Mitchell County

Exodus 1:14 “And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage…”

Nobody likes to be bound up. It makes every part of life difficult, and let’s face it, life is hard. Every one of us has something that we are carrying that is heavy, a battle that we are fighting that is fierce, an enemy that wants to destroy us. Life is hard. With that understood, we need to have our hands and our hearts free and unbound.

The verse that I used here is speaking of the Egyptians placing God’s children into bondage and making them the slaves of Pharaoh. There is so much allegorical and historical truth in this telling, but we will not get into all of it. God’s people were being held in bitter and hard bondage by Pharaoh. They were barely hanging on and needed someone to set them free. God sends Moses. We all know the rest of the story. God’s people are set free, and God begins leading them to the land of promise. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

The question I want to pose to us today is this: “What/Who has us in bondage?” I think right off the gate some of us would say, “I am not in bondage!” We often think that bondage must be some gross addiction or terrible sin. However, bondage can look very much like a good thing. For instance, what about tradition? Not all traditions are bad, but when our tradition takes precedence over God’s Word or God’s direction for us, then it is putting us in bondage. We can’t go where He is leading if we are bound by tradition.

Opinions and preferences can bind us up. When we get caught up in how “we like it” or think “our way is better,” then we can be limiting ourselves in doing the work that God has sent us to do. God led His people out of Egypt, HIS way. He provided for them, HIS way. He led them to HIS promise for them. God doesn’t ask our opinion or what our preference is concerning a matter. When we get caught up in our own mindset, it binds us up, and we cannot go or do what He wants.

These are only two examples. As we examine our lives, we can find more. Pride. Anger. Disappointment. Discouragement. All these can put us in bondage. Whatever has us bound leads to the same end. Bitterness and hardship. Neither of those is what we want in life.

So, back to the question, what/who has you in bondage?

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Rev. Nathan Silver is a Mitchell County native and is the Senior Pastor at Grassy Creek Baptist Church in Spruce Pine, NC. He is married to Jessica and they have two daughters Grace and Lida. He is passionate about his Savior and His Bride, the Church. Nathan loves spending time with his wife and daughters and being in the great outdoors. He loves preaching the Word of God and gathering with Saints in worshiping our Savior.

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