So we know that God’s law contains instructions for a good life, a blessed life. Unfortunately, simply having the instructions do not help us keep the instructions. As a warning, look at what happened to the Israelites. While God was giving the tablets of the law to Moses, they were busy making a golden calf to worship. With Moses gone and God seemingly absent, they quickly filled the void of leadership with a false god of their own creation. Despite all that had happened to them – destruction of their enemies, guidance through treacherous deserts, daily supply of manna – they were quick to forget, ready to complain. They didn’t like that following God meant embracing things they didn’t like, such as obedience and waiting. Instead, they abandoned the desire for the familiar, comfort and luxury. “If only we had meat to eat!” They cried. “We remember the fish we ate for free in Egypt, as well as the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic” (Numbers 11:4–5). Remembering what was predictable, safe, and comfortable in Egypt, they had forgotten the terrible cruelty they suffered there.
But what does the story of the forgetful (and yes, rebellious) Israelites mean for us? This means that anyone who wants peace must make a personal, conscious decision to remember and obey God. We must choose to leave behind the world and all its problems and luxuries, to leave behind the slavery that comes from life without God. You leave when you leave your old life behind and decide to follow God.
But leaving is not easy. Some of us are afraid of what God might ask, of what He might need. We prefer a life of predictable servitude to a life guided by an unpredictable God. Others resist leaving because they don’t recognize their channels. They know they have problems, but life doesn’t seem so bad. Why should they throw everything away to embrace a life that requires them to live by faith and not by sight? Even those who are eager to leave Egypt may be tempted to return as soon as life gets difficult – or as soon as life becomes easy!
Like the Israelites, some of us hesitated to leave Egypt. Perhaps we have encountered obstacles that have diverted us. Our traveling companions, others who profess to love Jesus, may have disappointed us. The plans we thought God would bless have not gone well. The prayers we prayed were not answered as we had hoped. We may have started by making small compromises that grew. Wounded by another’s sins, we have become bitter. Fearing we would run out of money, we stopped giving. Looking for a little pleasure to soothe us, we turned to drugs or pornography. Or maybe we simply told God a series of little “no’s” that turned into a way of life deprived of His presence. Before we know it, we are no longer following but withdrawing – returning to Egypt, to a place of bondage, boredom, forgetfulness and despair.
If this describes you, even in part, there is still time to turn around, still time to get back on the path. Luckily, you don’t have to find your way back alone. For the Father has sent his Son to seek you. Jesus is the good shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine sheep in search of the lost one. All you have to do is ask for his help.
The word that describes this act of reversal, of leaving the wrong path to go on the right path, is repentance. This is the first step in our journey back to God. As Eugene Peterson points out, “Repentance is a realization that what God wants from you and what you expect from God will not be achieved by doing the same old things, thinking the same old thoughts. Repentance is a decision to follow Jesus Christ and become his pilgrim on the path to peace. “(1)
Peterson goes on to say that repentance “is the action that follows the realization that history is not a dead end and that guilt is not an abyss. It is the discovery that there is always a way out of distress, a path that begins with repentance or turning to God. »(2) Repentance is the essential first step in a life of trouble and despair. Repentance brings us closer to the only true source of peace: God himself.
(1) “Repentance is an achievement”: Eugene Peterson, A long obedience in the same direction (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1980), p. 26.
(2) “is the action that follows”: Ibid.
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