March 2

Leviticus 26:13

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high

The people of Israel were set free and delivered by the hand of God.  I could only imagine their excitement and the feeling of being lifted out of their burden while they took their first steps out of Egypt and into their freedom.  There was a danger though, because even though they were no longer slaves in Egypt, their minds were still held captive in slavery which left them vulnerable to slip into old patterns of behavior such as idol worshiping.  As I read this I realized that we are so much like the people of Israel.  We too have been set free, but without an awareness of our freedom, we run the risk of slipping back into captivity.  The passage in Luke 4:18 tells of Jesus announcing His mission statement in the temple as He read from scripture Isaiah 61:1 "He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners..."  The chains of slavery that bound us to our past along with our sins have been broken in Jesus Name. Jesus paid a very heavy price for that freedom and the bars of our yoke have been lifted and we now have been enabled to walk with our heads high as children of God, covered in the blood of His Son.  If we put anything else above that truth we are believing a lie and, like the people of Israel, our minds will be held captive in slavery.  If only the people of Israel would have stepped out in faith and received the freedom they were given they would not keep returning to worship false idols. If only we would as well.  "Go, your faith has healed you" Jesus said to the blind man (Mark 10:52).  Like the blind man, we too have been told to "GO" and walk in faith, with our heads held high, knowing that Jesus is carrying the bars of our yoke.





Randi