We all have a testimony of our life we could share. And if we sat down in a small group and shared our testimonies they all would be different
If you asked any Jew in the Old Testament from the time after they entered the promise land to share their testimony, they all would be the same.
I was a Slave in Egypt, as was my father, his father and his father. I was trapped, I was enslaved and without hope. But God delivered us from Egypt.
But not long after they were delivered they built a golden calf and tried to return.
We who were delivered from being trapped and enslaved to sin by the blood of Jesus, we try to return as well.
I see this with addicts in recovery. They get clean and free from the drug. However, they do not know how to live sober and it scares them with the new realities they must face and work through. Though they feel better, they feel lost. Addiction is all they knew and was “comfortable.’ They think to themselves, in 6 months I am going to fail anyways, so they return to their “Egypt”.
I see this in people who were incarcerated for a long time. They get out of their prison, it was all they knew, and they return
I see this in people in relationships. Woman with abusive boyfriend or husband. Or one who is lazy, and treats her like his slave. Then in a moment of Epiphany she leaves him and make a decision to move out on her own. Then she gets lonely. It’s Friday night and friends are out and she is at home. She looks at old photos of them, and thinks to herself, we made good selfies together. She forgets what “living in Egypt was like, and calls him. And returns to Egypt.
I see this in people who are stuck in a job or career where they are under paid, over worked, mis-treated and taken advantage of. Yet they are afraid to leave this “Egypt”.
Israel, the Jews in the Wilderness
Now the people became like those who complain of adversity in the hearing of the Lord;…. The rabble who were among them had greedy desires; and also the sons of Israel wept again and said, “Who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish which we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic, but now our appetite is gone. There is nothing at all to look at except this manna.”
In Hosea chapter 11 we see the Jews that could not go back to Egypt. But it was all they knew. So they again created their own Egypt and built altars to Baal, raised Ashera poles and other Gods.
Egypt can also be something “good” that your stuck in that is keeping you from doing something great. I see this in people’s lives and in the church today.
As we move in out of 2025, What is your Egypt you need to leave behind as you begin 2026?
What is it God is calling you out of Egypt to do this year?
What is the Egypt you are to scared to step out of or want to go back to?
God does not provide manna in easy places, but in the wilderness, in difficult places. God only does miracles when there is real need. That does not happen when you are doing good. When you are comfortable. Why do you need a miracle when comfortable?
God provides miracles when there is real need. God provides manna in the difficult places. You experience miracles when you step out, are afraid, and following his lead into places that if God does not show up, you will fail. Then God gives you manna. Then You get to experience Him.
On a side note, God provides miracles when you pray for them. Israelites prayed for mana, prayed for deliverance from Egypt
Where is manna raining down for you right now?
What does your manna look like?
What manna are you desperately praying for now?