Painting Pictures of Egypt

Well, we finally made it home around 8:30 tonight. I unloaded the van, but resolved to worry about putting everything away tomorrow. I want to give an update on our trip...maybe tomorrow. But tonight I want to share some amazing encouragement that I got today. Well, it started years ago when I saw Sara Groves sing at Chris's graduation from DTS. She really impressed me with her genuineness, her simplistic sound and the profound lyrics to her songs. Well, that was 4 and a half years ago. This Christmas I told my parents that I would like one of her CD's. I had no idea which one, just surprise me. So in my stocking received a Sarah Groves CD entitled, "Conversations." I popped it in this afternoon on the long drive home. Song number 3 struck me like a blinding light. It was as if the song where written for me. In all honesty...I struggled this Christmas. I know I don't want what I had in my marriage (an unfaithful husband who didn't love me) but it was what I had grown to know and be familiar with. Well, this song by Sarah Groves said it all. She based the song on Exodus 16:3 "And the people of Israel said to them, 'Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.'" They didn't want to go back, but they were scared to go forward.
Here's the song...


Painting Pictures of Egypt

I don't want to leave, I don't want to stay.
It feels like pinching to me either way.
The places I long for the most are the places where I've been.
They are calling after me like a long lost friend.
It's not about losing faith, it's not about trust,
It's all about comfortable when you move so much.
The place I was wasn't perfect but I had found a way to live.
It wasn't milk or honey but then neither is this.

I've been painting pictures of Egypt leaving out what it lacked.
The future feels so hard and I want to go back.
But the places that used to fit me cannot hold the things I've learned,
and those roads were closed off to me while my back was turned. (Red Sea)

The past is so tangible, I know it by heart,
familiar things are never easy to discard.
I was longing for some freedom, but now I hesitate to go,
I am caught between the promise and the things I know.

I've been painting pictures of Egypt leaving out what it lacked.
The future feels so hard and I want to go back.
But the places that used to fit me cannot hold the things I've learned,
and those roads were closed off to me while my back was turned.

If it comes too quick, I may not recognize it.
Is that the reason behind all this time and sand?
If it comes too quick, I may not appreciate it.
Is that the reason behind all this time and sand?


So...it's just like with those Israelites. They were pushed out into the desert for their own good. It was HARD, I know. But God was freeing them from slavery and bringing them to the promised land. There is always a desert to walk through before you get to the promised land. And we can't hurry it up. There has to be time that ticks on and lots of sand pass under our feet before we arrive. If not, would we really appreciate that promised land? We need to cling to the promise that God is good. He is always good. If we're in the desert and we're his, then we're on our way to the promised land. And we can't go back to Egypt. We had found a way to live there, but no longer. He led us out and is leading us by the hand somewhere else. It's a good place and now there is no going back. Why would we want to go back? Why would we ever go back when He is leading us to the land flowing with milk and honey?