Uncaged

My butterfly brought two of her friends with her to church this morning. That fact alone is worth celebrating! She is being such a light in her home with all these other ladies who are trying to find a future beyond the life they once knew.

One sweet lady, small and frail and in her early seventies, has never known life beyond a cage. Not literally, but a house of oppression and control might as well be. She said she was from the mountains, 'never been anywhere.' Translation - was never allowed anywhere. At my butterfly's request, I called and prayed with this lady last week, and what was so sad was that her tears and fear were not about how bad this man was - it was how much she missed him. How much she wished it was 'like it used to be.' She just kept saying how much it hurt...

Today, she was like a little kitten, or a cheeping bird, arms so thin it seems they could never fly.

She isn't sure how to live life uncaged.

The Israelites were like this. Free from Egypt, the Lord told them in Exodus chapter 14 He was going to get glory from all this. So camp 'in between Migdol and the sea.' The Red Sea. And verse 4 says, "So the Israelites camped there as they were told." They were obedient...

But obedience doesn't always mean ease. Obedience actually set in motion a position for God to be the only One who could set them free.

The Egyptians follow in hot pursuit and these verses strike me:

"As Pharoah approached, the people of Israel looked up and panicked when they saw the Egyptians overtaking them. They cried out to the Lord, and they said to Moses, 'Why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness? Weren't there enough graves for us in Egypt? What have you done to us? Why did you make us leave Egypt? Didn't we tell you this would happen while we were still in Egypt? We said, 'Leave us alone! Let us be slaves to the Egyptians. It's better to be a slave in Egypt than a corpse in the wilderness!" (Exodus 14: 10-12)

'Let us be slaves,' they said. How could anyone say that? 'Let us be slaves...'

But I know why... because I feel it too, sometimes. The panic of new life. And freedom hurts. It's costly. And it's a whole new way of living. And, sometimes, captivity - though awful - is all you know. It's all you've ever known. It's all your mama, and her mama before her, have ever known. So, 400 years go by, and slavery is all your people have ever known. So, at the first taste of scary freedom, you pine for Egypt, or that abusive man, or that drink or drug, and say, "Let me be a slave, because freedom is harder. Freedom is scarier."

But here's what I'm learning - God is a God of deliverance. In fact, the Psalms say He surrounds us with songs of deliverance (Psalm 32: 7). Exodus 14 was encamped in a trapped place and panic of being overtaken. But the heading in my Bible for Exodus 15 - after parting seas - is "A Song of Deliverance."

After their panic in and pining, but before the miracle, Moses leads them:

"But Moses told the people, "Don't be afraid. Just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today. The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again. The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm." (Exodus 14: 13-14)

When panic about the new freedom way is about to overwhelm me, I take solace in Moses' words. I don't need to be afraid. All I have to do is just stand still and watch the Lord rescue me. The Word says He will fight for me.

I just need to stay calm.

That's been hard for me to do, in between the Exodus 14 and the Exodus 15 I find myself in these days. It's hard for my butterfly's friend to do. Surely, for freedom, we must have to do something. Surely, I have to work for it. Surely, He must need my help.

But He was the One to set all this in motion in the first place ("camp here"), and He is the One who is working it all out, and He is the One who will reveal it's meaning in His perfect timing.

And He is the One who will ultimately part Red Seas for me too.