My Exodus Season
If you're anything like me, you probably heard Moses' story over and over again as a child, and maybe even watched plenty of TV and movie adaptations of it (looking at you, Prince of Egypt). I think it's so well known that even people who aren't Christians tend to know some details about it.
Well, the Holy Spirit led me to start reading Exodus recently, and it's always so wild to me how you can read the Bible over and over again and yet somehow feel like it's your first time reading a particular passage. When I began to read the story of Moses, I found myself surprised at some of the reactions I was having, despite knowing pretty well how it all goes down. I was only a few chapters into Exodus when I found myself annoyed with Moses, and offended for God because of Moses' brazen lack of faith. I literally paused and started talking out loud to the Lord, saying, "My goodness, get it together, Moses." He was so fixated on his lack of ability to speak well (and whatever other deficiencies he had) that it felt to me as though the immense honor and trust that was being bestowed upon him by God just went completely over his head.
And then I laughed at myself. Because yeah, right, like I've never done the same. Talk about missing the log in your own eye, LOL.
So I continued reading, and it struck me just how much the Lord had to repeat Himself to Moses (who then had to repeat himself to the Israelites) about what He planned to do to set His people free. I could see how God was trying to drive home the point of "regardless of how Pharaoh reacts, I Am—and I will accomplish what I have spoken." After maybe the third time of Moses telling God that he was a poor speaker and Pharaoh wouldn't listen to him, I came to this realization: how often do we focus so much on our shortcomings that we end up forgetting—or completely missing—the great position in Christ that God has placed us in?
God told Moses in Exodus 7:1, "I have put you in the place of God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother will be your prophet."
Not just God's spokesperson. God gave Moses the ability to literally stand before Pharaoh as if it were God Himself. I believe that what God gave Moses access to was a foreshadowing of what we now have access to through Christ Jesus. The beautiful thing is that those of us who have given our lives to the Lord are part of the New Covenant, so we now have access to even greater than Moses did, because Moses didn't have the infilling of the Holy Spirit.
Maybe that seems kind of wild to you, but there are so many verses that prove this. 1 John 4:17 says, "By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world." Galatians 2:20 says, "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."
John 14:12 says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father."
Obviously we are not literally Jesus, but we do have our own unique identity that was formed in God's image. And spiritually, we have access to the same power, authority, blessings, and overall inheritance that belongs to the Son of God.
What an honor and privilege it is that our Savior has not only saved us from the penalty of sin but also given us the ability to walk as Him on the earth.
It took me about a month and a half to read Exodus, and as with everything else the Lord does, I knew He intentionally led me to this book of the Bible in this particular season for a reason.
Reading Exodus aligned so much with my own personal life transitions—physically, spiritually, and mentally and emotionally. It really mirrored my transition out of certain things in my life that were not only distractions but actually old patterns and mindsets that I needed to let go of, because they would end up hindering the person who was trying to emerge. I saw myself being led by the Lord away from situations that no longer benefited where He wanted to take me, while also being led into a time of building up and focusing on the things that were necessary to prepare me for this next season of life (a major part of which involves my upcoming art collection release!). I remember at one point, the Holy Spirit told me I had "entered my cocoon."
The interesting thing is, from the outside looking in, it doesn't seem as though much has changed—just like with a cocoon. A lot of it was internal, and some was external yet still subtle shifts in my life. As challenging as it all was, and as much as I strangely felt like I was grieving the loss of many things I thought were a non-issue in my life, I knew along the way that it was necessary. The process that the Lord has taken me through (and I'm still kind of journeying through) has been so key in preparing me to have the capacity to truly be—and continue to become—who God always intended for me to be.
It's not always pleasant. Often it feels worse before it gets better. But it's so necessary, because what a travesty it would be to live and die without having fully believed or walked in who God has called us to be as coheirs with His Son—all because we didn't deal with the distractions, insecurities, and old mindsets that were unknowingly hindering us from getting there.
Thankfully, as we may already know, Moses did his part to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and toward the Promised Land. Along the way he led in building the tabernacle through divine instruction, and demonstrated such a level of hunger for God's presence that he got to experience the glory of God before it was fully available on the earth.
Just imagine what would have happened if Moses never got past his own insecurities enough to obey the Lord. Sure, God may have found someone else to do what needed to be done to deliver the Israelites, but Moses would have died without fulfilling such a tremendous destiny. I don't know about you, but I'm definitely not interested in getting so caught up in my flaws that I forget who God created me to be and what He's given me access to through Jesus Christ.
So, we're going to surrender all of our imperfections, insecurities, and worries to the Lord and allow Him to transform us and lead us out of our own "Egypt" into the Promised Land. Deal? Deal.
This is just the tip of the iceberg of how much God taught me through reading this book in the Bible—the Bible is so rich and full of revelation. I highly recommend reading Exodus for yourself if you are looking for something to study in this season.
Discussion Question:
Share in the comments below - Have you ever found yourself in an "Exodus season"—being led out of something old and into something new? What did that look like for you? What were your wins and struggles?
If you ever want to share anything connected to this post or in general, I’d love to hear from you! Feel free to comment below, email me at giselle@creatinghallelujahs.com or message me on Instagram @creatinghallelujahs. I check those regularly, and everything stays confidential unless you give permission to share.
