Happy Sabbath friends! Have you ever had a past that kept trying to make its way into your present moment? You let the past go, and God freed you from it, but somehow it still has a way of creeping into your mind from time to time? Maybe you have thoughts of going back to that time in your life because it’s familiar or comfortable. I know for myself I can attest that I have had these thoughts from time to time. There would be times when my present moment felt too hard to bear, and I would look back to where I was 1-2 years ago, and think “should I go back?”. This can happen because our flesh craves comfortability. I noticed in my own life that whenever I was faced with a trial or tribulation was when I would start looking back and compare my past to my present moment. I can confidently state that these thoughts are NOT from the Lord. They are from satan as he is doing everything in his power to keep you away from God. Our Heavenly Father saved you from the past, and He has great plans in store for you. Our flesh may crave comfortability, but our Heavenly Father delights in uncomfortability because that is how we will truly grow and shape our characters in Christ.
We are not alone in this as there are many stories in the Word of God that involve characters who had the same thoughts of “should I go back?”. One story that comes to mind is in the book of Exodus when the Israelites were freed from captivity in Egypt. The moment things seemed too hard to bear for the Israelites, they started to miss their lives in Egypt because that was familiar and comfortable to them. Their flesh was craving what they knew because they were faced with a moment of unknown with the Lord.
“When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, “What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!” So he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him. He took six hundred of the best chariots, along with all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them. The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly. The Egyptians—all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, horsemen and troops—pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea near Pi Hahiroth, opposite Baal Zephon. As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!” Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.””
Exodus 14:5-14 NIV
I read this story in the book of Exodus and get frustrated every time because I cannot believe the Israelites would want to go back to slavery and captivity under the Egyptians. They were treated so poorly by the Egyptians, so much so that our Heavenly Father heard their cries and rescued them from the turmoil they were in. God used Moses and Aaron to free them from their captivity and they have the audacity to say that “it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert”. Yet, don’t we do and think the same? Whenever we are faced with moments of uncertainty of whether we will survive or not, or maybe we are faced with the unknown…don’t we also have the initial reaction of “maybe it would’ve been better to never leave…maybe it would be easier to go back”. It’s because our flesh craves that familiarity and security! Ellen G. White even states herself in her book, Counsels of Health:
“The slightest insinuations, from whatever source they may come, inviting you to indulge in sin or to allow the least unwarrantable liberty with your persons, should be resented as the worst of insults to your dignified womanhood. The kiss upon your cheek, at an improper time and place, should lead you to repel the emissary of Satan with disgust. If it is from one in high places, who is dealing in sacred things, the sin is of tenfold greater magnitude and should lead a God-fearing woman or youth to recoil with horror, not only from the sin he would have you commit, but from the hypocrisy and villainy of one whom the people respect and honor as God’s servant. He is handling sacred things, yet hiding his baseness of heart under a ministerial cloak. Be afraid of anything like this familiarity. Be sure that the least approach to it is evidence of a lascivious mind and a lustful eye. If the least encouragement is given in this direction, if any of the liberties mentioned are tolerated, no better evidence can be given that your mind is not pure and chaste as it should be, and that sin and crime have charms for you. You lower the standard of your dignified, virtuous womanhood and give unmistakable evidence that a low, brutal, common passion and lust has been suffered to remain alive in your heart and has never been crucified” (Resent Undue Familiarity p. 538).
Just like the Israelites, our flesh has a way of craving familiarity, even when it was not good for us. The Egyptians treated the Israelites so poorly, but the moment the Israelites were faced with a situation that appeared to have no way out, they started to believe life with the Egyptians was better than the current situation they were facing. Speaking for myself, I can admit that when I am faced with moments that appear to have no way out, my mind starts to wander and I start asking myself “should I go back?…my life was easier before…”. Life was indeed not “easier”…it was familiar. These thoughts are NOT from the Lord, and when we are faced with thoughts of “should I go back?” is when we should conversate with our Heavenly Father and ask Him for His heavenly protection. We can rest in the promise that our Heavenly Father will rescue us from these thoughts, and whatever situation we may be currently facing.
“Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.” Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. During the last watch of the night the Lord looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. He jammed the wheels of their chariots so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.” Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.” Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the Lord swept them into the sea. The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived. But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. That day the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.”
Exodus 14:15-31 NIV
When we are faced with moments of fear, uncertainty, and thoughts of “should I go back?”, we need to move on as the Lord stated to Moses regarding the Israelites. When we move on and put our complete trust in the Lord, we can rest in the truth that He will make a way when there appears to be no way. This is proven in the book of Exodus when God made a way through the Red Sea to protect the Israelites from their past trying to make its way into their present-day moment.
God will protect us from our past. We need to choose to move on, and trust in Him to fill us with His heavenly protection.
“I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord watches over you— the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.”
Psalms 121:1-8 NIV
Amen.
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White, E. G. H. (1951). Counsels on Health. Pacific Press Publishing Association.
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