Devotional by Dr. Dora Washington

Didn’t we tell you this would happen while we were still in Egypt? We said, ‘Leave us alone! Let us be slaves to the Egyptians. It’s better to be a slave in Egypt than a corpse in the wilderness!’
Exodus 14:12 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/exo.14.12.NLT

When the Israelites became afraid, they said and did things without thinking. They spoke fear, breathed fear, and lived in fear. Although God heard their cry and sent them help, miraculously delivered them, guarded them Himself with a pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night, they still refused to trust Him. They wanted to go back to slavery.

At one point the Children of Israel (COI) said, “It’s better to be a slave in Egypt than a corpse in the wilderness.” I say the opposite that it’s better to be a corpse in the wilderness than to be a slave in Egypt. To me a free corpse beats an enslaved body because the corpse knew freedom at least once, but a slave will never experience it.

How does this apply to trauma survivors? We know some things and people are not good for us, but we choose them anyway. That’s us saying, “I want to go back to Egypt.” That’s us saying, like the COI, “Leave us alone. We want to go back to Egypt. I like the abuse, rejection, low self-esteem, poverty, and heartache. At least I have someone.”

Prayer
Lord, thank You for sending me help. Deliver me from this slave mentality of always being in bondage to my flesh, emotions, debt, things and people. You are freeing me. Help me to stay calm and let You fight for me.

Written by Dr. Dora Washington
Tower of Hope Ministries
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