In the Old Testament story of God’s redemption of Israel, the nation of Egypt is frequently used to represent hell and condemnation, and Israel’s slavery is used to represent and typify the slavery and bondage of sin. “Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin” (John 8:34).

So, when considering your own walk with God, see if you can’t identify with some of the things that Israel went through and felt, such as their recollection of Egypt:

We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick: But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes. -Numbers 11:5-6

Isn’t this very silly and forgetful of them? They were dreaming of going back to the way they once lived, and were sick of following in God’s ways. They even thought and remembered of being “free” to eat whatever they wanted. Yet what an aburd recollection, seeing only a half-truth: that they were indeed free to eat many foods, but they were also completely enslaved by the Egyptians!

The problem was that they were using a wicked imagination—I believe under the influence and temptings of the devil—to recollect what sin was like. It seems as though man has an unmistakable tendancy—whether it be with past relationships, former jobs, or any number of sins in the past—to only remember the good, and not the bad. We forget why we got so tired or fed up with something that we left it. We forget the oppression, the down times, and the destruction it caused.

It’s time for a reality check

What was sin really like for the Israelites? Would they truly want to go back to Egypt just for the nice food (as seen in the verses above)? A reality check is what they needed, to get a proper perspective of what their previous life really involved. Was it truly as glamorous as they remembered it? Here’s Israel’s blast from the past:

And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour: And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour. . . . and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. -Exodus 1:13-14, 2:23

So why in the world would anyone ever what to return to such an oppressive situation? Because they were facing some temporary, short-term troubles in the here-and-now. They were made to eat manna in the wilderness until they were to move into the promised land across Jordon. They let the short-term present circumstances blind them into thinking that they were much better off before they came out of Egypt.

Don’t allow present difficulties to cloud your vision of the past, or the future

We all go through difficult times. God has literally promised us that if we are living a godly life for Christ, we’ll encounter difficulties: it’s to be expected. But the most important thing to remember is to keep a proper view of sin, and a clear view of the past. Namely, that it stinks, and you don’t want to go back there.

There is a proverb, and it’s very fitting for a backslider:

As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly. -Proverbs 26:11

• God’s Trial of Faith
• Out with the Old, In with the New
• The Iron Furnace
• Forgetting Painful Memories
• Manna in the Desert

Filed under:
Christian Devotions/Bible Study by Dean