Breaking Free from Your Egypt: Trusting God in Difficult Times

Have you ever found yourself looking back at what you left behind when facing new challenges? That's exactly what the Israelites did when trapped between Pharaoh's army and the Red Sea. Despite witnessing God's miraculous deliverance from slavery, their immediate response was fear, complaint, and a bizarre longing for their former bondage.

This powerful devotional draws a compelling parallel between Jesus facing temptation in the wilderness and our own tendency to retreat to familiar territory when challenges arise. The wilderness isn't a one-time experience—it's a recurring journey we all face throughout our spiritual lives. The crucial difference between victory and defeat lies not in our strength, but in recognizing that Jesus has already overcome every temptation Satan could throw at Him.

When standing at our personal Red Seas, we often create elaborate explanations for our circumstances rather than trusting God's proven faithfulness. We forget the slavery we've been rescued from and romanticize our past. The devotional offers practical guidance through reflective questions to identify our personal "Egypts"—those comfortable but destructive patterns, relationships, and priorities that once dominated our pre-Christ lives. What draws you back when God is calling you forward? What distractions have replaced your quiet time with Him? Which relationships pull you away rather than strengthen your faith?

God already has the escape route planned for whatever wilderness you're facing. The battle has already been won. Will you trust Him enough to keep walking forward, refusing to look back at what He's delivered you from? Take time today to honestly assess what's pulling you backward, then recommit to moving forward with Christ, knowing His plan is always better than returning to your Egypt.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
Good morning guys.
Welcome to Word Up on thisThursday morning.
I'm so glad that you havejoined us but, as always, most
importantly, have you been inGod's Word today?
Our quiet time for today isExodus, chapter 14, verses 10
through 31.
If you have not had your quiettime, pause right here.
Go spend time in God's Word andcome back and let's see what

(00:31):
God has shown us.
Last night in our studentministry, we went to Matthew,
chapter 4, and talked about thetemptation of Jesus and how we
will all face the wilderness inour life, probably multiple
times.
Well, guaranteed, you're goingto face it multiple times.
This is not a one-time thingand we'll all face temptation.

(00:54):
And Jesus was led by the Spiritinto the wilderness to face
that temptation so that we wouldknow where we can turn.
Guys, you don't have thestrength to overcome it.
You do not have the strength toovercome Satan and his
temptations in the wilderness,but Jesus has gone and he has

(01:15):
shown you that he can overcomeit.
So that is who we must turn toif we expect to defeat Satan and
to get out of the wilderness.
Today and our quiet times thisweek are you're going to follow
that message?
They're going to tie back in.
What we're wanting to do is forour student ministry and all of
you listening is just to havethat whole message come to life,

(01:35):
to build off of it and to seewhat God is showing us in other
places in his word.
And so today, in Exodus, chapter14, starting in verse 10, I'm
going to read just a few lineshere.
It says as Pharaoh approached,the Israelites looked up and
there were Egyptians comingafter them.
The Israelites were terrifiedand cried out to the Lord for
help.
They said to Moses is itbecause there are no graves in

(01:58):
Egypt that you have taken usaway to die in the wilderness?
What have you done to us bybringing us out of Egypt?
Isn't it what we told you inEgypt?
Leave us alone so that we mayserve the Egyptians.
It would have been better forus to serve the Egyptians than
to die in the wilderness.
Guys, how many times in our lifewhen we hit those hard places,

(02:21):
you know, maybe some of you arejust starting your walk with
Christ.
You're just now beginning tofollow him and you've made this
commitment.
You've stepped out, you'vestarted studying God's Word,
you've made it a few steps andnow, all of a sudden, you're
facing another storm.
Are you willing to continue tofollow Him, continue to seek Him

(02:41):
?
Do you trust His promises orare you looking back to where
you came from?
See, just like the Israelites,god has already provided and, as
you see in the next part ofthis scripture, he provides the
escape through the Red Sea.
He already has the plan for howhe's going to carry you through
the storm that you're facing.

(03:02):
But the problem is that we losehope.
We lose our focus on Christ.
We lose sight of the fact thatJesus has already gone into the
wilderness himself.
He's already faced everytemptation that Satan could
throw and he overcame it.
He already has a plan for howhe's going to bring you out of
this wilderness.

(03:22):
But we immediately start lookingback to our old ways and our
old life and we think, well, I'drather just stay there.
I mean, we get skeptical of, westart having conspiracy
theories about why we're wherewe are, just like they started
saying to Moses is it becausethere were no graves in Egypt?

(03:43):
They're thinking Moses wasdoing some work for the Egyptian
people Because there were nograves.
He was leading them out thereto die so they wouldn't have to
worry about burying them.
We immediately think the worst.
We get in our heads and westart trying to figure out why
things are happening, instead ofjust trusting God's plan,

(04:05):
instead of seeing what he'sdoing and that he has our back
and that he's walking with us,we began the blame game and we
began trying to figure out allthe pieces to what's happening.
And it even says what have youdone to us by bringing us out of
Egypt?
I wish you would have just leftus there.
They forgot about all the hardtimes and all the mistreatment

(04:28):
and all the things that werehappening to them in Egypt.
And at this point, just becausethe mountain looks too tall,
they're ready to go back.
Guys, that's just like us.
It sounds crazy when we'rereading this, because we know
the end of the story, but thething is in our own life.
You've got to know the end ofthe story.
You've got to know that thebattle was already won, that

(04:52):
when you place your trust andfaith in Jesus Christ, that he
is with you, he has alreadyovercome everything that you're
going to face and you've got totrust him and continue to walk
forward.
Do not look back, do not goback to your old ways, don't go
back to those old friends, don'tgo back to the things that used

(05:12):
to be important to you.
Continue to walk forward withChrist.
Continue to watch what he'sgoing to do in your life and how
he's going to use you to reachso many others.
What is it?
What are your Egypts?
I've got a few challengequestions for you today, and I
want you to take out a pen, takeout a piece of paper, and I

(05:36):
want you to write down thesequestions and, throughout the
day, I want you to truly justfocus on Christ, focus on God
and what he's showing you.
What are the Egypts in your life?
What are the things that wereimportant to you before your
relationship with Christ?
Are you trying to go back tothose?
Have you stopped investing inyour quiet time with God and are

(06:00):
you back to investing in thethings that were distracting you
before?
Have you moved away fromcertain relationships in your
life that were dragging you down, that were pulling you away
from Christ, and now, all of asudden, you've decided to go
back to that?
What are your Egypts and areyou trying to go back Now, once

(06:21):
you've identified that, how canyou, instead of going back, can
you trust God to carry youthrough the wilderness?
What are the steps that you needto take?
To trust God more and to knowthat His plan's greater and to
keep walking forward through thewilderness.
Guys, his plan is always better.

(06:43):
If you can go through thesequestions, if you can put on
paper what God's revealing toyou, what he's showing to you,
and be willing to step out onfaith, trust him, knowing that
the end has already been won,you'll see him do miracles in
your life.
Guys, I love you.

(07:03):
Thank you for joining usTomorrow.
We're actually going back tothe actual passage that we
talked about with Jesus.
So tomorrow, your quiet timeMatthew 4, 1 through 11.
I want you to get in God's Wordtomorrow morning.
Read that passage again.
Know that the enemy is going toattack you when you are weak.
Let God help you identify whereare you weak and how can you

(07:26):
prepare for the enemy.
I love you, guys.
I'll see you back here tomorrow.