The Four Spiritual Stages – Interlude
Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel, “I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. Then I will take you for My people, and I will be your God; . . .” Exodus 6:6-7 NASB
Burdens – The first step of reconciliation is God’s. He takes us out from under our burdens. But what does that mean? Does it mean that God is going to remove your financial debt, solve that problem with the neighbor, fix your marriage, manage your boss? If that’s the meaning, then apparently God is a colossal failure since most of us continue to deal with these issues long after redemption. No, this isn’t God’s role. His role fits the Hebrew word siblot (from sabal – to bear). The idea in this Hebrew word is a load that is being transported. Figuratively, this word implies servitude or slavery. It is also used to describe punishments or penalties. It is the same word found in Isaiah 53 describing the role of the suffering servant, the one who bears our iniquities.
Certainly the children of Israel understood this word as a reference to their forced labor under Pharaoh. But more than that, it also described what it meant to survive under a cruel master who claimed ownership of these people. It takes but a moment’s reflection to realize that the imagery applies to us. At one time or another, most of us have experienced the cruel master of addictive behavior. I don’t mean we were alcoholics or substance abusers. What I mean is that we adopted mood-altering patterns of behavior that anesthetized us, that kept us from dealing with the real world and our real feelings. We learned to shop to feel better. We taught ourselves to escape to the fantasy world. We sought moral vacations in Las Vegas. No matter how we tried to cope, we found out that the cruel master still held the leash. We carried burdens that crushed our souls. There was no way out. Only God can remove this kind of oppressor. And He does.
“I will bring you out” is God’s first step. We can’t do this for ourselves because the slavery is inside us. Just like the children of Israel, we have a slave mentality. But we can believe Him! We can act as Abraham acted and trust that what He says is actually true in spite of all appearance to the contrary. Could the children of Israel have imagined how God would release them? Could they have even speculated on their real slavery? What they knew was their pain – and that’s all they needed to know. God heard their cry. That was enough. Perhaps the precondition to being taken out is to voice our cries of pain. Perhaps the medicated, excused, distracted, irreligious state of denial that we embrace is intended to prevent us from verbalizing our pain and therefore preventing God’s action.
Oh, the burdens we bear in the name of freedom. What tragedy! What travesty! Put aside the anesthetics and feel the agony and ache. Let the cry of dereliction come forth. Then the Lord will hear and answer.
Topical Index: burdens, siblot, sabal, to bear a load, pain, addiction, Exodus 6:6
Yes the slavery is inside! What we need to know is our pain. I have experienced the most profound deliverance to the most empty and painful situations when I stop self medicating and cry from the depth of within myself. This last few weeks have given me new insight of what is meant by the things you have said Skip, about what being human is. Thank you.
Amen Babs, amen!
This study is wonderful. It ties in with Pesach and what Messiah said to the disciples around the supper table in that upper room. We have talked on this in our small group and RVL (Ray VanderLan) teaches about this so I have a limited understanding. This study with Skip is growing that understanding greatly. Unfortunately RVL is a Dutch Reformed man so there are definitely limits to what can be learned from him.
It is hard to see your slavery when you are in the midst/depth of it. Hindsight is such a great thing!
Shalom
First we must realize we are in bondage, is that not the definition of paradigm shift?
How many of us wander around a pretend everything is okay. Perhaps that is why Paul says to take our thoughts captive. Everything we perceive in life starts there. What we think about and how we think about it.
Thoughts become actions, actions become patterns of behavior, behavior shapes our lives.
How cruel is the propaganda that law and grace are separate. The law shows us what to do without making us think about things too deeply. If we stay within the “boundaries” of the law there is freedom to work out the more difficult answers. It is hard to work out your salvation with fear and trembling in grace because there are no boundaries. One is forced to flail around wondering if what they are “doing” is right.
The end result there tends to be to try and force (bondage) others to agree with your perceptions (a fruitless endeavor) so that you are not alone and to justify your paradigm.
The Lord is right, He’s yoke is light. It is not hard to follow the rules if you know what they are, though there will always be battles (I suspect) with my yetzer hara over what is going to take place. At least knowing what is expected stacks the battle in my yetzer hatov’s favor.
I was the last person to admit I was in slavery!
How ironical that the “cruel master” who held me there,
led me to believe I got myself there, and fostered the belief
I would have to be the one to get myself out.
Even after my salvation, my addiction to drugs and alcohol
persisted. If I were to get myself out, why wasn’t it working?
I loved God. Faithfully followed His Word. Prayed with Him and
believed in Him with all my heart.
But my mind was not transforming. It couldn’t. I was so burdened
and so heavily in bondage.
Slowly, very slowly, my heart started to reach out to Him. This was
very hard for a hard headed man to do. But I was also slowly realizing
I couldn’t help myself. Something had to give.
One day. One day it did.
One day God said to me “This is it!”
That day was incredible!
I said “Yes, I’ll stop.”
Then came the miracle. In an instant, He took my 30 year desire away!
Just like that!! In the twinkling of an eye!!! No desire left. Not a trace.
How could that be?
Like Skip said. He heard my cries.
“Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord;
Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
To the voice of my supplications.” Psalm 130: 1-2
Today’s word is fresh and yet has always been there. For the first time in a long time I am experiencing a hope shall we say, but more than that a deep excitement about the truth. The line seems to be drawn in a way that I am breaking out of the mentality of what has been poured in for years in church and beginning to see the striving to be good enough was the one they presented not the other way around. I had always heard that the Jews tried to get their salvation from the Torah and we had a better way. Balance! Ha! A balancing act on things that wouldn’t ever sustain. Oh Glory! I am bursting at the seams!
There was no way out. Only God can remove this kind of oppressor. And He does.
No Way Out (1987 film)
by Kenneth Fearing
Starring Kevin Costner
Gene Hackman
Sean Young (pretty woman)
No Way Out is a 1987 thriller about a U.S. Naval officer investigating a Washington, D.C. murder
It stars Kevin Costner, Gene Hackman, Sean Young. Will Patton, Howard Duff, and Fred Thompson
Hmmm
After living on the beach in Del Mar for many years, and then in Marin County north of SF with friends who were like family for a number of years
I moved to Silicon Valley, bought a house, and lived by myself for a number of years
Not long after I arrived, as I recall, I saw the movie No Way Out
And thought to myself, this is a God forsaken wilderness, this Silicon Valley
And like the movie, you never know who you can trust
It’s a Spy Game, if you’ve seen that movie with Brad Pitt
That’s why I live alone with my dog Max 🙂
The good news is that my daughter who is 17
Is finally starting to “adapt to the environment”
“What they knew was their pain – and that’s all they needed to know.”
It’s the pain of subjecting to non-Scriptural truths, to ‘leaders’ who are not better than ourselves, but in total denial of their ignorance, pride and unrighteousness, but not permitting the flock to have a voice in the assemblies. That is slavery and bondage to a system!
If believers in Christianity will come to terms with that pain, and not be anesthetized they will surely be delivered to appreciate the great joy of walking in Torah, which/Who by the way is Yahshua, the Living Word!
“Perhaps the precondition to being taken out is to voice our cries of pain. Perhaps the medicated, excused, distracted, irreligious state of denial that we embrace is intended to prevent us from verbalizing our pain and therefore preventing God’s action.”
Even an infant will cry out when he/she is uncomfortable, that is a very natural response, for the mother to come ‘running’.
David has written many such Psalms, and this is one of my favorites- Psalm 61:1-4
We are to remember we are sojourners on Sukkot.
Hag Sukkot Sameach (on the day of Full Moon) to everyone! 🙂