As the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did. And it came to pass, on that very same day, that the Lord brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt (Exodus 12:51).
THEME
FREEDOM
Samuel Bowles, the nineteenth-century American journalist, speaking of slavery, pinpointed the origin of all personal emancipation when he said, "The cause of freedom is the cause of God."
Freedom has its source in the very essence of God, who is totally free to do whatever He wishes. In contrast, we humans are rarely free to do what we desire, and pursuing our desires leads only to more bondage.
Human bondage has been people's plight since God evicted earth's first couple from Eden. The irony of the story is that Adam and Eve started down slavery street by exercising their free will. Although they were the first to plod the prison path, their sons and daughters followed their footsteps.
The Egyptian bondage stands out because God's chosen nation was held captive by pagan rulers. Their bondage was physical, but the issues were spiritual: They worshiped heathen gods and doubted God's promises. Egyptian and Israelite souls were in chains.
In the Exodus and its Passover prelude, God set Jewish bodies and hearts free. But their freedom was short-lived; Assyrian, Babylonian, and Roman domination followed.
The New Testament Jews expected Jesus to set them free from Roman rule; instead a kangaroo court tried and killed Him. What He taught them in life, He demonstrated in death: a life lost is a life gained, and a life found is a life freed.
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FEB 26
EXODUS 5:1-14, 22, 23
Whoever walks wisely will be delivered (Proverbs 28:26).
The local TV weatherman pointed to his map and said, "Well, friends, I'm afraid that before things get better, they're going to get worse." His forecast could have applied to Israel as God prepared to rescue His people from their slave-camp conditions. The barometer of events was falling rapidly; and the dark, threatening skies would soon turn into a churning, flashing storm of oppression. Earlier the people had talked excitedly about deliverance. Everything looked promising. But something seemed to go wrong. Moses, the designer of the great escape, became Moses, the source of unneeded pain. All of his talk of freedom had only angered the Egyptians, compounding Israel's predicament. As far as Pharaoh was concerned, slaves that had time to dream of freedom had too much time. So he multiplied their production quotas and took away their resources. The situation went from bad to worse. Personally humiliated, Moses bitterly cried out to the Lord for an explanation.
Time, however, showed that the plans of the Lord were not being frustrated. The great "people's express" was getting ready to leave Egypt. All was on schedule. The Lord was deliberately testing His children by allowing their suffering to get worse before it got better.
We can find courage in this. When the world closes in, we know that our condition is not determined by the authorities of this world but by the Lord who is above the world.
--M.R.D.II
The darkest hour lies nearest the dawn.
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FEB 27
JOHN 8:31-45
For he who is called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord's freedman (1 Corinthians 7:22).
The image of a duck flying through the air with an arrow embedded in her body is still fresh in my memory. A local newspaper carried the story and picture of a mallard duck that had eluded rescuers who wanted to remove the foreign object. A couple of months later a Canada goose flew into Wisconsin with the same problem. A young bow hunter had hit his mark, but his arrow hadn't stopped the bird. She had evaded game wardens, avoided tranquilizer-laced grain, and even dodged cannon-fired nets. After about a month, apparently exhausted from her injury, the goose was caught with a fishing net. Soon after surgery, veterinarians returned her to freedom. If geese could think, she probably wondered why she had tried so hard and for so long to elude her captors.
The experience of these reluctant captives reminds me of the men Christ spoke to in John 8. They too were slow to realize the seriousness of their condition. They didn't understand Christ's motives. To them, He looked like a captor. He wanted them to surrender their lives to Him. He asked them to become His disciples. He implored them to become spiritual bond-slaves. They were unable to comprehend that by surrendering they could "be made free" (v. 33).
Is it possible we have forgotten that real freedom is found only in being secure in Christ? This relates not only to our ultimate salvation but also to our daily walk with the Lord.
As servants of Christ, we are bound to be free.
--M.R.D.II
Salvation produces a change within that releases the chains of sin.
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FEB 28
ISAIAH 1:1-20
"Come now, and let us reason together," says the Lord
(Isaiah 1:18).
THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS reported an ironic turn of events that happened to a group of motorcyclists traveling to the state capital to protest Michigan's motorcycle helmet law. The group was scheduled to meet at the capitol building to make some speeches and symbolically burn their helmets. But on the way to the protest, one of the bikers lost control of his machine and slammed into a construction warning sign. He suffered head and facial injuries that most likely would have been avoided if he had been wearing a helmet.
Sometimes we are like those cyclists. We look at the ways of the Lord as unnecessarily restrictive. Yet we ask for and expect His protection and blessing while we resist, rebel, and misunderstand His loving guidelines.
But our efforts to be free from restraint have not brought more happiness, freedom, peace, or satisfaction. Instead, we have lost honor, purpose, and security. Those who insist on doing things their way see an increase in disease, divorce, abuse, and violence. No society has ever profited by disobeying the Lord.
We don't like having our style cramped by laws. But when we read the first chapter of Isaiah and consider the alternative, we realize that one principle stands behind every restriction our Lord gives us: It's always for our good.
--M.R.D.II
Don't blame the rule if you don't measure up.
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FEB 29
GALATIANS 5:1-14
Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? (Galatians 3:3).
An article in our local newspaper told about an inmate in a penitentiary who had lived all but sixteen months of his thirty-nine years in various penal institutions. Born in a women's reformatory of a convict mother, he spent the first fourteen years of his life in prison as a ward of the court. When he was released, he committed a succession of crimes. He explained his behavior by saying, "I don't know how to live on the outside. My home is inside, and I want to stay here for the rest of my life." This unfortunate man found security in his bondage.
Likewise, adhering to external religious restraints can be easier than serving God in the liberty of the Spirit. This is why some first-century believers in Galatia wanted to live under the Mosaic law, even though in Christ they were no longer bound by it. Apparently they discovered that "freedom" can be frightening.
Many Christians follow a similar pattern. They look for security by placing themselves under a legalistic system that calls for no more than good external behavior. In many instances, the do's and don'ts are merely cultural, not biblical. Although their outward conduct may be honorable, they are actually escaping into a subtle kind of bondage. Obedience to accepted standards has value only when our actions reflect a changed heart and express gratitude to God for His salvation.
We must not hide behind the walls of legalism to avoid the freedom of life on the outside.
--M.R.D.II
Only those who are bound to Christ are truly free.
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MAR 01
JAMES 1:1-12
The testing of your faith produces patience (James 1:3).
One of the delights of my carefree days of childhood was flying a kite. What happy, peaceful hours I enjoyed with that soaring paper bird tugging on the string anchored to my finger! But if that kite could have talked, it might have said, "Look how high I'm flying and how gracefully I'm floating through the sky. And I'm doing all this in spite of that aggravating boy down there hanging onto the end of the string. I don't need that. Look, I have a tail and broad wings, but that pesky kid is hanging onto that cord as if he expects me to lift him into the wind. Why, if I didn't have the handicap of this string he is holding, I could fly up and reach the moon. If only I were not tied down in this irritating way."
Sometimes when flying my kite I would be distracted and I'd let go of the string. The kite would go wobbling down and become tangled in the branches of a tree. What might that proud paper bird have said then? If it had been an honest kite, it would have admitted, "The very thing I thought was tying me down was holding me up."
Likewise, much of our Christian growth and spiritual progress can be credited to our trials and testings, which so often make us fret. If God were to remove the restrictions that go with these difficult experiences, our lives would be wobbly and weak like that wandering kite. "The testing of your faith produces patience," James said. These testings are the rewarding restraints of One who desires to see His children soar to spiritual heights.
--P.R.V.
Adversity is only sand on your track to prevent you from skidding.
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MAR 02
ROMANS 5:12-21
Through one Man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life (Romans 5:18).
At noon on January 1, 1863, Abraham Lincoln received the final draft of the Emancipation Proclamation. Twice the president picked up his pen to sign it, and twice he laid it down. Turning to Secretary of State William Seward, he said, "I have been shaking hands since 9:00 this morning, and my right arm is almost paralyzed. If my name ever goes into history, it will be for this act, and my whole soul is in it. If my hand trembles when I sign the proclamation, all who examine the document hereafter will say, 'He hesitated.'" The president then took up the pen again and slowly but firmly wrote, "Abraham Lincoln." That historic act endeared Lincoln to the world as the Great Emancipator.
One greater than Lincoln and with even surer resolve brought freedom to the human race. Jesus signed our liberty with His own blood by dying on the cross to release us from the awful slavery of sin. Oswald Chambers wrote, "Never tolerate the idea of martyrdom about the cross of Jesus Christ. The cross was a superb triumph in which the foundations of hell were shaken. [Jesus Christ] . . . made the redemption the basis of human life, that is, He made a way for every son of man to get into communion with God."
Having trusted the Savior, we are free from sin's condemnation. By His Spirit we have the power to turn from sin and live for Him. And doing so is the only way to honor Christ--our Great Emancipator.
--D.J.D.
The empty tomb assures a full salvation.
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MAR 03
PROVERBS 16:16-33
He is caught in the cords of his sin (Proverbs 5:22).
Everybody longs for freedom. But for many people its pursuit leads to bondage. Beloved Bible teacher Henrietta Mears knew the secret of true freedom, and she wanted her students to know it too. With young people in mind, she said, "A bird is free in the air. Place a bird in the water and he has lost his liberty. A fish is free in the water, but leave him on the sand and he perishes. He is out of his realm. So, young people, the Christian is free when he does the will of God and is obedient to God's command. This is as natural a realm for God's child as the water is for the fish, or the air for the bird."
Wise King Solomon urged his son to understand that true freedom is possible only within the sphere of God-centered living, for which He created us. By contrast, bondage predictably and inescapably comes to anyone who ignores God's truth. Proverbs 16 describes the liberty and satisfaction that come from practicing humility, trust, careful conversation, and self-control. But it also warns about the inevitable bondage that comes into the lives of people governed by willful rebellion, pride, arrogance, strife, and malicious trouble-making.
The New Testament introduces us to Jesus--the ultimate source of our freedom. He, our Creator and Redeemer, said, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:31-32).
--M.R.D.II
True freedom is not having our own way, but yielding to God's way.
