Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Don't go to Egypt!

Being a military family offers for many adventures, sometimes fun, sometimes not so much fun. I am incredibly thankful for the opportunities Peter's career has supplied our family. I mean, Peter and I were on a 4 year honeymoon in Europe when we got first married! How many people can really say that?! (OK, it wasn't all really honeymoon. The first few years are actually the hardest, but you get my point.)



Recently, Peter was presented with an opportunity to have our family move to Cairo, Egypt. Yes. You read that right. Cairo. Land of the Pharaohs. Home of the pyramids. Long story short, we decided not to go for it. We had a number of reasons, but they are not important. I am getting to that part. 

So here I am, a couple weeks later, reading in Genesis about Abraham. Good ol' Abraham. Following after God. Trusting Him to get him to the promise land. And then famine hits. 

In Genesis 12:10-12, it goes through the story of how Abraham, neglecting to trust God for the basic necessities of life, veered off course and headed to Egypt where he was sure there would be food. 

Throughout God's Word, you can see, that for the Christian, Egypt is a picture of the world. 

"Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the Lord!" ~Isa. 31:1

This of course got me thinking back to our predicament from weeks earlier. Are we putting our trust in God? Where He desires us to be, are we willing to go? Where he desires us NOT to be, are willing to listen and trust? 

I can say, for this particular case, we did seek God's will in deciding. But how often have I been so desperate for help that I put my trust in something other than the Lord? I could write book upon book of all the mistakes that could have been avoided if I had only gone to the One that had the real answers. 

"For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding." ~Prov. 2:6



In a world FULL of what-ifs, trials, and uncertainty, it is so easy to run to Egypt for my answers. Stressed out with the kids? Zone out on Facebook for ten minutes. That will fix it. Had a fight with the husband? Call your girlfriend to get some sympathy about what a loser he is. Don't know how to handle that conflict with a friend? No worries. Chocolate has got you covered. 

I'm not saying these things are always bad. This year Facebook has been a huge source of encouragement and ministry to me. And I can't tell you how many times a friend has brought me back to my sanity and corrected me, gently mind you, in my error with my husband. And there is scientific proof people, that chocolate is good for you!

My point is, where is my trust truly lying? Proverbs says to trust in the Lord with all my heart. But when I give pieces of my heart to other things, during times of stress, I'm no where near where I am supposed to be. 

Thankfully, as always, we have an awesome long-suffering God who is just waiting for us to learn a new lesson... or revisit said lesson until we finally get it. 

I desire to put my trust in the One who is trustworthy, and not into Egypt. Because, as the story of Abraham shows (read the ten verses!) Egypt has nothing but trouble for you and you'll just end up back where you started. :)

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