Getting Out from Under

Do you ever feel like you are weighed down with a heavy load? You find yourself under the burden of disappointment, a crushing loneliness, or a mountain of debt. Your relationships are broken and weighty. At times, life feels like an endless swim against the current of your situation or against culture. The struggle is oppressive. Where do you go and how do you get out from under?

Recently, I have been contemplating the story of Exodus, when Moses led the nation of Israel, out of slavery to the Egyptians. God called Moses when he was feeling inept for the job. He had already tried to ease the burden of the Israelites and their situation. He saw an injustice and tried to stop it but was completely misunderstood.

Exodus 2:11-12,14, ESV “One day, when Moses was grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people. He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.”  The next day, when he witnessed a dispute and asked about it, he got this reply. “… Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?”

I have a question for you. Are you needing rescue like the Hebrew people, or are you being called to lead others to freedom? Next, we find Moses hiding in Midian, trying to forget the failure of the past. That is when God called him out to be the leader and deliverer the was needed.

When you are feeling oppressed by the situations of life, you can learn from this story. God knows who you are, and what is happening in your life. His desire is to rescue you and get you out from under. In the following passage of scripture, try replacing the word “Egyptians” with a word describing your situation, be it dept, addiction, divorce, or heartbreak. Here are God’s instructions to Moses.

Exodus 6:6-7 “Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.’ “

The Lord has promised to help you and make you His own. He has an answer to your need and a strategy for your battle. He is the great deliverer.

2 Corinthians 3:17 “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

God is declaring your freedom today. Reach out to Him for your rescue and your direction. He has provided a way of victory in Jesus, your Savior. Pour out your heart to God, and have confidence that he hears.

Jeremiah 29:12-14a “Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.  You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes…”