ROOTED RENEGADE

Exodus 13:17:18 “Now when Pharaoh had let the people go, God did not lead them through the way of the land of the Philistines, although it was nearby. For God said, “Lest the people change their minds when they see war, and they return to Egypt. Therefore, God led the people around, through the way of the wilderness to the Red Sea, and the children of Israel went up and prepared for war out of the land of Egypt.”

Ever wonder why you keep running in circles, facing the same circumstances over and over again? The cycles you keep getting stuck in are familiar, mundane, drama-filled, sometimes abusive to both self and others. You hide your deepest places in the confines of your heart and soul, so no one can see you. Sometimes hiding behind a mask of overt happiness, fake joy, and desperate kindness only to bury your deep pains, sorrows, and grief. Cycles. Try as you may, they come and they go. They come again. Stuck in the middle of a whirlwind, a war waging inside yourself and sometimes outside to keep up the charade so no ones sees what is really going on. It is really you just running “around” your wilderness.

Back in the days of Moses and Pharaoh, the Israelites were slaves to the land of Egypt, much like we are slaves to our land and lives today. The worked in what we would call modern day slavery and Moses was sent by God to free the people. After all, Moses was one of them. A stuttering man who was once a tenant at the palace, until he found out that he didn’t belong there anyway. Hmmm. Sound familiar? Have we not experienced something like this in our own lives? At some point in time we have come to a place where we just don’t belong. Work, school, home, etc. We have either felt that way or someone has told us the truth about our lives, or something has happened, and the feelings of inadequacy creep in and just like that, down the rabbit hole of despair we go. Chasing acceptance and validation in a world of chaos, greed, money, and sin.

God called Moses in a moment in his life where he felt unworthy of the calling. Just like He does in our lives. Through fire God spoke in a whisper. Moses answered the call reluctantly and now Moses is to lead God’s people to the promise land. Under one condition. They DON’T BYPASS THE WILDERNESS. God knew that as soon as the people, those who had suffered hardship, trauma, mental anguish, and pain, went into the Philistine land, they would return to what was familiar. Let that marinate for a minute.

Familiar is comfortable. Familiar is normal and complacent when it is all you know. When you have been a slave to sin, condemnation, trepidation, sorrow, pain, grief, loss, despair, depression, anxiety, paganism, etc., then you will run back to it every single time if you get scared, lonely, angry, and tired.

We can all relate to this. We get trapped in the cycles of our sin every day and then run back to what is familiar. Whether that be stuck in depression because we can’t see a way out, our anxiety gets the better of us and the cycle of it causes us to have the hamster on the wheel in our minds for days on end, some get trapped in cycles of porn addictions. The list could go on for days, specific to each person and set of circumstances. Familiar can be a scary place when you really sit down to think about it. It keeps us from moving our feet in the direction God wants us to go and it makes us go “around” the wilderness of our paths with God because the cycles are actually more comfortable to deal with than the healing process.

God sees what we don’t. Just like He did for the Israelites. He saw the Red Sea as a means to an end and they didn’t. They grumbled, complained, the entire way and they really wanted to go around it. But something interesting that I think many of us miss at the beginning of their wilderness experience, just like we do with our own….

Exodus 13:21-22 “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, so that they may travel by day and by night. He DID NOT remove the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people.” (emphasis mine)

God DID NOT remove His presence from them. He didn’t leave them during their trip through the wilderness. He didn’t say, “Hey guys I’m out, have a nice life, I saved you, peace out!”. That is not what God did. He lit the path before them by night and day and He STAYED with them. Just like He does for us, we just get blinded by our circumstances and our pain and think that He is not the God of the Bible. We think He is not the God of promise, provision, protection, and most importantly LOVE.

So what is God saying to you today? How is He speaking to your heart today? How can you get past some of your circumstances today and find His love in the midst of what you are facing?

You are not alone. Sure sometimes you may feel like you are but you don’t have to be and you always have someone with you. If you need help you can always reach out.

God Bless you and Be With You