Not all Jews left Egypt in the Exodus. Estimates vary as to the number who stayed behind. Some Hebrew scholars suggest numbers that vary from 1 out of 50 up to as few as 1 out of 500 Jews chose to leave. Many of us have believed the Exodus was a total evacuation, not partial. If this is what happened, there was a reason.
For those of us on this side of biblical history, it seems strange and unreasonable that anyone would choose to remain in bondage when freedom was available. This is the controlling power behind the fear of the unknown. Ultimate freedom for the Jews lay on the other side of a perilous journey through a wilderness as the army of Egypt and its pursuing chariots chased after them. Their trust in God was the only hope they had to get them to an unknown Promised Land and the freedom it offered.
The fear of the unknown remains today in our human nature. When people learn how to make life work under emotional, spiritual, or physical forms of slavery, the threats against anyone who dares to seek escape will create a paralyzing effect on their decision-making process. It is understandable. The familiar becomes a substitute for freedom and the bondage continues.
Some forms of slavery in our lives are so subtle they can be easily missed, others are so flagrant they cannot be denied. When the Lord calls us from a place of bondage, whatever that bondage might be, we have a choice – will we choose freedom or fear? Only by following the Lord away from a place of bondage and walking through our personal wilderness of testing can true freedom be discovered.
Freedom will never be granted by the slave-driving influencers who have herded us into the corrals of their control. We must choose to leave and step into the future with fellow freedom seekers who are willing to push open the corral gates of control and move forward to discover a future of freedom. The promises of God exist on the other side of that decision.
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on Garris Elkins
Featured Image by Mabel Amber, from Pixabay
