The Necessity of Drowning?

FOCUS READING

Exodus 14:28-29 (NRSV)

The waters returned and covered the chariots and the chariot drivers, the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea; not one of them remained. But the Israelites walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.

DAILY BYTE

Yesterday, you read a story about my great-aunt, who finds it necessary to drown the squirrels that take captive her home and garden. You read the story of the Egyptians, pursuing the Israelites, as they made their way out of Egypt, and you read that “ the Lord tossed the Egyptians into the sea.” We questioned – was this really necessary? Does this action from God fit with the God that I believe in?

As I thought about this and had a little chat with God, I remembered what it was that the Egyptians stood for – I remembered what it was that they wanted from the Israelites. The Israelites often had a difficult time remembering. They often were tempted to go back to Egypt. But, do you remember?

Do you remember that the Egyptians stood for a life of slavery? They wanted to put the people of God back into chains. Pharaoh had let them go, but then he realized – oops – I gave away all my free labour! How am I going to build my pyramids now? He said, I’ve got to go and get them back...

This is how it is with us – isn’t it?

We make a break for freedom – we get a new start – we’re just getting on our feet with a new, healthy pattern in our lives, a new path to growth, and then chasing after us comes the old way – racing as fast as it can to catch up with us, camping next to us in the night when we’re vulnerable and we know it’s there lurking, waiting for us to let our guard down so that it can pounce and catch us again.

You release that squirrel in a nice, peaceful garden someplace else, far away from you, and as fast as it can run, it comes sneaking back to nibble on the most tender new leaves in your own soul’s garden.

Nope, it seems harsh, but I’ve realized the Egyptians had to drown.

God has to triumph over the old, enslaving ways.

God has to swallow them up in God’s chaotic, primeval waters for us to be able to be raised up out of the water through a new birth and walk tall into a new life.

What new pattern are you trying to establish in your life right now? What freedom are you trying to grasp? What new path can you envision in front of you?

Now, what is chasing after you from your past, still grabbing to hold you in chains?