Focus: Put Egypt Behind You!

Text: Jer.2:18

"And now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? or what hast thou to do in the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river?

Life can be rough and tough. Things may not always work out as planned and expected. Being a Christian may have exposed you to different ugly situations and disadvantages in this life. I charge you by the Spirit of God: don't lose hope. Don't cast off your faith. Don't lose your grip or hold on God. Don't look back to Egypt. Refuse to make a shipwreck of your faith. Don't jeopardize your relationship with Christ. Don't be like Demas. Paul says of him, "For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world…" (2Tim.4:10). Listen, there's nothing to love about this world - not the past world, not the now world, and certainly not tomorrow's world.

Egypt is a type of the world. Egypt should hold no form of attraction to the child of God, because he is not of the world, though he lives in it. When Satan showed Jesus Christ the glory of the kingdoms of this world, Christ was never attracted. He saw nothing in the world that could catch His interest or tickle His fancy. Paul made it absolutely clear that He was crucified to the world, and the world to Him.

The waters of Sihor will not satiate or quench your thirst. One possible translation would be, "What hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of the muddy river?" The world offers muddy waters. Christ offers the fountain of living water. God laments through Jeremiah, "For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water" (Jer.2:13). The world's peace is a nightmare. The world gives you the very opposite of what it offers. Rutherford once said, "I have tasted of Christ's own manna, and it hath put my mouth out of taste for the brown bread of this world's joys." Put Egypt behind you! You are forever done with Egypt. Say no to the lies of Satan, and to all his poisonous dainties. Say like Job, "I will wait till my change comes." The Apostle Paul says, "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye… we shall be changed" (1Cor.15:52). 

Your change will happen in a moment. God knows how to turn your moments into a momentum, and your atom of time into an atomic energy, capable of changing you.

Don't turn your back on your God, regardless of how things seem at the moment. Peter says, "Master, we have nowhere else to go, for you alone have the words of eternal life." Don't bow to pressure. Don't sell your birthright for a morsel of bread. Egypt and Assyria are up to no good in your life. Keep them behind you forever. 

However things may seem on the surface, and whatever it is that you are passing through, God wants you to know that He remains the best at being God - the best among the gods. There's no forgetting that Lot's wife turned into a pillar of salt for looking back. Stop looking in the direction of Egypt and Assyria.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter