The Greatest Adventure

Part 5: Freedom

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Summary

Freedom is a fine line. Enjoying it can quickly translate into abusing it. Celebrating it can easily fast forward into idolizing it. The key to keeping freedom in its proper place and living out one’s freedoms with well-stewarded grace is knowing where it came from and why we have it. In Israel’s case and in our spiritual state, freedom was God’s gift. It wasn’t awarded to Israel then and it isn’t afforded to us now because we inherently deserve it or because we worked hard to earn it. Only God’s grace. When you know that He alone gave it and that nothing about you deserves it, freedom like salvation remains the thing you want to live out and never lord over. How do you honor God and point people to Jesus best? It’s in cherishing freedom and also leveraging freedom for the ultimate good of others.

Content
The Ultimate Sacrifice 

Do you ever look at a circumstance in your life and wonder where God is? Whether you're in that season now or if you can recall a situation like this in the past, there can be times that it's difficult to understand what God may be doing. The Israelites likely felt this way as they were being held captive for years in Egypt – wondering what God was doing, begging Him to set them free.

Then, God showed up. God moved in a mighty way... and His people were finally free.

Friends, though we may not be living in captivity like the Israelites were in Exodus 12, we are God's people, chosen and dearly loved. God provides for His people. He has a plan for us. He will protect us. Do you trust Him with your life? 

What the Bible Says about Freedom

As we’ve been in the book of Exodus and reading stories of God’s faithfulness in Moses’s life and the lives of His people, it’s been evident that God was moving even when they couldn’t see it. The Israelites went from living in captivity, wondering when God was going to intervene in their lives to being set free in the matter of one night. They had been in Egypt for 430 years, and it’s likely that they all wondered when and how God was going to save them from slavery.

Even when they couldn’t see what God was doing, He was working. With a mighty hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery (Exodus 13:14b). Our God is mighty to save, and the Israelites experienced this first-hand. Following the Passover, He calls them to get up, obey, and leave the land of slavery and walk into a land of freedom. Each step of the way, God did not leave them alone – He was with them day in and day out, guiding them to the place He had for them. Everything the Isrealites needed for the place God was taking them was provided by the God who freed them. He made a way for them, but it was made through reliance upon Him.

Do you trust God to take care of your every need?

The Israelites were freed from captivity – praise God! Now, though they left a place where they were in slavery, they were now walking into the unknown, and the unknown can be a scary place to be. Yet, through each and every step, God made a way for them. He took them to the next place, even when they couldn’t know what was coming around the corner, and He provided for them exactly what they needed.

Let’s hold fast to that very last statement: He provided for them exactly what they needed. That doesn’t mean He answered every one of their questions or doubts. That doesn’t mean He gave them all that they dreamed for and wanted. That certainly doesn’t mean that it was simple and comfortable for the people. However, it does mean that He never left them. He was still working even in the questions and the fears and the unknown. 

So, hold fast to that, as you walk into the wilderness or the mundane or the dry season. Hold fast to His promises to protect, provide, and prepare the way for us. He’s a good Father, and it’s impossible for Him to be anything but that. Will you choose to cling to that reminder?

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