Whenever the 4th of July comes around, I think of the word freedom. Freedom is one of the most illustrative words in the English language. On the surface, freedom seems to suggest the absence of restraints, the absence of control, and the ability to do what one pleases. Almost everyone wants freedom, but very few, it seems, really know just what freedom means.
True freedom is an inward spiritual experience rather than just an external deliverance. For not only is there a physical aspect to slavery, but a mental one as well. You see, you don’t need shackles on your feet if you have it in your mind.
Now, in the 14th chapter of the book of Exodus, we find that the Israelites have been freed by God from Egyptian slavery and led thru the wilderness by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.
After leaving Succoth, they camped at Etham on the edge of the desert. Then the Lord spoke unto Moses and said: “Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp between Migdol and the Red Sea. Pharaoh will think that you are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert. And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue you. But, I will gain glory for myself thru Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.”
So Moses and the Israelites followed the Lord’s command. Now, when the King of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds and said, “What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services.” The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, King of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites who had marched out boldly.
Now, as Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians marching after them. They were terrified and cried out 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!”
This cry by the Israelites shows us that they have a freed body but an enslaved, …
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