What Does Freedom Begin and End With?

Have you ever moved to a new place? You don’t know where anything is or how to function efficiently on the onset. It can be overwhelming, possibly off-putting, and frustrating. We see some of that in the Book of Exodus. It’s about the Hebrew people leaving slavery in Egypt, wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, and finally getting to the land God promised them.

It’s quite the journey, and quite the story – one that movies are made of. But most of the book is not just about the Hebrew people becoming a new people; it’s about a people trying to figure out how to live in a new place and reality. They try to find their way around, from slavery to freedom.

As much as that difference between getting to a new place and then learning to live in that place was for them, it’s also for us. Now, most of us don’t feel enslaved. Most of us would say we’re free. But what is freedom?

The world around us thinks that freedom is the absence of boundaries, but that doesn’t bring peace, it brings chaos. It creates consumption and ultimately destruction. Think about what the world would be without restraint, laws, norms, moral expectations, or consequences. Yikes!

We don’t want to be ruled or tied to something, but we’re trading what we think will bring us freedom back and forth all the time. Think about when you get a job. You’re trading your time for something else you think will give you options, freedom, money, or resources.

So, none of us is actually truly free in the sense of having no limits. But what if the way we often live our lives in an effort to find it actually leads us in the opposite direction?

God offers it to us, but we not only need to step into it, but we also need to stay there. We need to learn to live there.

The Hebrew people had been slaves in Egypt for around 400 years. God raised up Moses, confronted Pharaoh, there were the 10 plagues, Passover, the consecration of the firstborn, and then the release from captivity. They’re headed out, and God does a strange thing. He tells them to turn back and set up camp at Pi Hahiroth. A place on the edge of the sea, but still in Egypt.

This is the first clue that God’s freedom might not work the way we expect. What seems like confusion to us is actually where God does the mightiest work. What if confusion to God wasn’t the ending point, but rather the starting point?

So, the Israelites pack up and leave. Pharaoh lets them go but then has second thoughts. So, he goes after them with his army.

Exodus 14
…What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services! 6 So he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him.

When you start trying to live in the freedom God leads you to, captivity will come calling with knives out. But you didn’t set yourself free, God did. He’s leading them out, He’ll lead you out, He’ll stay with you, and because of that, you can stand firm.

But the Israelites don’t do that. They see Pharaoh, his chariots, and his army coming. They immediately forget everything they’ve seen. The provision, the miracles, gone.

Exodus 14
10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord.11 They said 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? 12 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!”

It’s part of the human condition that we have very short memories when it comes to God's faithfulness, especially when we’re given what looks like an overwhelming obstacle. This is why we sing about God’s faithfulness, remind each other, remind ourselves, ground ourselves in the truth of God’s word.

When you begin to walk in freedom, there will be things that terrify you and cause you to forget what you’ve already experienced from God. The miracle doesn’t automatically change you. We might think that if we see or experience the big thing, we would be changed forever. But then something else comes and changes you. However, God forms you by standing and staying.

Exodus 14
“Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

When you feel holes emerge in your life, with that sense of tension and anxiety rising because of what you think you don’t have, stand firm. Trust that God will fill those gaps. Stand with Him, stay with Him. He’s there, He never left.

He’ll do the miracle, but maybe not in the way you ever expected. And that’s where we can cling to the good news.

Exodus 14
14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.
15 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.
 
Move on. Keep moving. Step out. Keep becoming. Keep going.

Sometimes we think that if we see the miracle, we’ll move, but sometimes it’s more about listening to God call you to move and then seeing the miracle. In Exodus, they move on, God moves with them, and then they see the waters part.

And this isn’t just about Christian faith; it’s about faith in something you don’t yet see. Where do you need to stand firm or stand up? Where might God be calling to you to stay?