SO YOU WANNA GO BACK TO EGYPT

“All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, ‘If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this desert! Why is the LORD bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?’”
Numbers 14:2-3

Do you ever finding yourself remembering the good ole’ days? I’m not necessarily talking about the days when a soda pop cost only five cents, but the days when you were a free bird. I remember them. I remember my single days in college, when I would spend my summers overseas on missions, or stay out late with the guys, or even go to Wal-mart by myself. But then something happened. I got married. Suddenly my alone time was couple time, which in time turned to family time. Gone were the days of being the free bird, now I was a papa bird. If you know my story, though, you know that after nine years of marriage I became a single papa bird. Over time I missed what I had had, that sense of a complete family with my kids and a wife. So I prayed, and prayed, and prayed, and invited you to pray, and prayed some more. Then something else happened. I got married again.
I have been married now for a little over four months, and I have to admit, sometimes I miss those free bird and single papa bird days. Sometimes I miss jumping on a plane and taking a trip, or splurging some money on myself, or even being able to waltz around Wal-mart alone. I think back and recall my freedom…but I never get too far. Why? Well it is because with all the good ole’ times also came a great deal of pain. When I was a free bird I suffered from being lonely. I had no wife or children to keep me occupied. And the same feeling of loneliness followed me when I was a single papa bird. I wanted the adult companionship that my children could not offer.
So which is better? Does the thought of missing the alone times sound better than the thought of being lonely? Or better yet, why is it that when we receive the blessing of God we soon long for the days before the blessing came? What do I mean? To help explain this thought, let’s look at the times of Moses. With the people of Israel enslaved to the Egyptians, they called out for a deliverer. When the time was right and the prophecy given to Abraham fulfilled, God sent Moses. Out of their slavery they came, a nation so numerous, yet thanking God that He had heard their prayers and made a way. But it didn’t take long before their joy turned back to sorrow. Exodus 14:11-12 records the people of Israel saying to Moses, “Didn’t we tell you to leave us alone and let us serve the Egyptians?” And this was not the only recording of their desire for the good ‘ole days of slavery. The Israelites are also recorded in Numbers 14:2-3 as saying, “’If only we had died in Egypt!’”, and in Numbers 16:12-13, “’Isn’t it enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the desert?’” And what is so sad about this last passage is that they considered Egypt to be the land flowing with milk and honey.
As I contemplate my life now, I can see where I too tend to have this same mentality. I fail to see just how God saved me from my ‘slavery’, be it my loneliness or what have you, just like I prayed He would. And now, when even the smallest of trials comes along, I desire to go back to the good ‘ole days, back to my slavery, with the thought that slavery is better than freedom. I have it wrong, thinking Egypt was the land of milk and honey when I know for a fact it is not. But I venture to say I am not the only one who does this. If you were to be honest with yourself, would you agree that you too have at times desired to go back to Egypt? Sure we survived in Egypt, but did we really live? God’s desire is for us to live in the Promise Land. So let us not find hardship and give up half way, travel back to our slavery and tarry. Let us live!