Have you ever prayed for deliverance from a certain situation? Maybe, it was a bad relationship or a difficult work environment. Or, maybe, it was a pit of sin that you constantly found yourself falling into time and time again. Did you promise God (and yourself) that, if he would just help you out this one time, you would never go there again? I think we have all been there. 

There is something about our human condition. We are prone to forget. It does not matter how bad that place was, all it takes is one little bump in the present road and we begin looking back. And we forget. We forget the pain of that previous place.

“Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” – Numbers 14:3

That seems like an innocent enough question, right? Until you remember that they were SLAVES in Egypt! God had delivered them. He had parted the sea, given them bread each morning and had meat fall from the sky. Still, a lack of water immediately had them crying for Egypt. They didn’t trust God to protect and provide for them in this unfamiliar territory.

I think of people who have overcome painful pasts, have had to walk away from toxic relationships and learn a whole new way of life. They have decided to follow Christ down a new and better path. Sometimes, however, we foolishly believe that better means easier. Then, a little bump in the road comes up. An old (not good for us) friend comes to call. We struggle financially. Or, maybe, we just get a little lonely. We begin looking back and Satan is right there to whisper in our ears.

Satan will try to tell us that the way things were, the way we were, was not as bad as we remember. He wants us to go back to the pit. His desire is for us to go back to that place that wasn’t fun, but it was familiar. He’ll polish up those old idols until they shine. He will conveniently forget to mention the pain and shame of that former place. Set your mind, on the front end, to following Christ wherever he leads. Egypt holds nothing but heartache.