You Can't Stay Here

Have you ever been stuck somewhere you didn't mind being stuck?

The truth is, when I am ending a trip away from home, I get physical anxiety about getting home. No matter how great the trip was, I instantly get in a quiet mood, easily frustrated by the slightest bump in plans. I'm ready to see my babies. I'm ready to relieve the caregivers. I'm really ready to sleep in my own bed. So most of the time, I don't particularly appreciate getting stuck.

But when it comes to time with friends, seasons of where things are going well, or even time one-on-one with the Lord, I don't mind being stuck. In fact, I want to linger. I don't want to miss the new inside joke. I don't want to give up the blessings that we are experiencing. I especially don't want to pull away from God when I feel like He is opening Heaven to give me glimpses.

It's natural to want to stay where things are good.

But what if what started as good, is no longer serving your needs?

Like many Christians, I always start the year with good intentions of reading the Bible through in a year. I've never been great at this. Not because I don't read my Bible, but because I get so excited about specific stories I can't help but dive in and linger. Or I jump in a Bible Study and my focus is changed to another area and once again, I am off my plan. I'm pretty much on the "read whatever you want to read as long as you slow down and digest it" plan.

However, in my efforts to read chronologically, I went through the story of Israel. The creation of the tribes of Israel through Jacob. Joseph's story of betrayal, God's faithfulness, and eventual appointment to govern Egypt. The brothers being saved by Joseph and the restoration that followed. Israel's growth in Egypt. Israel's slavery in Egypt. And then eventually, their Exodus via their leader Moses. Genesis in a nutshell.

Backing up to Joseph's story, his family was starving due to the famine that plagued the land. His brothers had to travel for days into Egypt to buy food since Egypt was the only place that prepared for the famine. (You can find the brothers story in Genesis 42-46). Despite every horrible thing they had done, their lives were saved in Egypt. They went from starvation to salvation.

Let me stop right there for just a minute. Have you ever been starving? I'm not necessarily talking about physical starvation although that is certainly a possibility... but starving for attention, starving for connection, starving for answers, starving for truth and peace? I know I have. Coming from a broken home, I craved normalcy and perfection. Walking through tragic grief, I starved for answers. Battling anxiety and depression, there was nothing I wanted more than peace. The Lord is so kind to feed us what we need.

Matthew 7:8-11

"For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. “You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him."

As the famine continued, and Joseph led the country under Pharaoh, the people no longer had anything to purchase food with. They had sold their livestock and their land to Pharoah and given him all of their money. They were left with nothing. So Joseph, in an effort to help his people, makes them all slaves to Pharaoh and gives them land and seed to work.

Genesis 47: 25 "You have saved our lives!" they exclaimed. May it please you, my lord, to let us be Pharaoh's servants."

There were no tears. There was no push back. There was exalted thanksgiving. Gratitude. They were on the verge of death, and Joseph rescued the people with slavery. What a twist. What an impossible thing for us to see as "good". In the moment though, it was life-giving.

For 400 years, Israel remained in Egypt, just as the Lord said it would be to Abraham.

Genesis 15:13 "The the Lord said to Abram, "You can be sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land, where they will be oppressed as slaves for 400 years....."

What started as a place of good, quickly turned into a personal hell. The Israelites place of salvation became their same place of slavery. They got stuck. And they got stuck too long.

Have you stayed somewhere too long? Has your salvation become your slavery? I'm not talking about salvation through Christ. I'm asking you- was something, or someone, good for you in one season and not now?

People can often fall into this category. Someone comes along and picks us up out of depression or loneliness. They embrace our weirdness and bring laughter back into our lives. But they aren't on the same path that you want to be on. They aren't marching "heavenward". (Phil 3:14) They served their purpose in our lives and it's time to let them go.

Specific jobs or positions can be this way as well. Sometimes we are starving for a change of scenery, and new place to grow, a new opportunity.... What was great for a specific season is no longer what we need but leaving is scary! I imagine the Israelites were terrified to leave Egypt. 400 years post-salvation, slavery is all they knew. It wasn't freedom, but it was a roof over their head, land to farm, and food on their table.

It's scary to cross the ocean on dry ground but sister, YOU CAN'T STAY HERE. God has so much more for you than to suffer at the hands of an oppressor. He has so much more for you than to just sit in comfortability. He has so much more than JUST salvation for you. He has LIFE and LIFE ABUNDANT waiting. You just have to get up and keep walking.

John 10:10 "I have come that they may have life and life abundantly.