhaps even a family member. And perhaps after some time has passed from that relationship, you start to feel lonely, sad, and you begin to reminisce on the good parts of those relationships the laughter, the fun, the affection, whatever it may be, you start to really miss it. And when those feelings arise, you start to think, man, maybe I should call that person, maybe I should invite that old friend to lunch. And we do that because we are longing for comfort, we are longing for security, something familiar. Even though deep down we know that once we open that door, once we talk to that person or see that person again, we are bound to get back into the toxicity that existed previously. Yet we still wonder and sometimes still make that phone call. And the Israelites, as we'll see, were no different. They wanted to make that phone call. And we see this very clearly after God delivered the Israelites from Egypt. For 400 years, the Israelites lived under brutal slavery by the Egyptians. Exodus 223 tells us the Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their cries. And what did he do? He raised up Moses, a leader for them. He sent plagues upon Egypt as punishment. He split the Red Sea to bring his people out of bondage. The Pharaoh's Egyptian army was obliterated, and Israel walked through the Red Sea on dry ground. I mean, could you imagine that? It was one of the most dramatic and amazing acts of rescue in all of human history. And you would think the Israelites would be so grateful, praising God for his rescuing of them from years of slavery and oppression. But longings for the good things from the past kicked in after the Israelites were living in the wilderness for some time, as they began to complain, and I don't mean I'm unhappy here and there. Oh no, they complained about everything. They complained about food. Numbers 11, 5 through 6. They say we remember the fish we ate in Egypt, the cucumbers, melon, leeks, onions, and garlic. Later in Numbers 21, 4 through 5, they complain about both food and water. They say, Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food. Their complaints didn't stop there. Throughout the wilderness journey, they grumbled about missing Egypt's comforts. They questioned the leadership God had placed over them, and they questioned God Himself and began to fear their enemies for getting God's protection. Exodus 16:3 records them saying, I had died by the hand of the Lord in Egypt when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full. Notice what happens there. They remembered the delicious meals they ate in Egypt, but forgot the chains of four hundred years of slavery. They remembered the bread they ate, but forgot the whips of the Egyptian soldiers. They forgot so much that they actually thought they would have been better to have died in Egypt so long as they could have lived in their bondage eating good meals. Discomfort began rewriting their memory. And the big takeaway here is that they lacked faith, true faith in what God was promising them. And don't we do the same thing when we get uncomfortable in the season God has us in? We see the Israelites' selective memory appears again in Numbers 21 when they complain about the manna God was faithfully providing. For those that don't know, manna was a bread like substance that appeared on the floor of the desert for them to eat every morning. They spoke against God, though, and against Moses. Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food, is found in Numbers 21 5. And elsewhere in Numbers 11, we read in verse 5 through 6, we remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, but now our strength is dried up. And isn't the irony striking? They are reminiscing not about freedom that God gave them through his mighty hand, but about satisfying their stomachs and forgetting generations of brutal oppression. And doesn't sin do that to our human heart? When we start to walk out of obedience or maybe feel God is distant or we're unhappy in the season he has us in, and I have been there, sin edits our stories and magnifies the pleasures of the past. And it minimizes the devastation of the bondage we were in. So back to Israel, they're standing at the edge of the promised land now, the land God promised to them, and the magnitude of this moment must have been huge. I mean, think about it. The promised land was a place flowing with milk and honey, a good land. And so God sends spies at the request of the people to scope out the land to ensure it was ready for the taking. Yet, when the spies report back that giants lived in the land, fear overtook the Israelites, and they said to one another, Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt? Let us choose a leader and return. Wait, what? Go back to Egypt? I mean, think about that for a moment. God crushed the mighty armies of Pharaoh, and now they want to return to that bondage out of fear of the future. And we see this is not just an old testament thing. This also happens in the New Testament. And one of the clearest examples is the story of the rich young ruler. In Matthew 19, a man approaches Jesus and asks what he must do to inherit eternal life. And this man thought he had been faithful to God's commands, but he had an obvious problem. He had an idol that he could not give up, his money. Jesus tells the man to sell his idol, his possessions, and follow him. And Matthew 19, 22 tells us that the young man went away sorrowful for he had great possessions. Now imagine God extending this invite to you. Imagine him asking you to sell your possessions, to sell that one thing that's so important to you, and give it all up and follow him and be willing to move in courage and slay your idolatrous heart, your desperate grasp to your idols. Let it go and follow me. What would you do? Would you give up your comfort, your idol, your security blanket? I mean, we see the invitation was standing right in front of this rich young ruler. Jesus himself was talking to him, but his obedience would cost him something he loved. And rather than surrender it, he walked away from Christ and back into the comfort of his wealth. Why? Because bondage to the familiar often feels safer than surrender to promise. So we see that when the cost of following Jesus became uncomfortable and required deeper faith and surrender to future promise, many have chosen to walk away rather than continue the difficult path of discipleship. So why is looking back for us bad and dare I say, spiritually dangerous? Luke 9 62, Jesus says, No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God. He is saying that looking back is spiritually dangerous because it reveals a divided heart. Somebody not fully surrendered to being a true disciple. Why? Because newsflash, following Jesus is hard. When I became a Christian, it didn't make all of my problems go away. It didn't make my life easier. In fact, in many ways, it made it harder. There were things I had to give up that I loved, comforts, idols, security. There were people that I had to stop hanging out with, habits I had to stop doing, things that I had done for so long, and people that I had loved for so long. And it was costly and it was not easy. So when obedience seems to be difficult, the temptation we have is to romanticize the past. And Jesus says in this passage, that makes us unfit for the kingdom of God. And that's scary but convicting. The Apostle Paul speaks directly to the struggle in Galatians 5 1, and he writes, For freedom in Christ to set us free, and stand firm therefore and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Paul understood that believers are constantly tempted to return to the very things Christ rescued them from. Sin promises all kinds of things comfort, familiarity, and immediate satisfaction. I mean, if we're honest, sin is fun. But the truth is it always leads us back to bondage. And Jesus Himself exposes the truth behind this deception in John 834 when he says everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. If you don't hear anything else today, hear this. Ever. You may think it delivers freedom. You may think you feel free because it's fun and not costly and not hard, but it never delivers freedom. And the deeper irony in all this is that the wilderness, the place Israel despised, was never meant to be their destination. It was simply a place of transformation. God was forming a people who had lived in slavery for generations, and the wilderness was preparing them for the promised land. And the same is true in the Christian life. There are seasons when obedience feels like a wilderness, a dry wilderness, and that wilderness demands trust, surrender, and patience. But those seasons are often where God shapes our faith most deeply. Hebrews 12 2 reminds us to endure the race set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. The tragedy of Israel's rebellion is that they began to believe a lie. And the lie was this that the chains they escaped were actually better than the path God was leading them into. Yet Scripture repeatedly reminds us that God's commands lead to life abundant and eternal, not bondage. Rebellion romanticizes bondage because obedience requires faith. Obedience requires stepping out into promise. And we are usually a little hesitant with promise because it's kind of a step into the unknown, and I get that, that's scary. But with all that said, how can we move forward? And echo the words found in 2 Timothy 4 7, where Paul says, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have kept the faith. And pay attention to that last part. I have kept the faith. How was Paul able to keep the faith? Because Paul trusted in God, the great promiser. In fact, the Bible tells us that not one word of all the good promises that the Lord has made have failed. All have come to pass. It also says in 2 Timothy, if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself. God cannot be untrue to who he is. And Titus 1 2 puts it quite simply, God cannot lie. And what does God promise us when we surrender to him? Through Christ, God has accomplished a deliverance far greater than the story we saw in Exodus. He has freed us not from Pharaoh, but from sin and death itself. As Paul writes in Romans 6 6, our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. So when the Christian life becomes costly, when obedience requires surrender discipline or trust in the unseen in God, we must remember the lie of Egypt and not to look back. Do not look back on the bondage. Do not look back on the sin you have been rescued from. Although the past may appear very attractive, the chains you escaped from were never freedom. Freedom is only found in Christ. God did not rescue his people from slavery just to lead them back into it. And he has not rescued us from sin only to return us to our old life and our old self and our old habits. He is leading us forward toward life, toward transformation, and toward the freedom found only in him. So in closing, and as a practical takeaway, have faith in God, the great promiser, even when it's hard. And when you find yourself stuck in that season of romanticizing the past, think about your faith in the one who, according to Scripture, cannot lie. The one who holds true to every promise he has made. And that faith causes us to cast off the temptation to return to Egypt, cast off the temptation to return to sin. And time and time again, God's word teaches us that God's call to persevere and our capability to do so is rooted in our faith in his promises. And he is trustworthy. His love never fails. First Corinthians 2 9 says that no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no human mind has conceived of the things God has prepared for those who love him. So here is a promise from the Word of God that we cannot even begin to fathom what He has prepared for us in this life and the next when we love Him and trust in Him. So our return to bondage is simply a lack of faith. And we have every reason to hold fast to our faith because the promises come from a promise keeper who has been and will always be faithful, time and time again. So move on, my friend. Your God goes before you and He leads you to a place that no eye has seen, no ear has heard, what God has prepared for those who love Him in this life and the next. God bless you and thank you for joining us today.