For my daughter’s fourteenth birthday last year, she invited a few of her friends to an escape room. For the uninitiated, an escape room or mystery room is essentially an entertainment option where you pay good, hard-earned money to be trapped in a small space for an hour.

I’m kidding. While I’ve only gone to an escape room once or twice, I enjoyed the experience where you solve clues in a theme-based room which leads you to more clues till, at last, you crack the final puzzle and are let out of “captivity.”

If, at the end of 60 minutes, your team hasn’t solved the final clue, then you have the option of paying more money—or in my dear daughter’s case, more of her parents’ money—for an extra 15 minutes in the escape room so you can emerge as victors.

The escape room situation reminded me of the Israelites who had been rescued from slavery in Egypt. God had miraculously brought them out of captivity by sending ten plagues so that Pharoah, the Egyptian king, let the Israelites go.

The Israelites emerged from the escape room of Egypt with their entire families, their cattle and their herds, and even gold and silver items that the Egyptians had given them. They were out of slavery! They were headed to the Promised Land!

But in Exodus 14, we see that the Israelites find themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place—there’s the Red Sea on one side and the Egyptian army pursuing them on the other. They are quite literally between the devil and the deep blue sea.

When they come to this physical barrier, they forget God’s faithfulness and His promises. Instead, they focus on their circumstances—and the complaints come tumbling out like too much laundry stuffed in the dryer.

“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!” (Exodus 14:12)

The Israelites want to go back to their old lives and old identities. They prefer the familiar over freedom. They value immediate gratification over long-term obedience.

We may be tempted to point fingers at them and say, “Are you guys for real? Didn’t you just witness the incredible miracles of God rescuing you from Egypt? How can you want to go back to your captors?”

But the truth is, we aren’t too different.

If you’ve given your life to Jesus, you too, like the Israelites, have been rescued from the Egypt of slavery to sin and death. God has saved us from the penalty or the punishment of sin.

But what about the power of sin? We may have been set free—but are we still leading defeated lives?

Like the Israelites, we may be slowly slipping back into an old way of life. We may forget the muck and the mire that God pulled us out of. We may think to ourselves: “Maybe I was better off being a slave to money, to popularity, to status, to promotions, to that relationship… to simply living life on my own terms” We may crave the familiarity and the immediate gratification that the Egypt of our past lives gave us.

But God may be saying to you today, “I’ve taken you out of slavery. Now, can I take the slavery out of you?”

The enemy has distracted and dulled us so we have developed spiritual amnesia. We have forgotten the mess, the hollowness, the depravity of our old lives.

We have been rescued from the escape room of Egypt—but are we still paying for 15 minutes more in captivity? The problem is those 15 extra minutes can become another 15 minutes and can insidiously lead to a lifetime of enslavement to sin.

God may be saying to you today, “I’ve taken you out of slavery. Now, can I take the slavery out of you?”

But, friend, remember that you don’t have to give in to sin because God has given you a way out. When the enemy deviously whispers in your ear that you have no choice but to be pulled into sin, it’s time to pull out the sword of the Spirit—the Word of God—and slash those lies with the truth.

We have succumbed to the mistaken idea of the inevitability of sin. We have forgotten who we are in Christ.

But, today, remember, agree with, and declare over yourself that you are a new creation in Christ Jesus. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Remember that He has given you His divine nature so you have everything you need for life and godliness. (2 Peter 1:3)

Remember that He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. (1 John4:4)

Remember that in all things you are more than a conqueror through Him who loves you. (Romans 8:37)

Remember that His resurrection power—the same power that raised Jesus— is at work within you. (Ephesians 1:19-20)

Yes, we all still stumble and fall into sin. But we are no longer slaves to sin. The God who rescued us from the penalty of sin is the God who rescues us from the power of sin.

Friend, may this be our prayer, “Lord, You have taken me out of slavery. Now take the slavery out of me.”

 

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