When I was preparing to teach a course on Theology of Mission I was struck by how many times this phrase occurs and especially how it was connected to "next steps" for the Jewish people. Their future actions or confidence in the their future actions were supposed to be anchored in the miraculous movement of God - the Exodus.
This is the God who turned the Nile into blood, who brought flies and frogs and boils and darkness and death.
This is the God who divided the waters, set the captive free, and destroyed the enemy in a watery grave.
How quickly they forgot this God of miracles. How quickly man's inability eclipses God's ability.
When I was a kid my dad dairied and later on as an adult I took up the farming profession myself. I am familiar with fences. They keep things in; they keep things out. They always seem to need fixing.
When you put a fence in you start with an anchor post which is usually the size of a telephone pole and the next post on either side is anchored to that with twisted wire. From that point on the fence is stretched. So you can see how important it is to have a solid anchor. It is the place you point to as your beginning.
It is also interesting to note that fence posts are generally set about fifteen to twenty feet apart. It's short enough to keep the wire tight but long enough to keep from digging too many holes.
I have often thought about that process in my own faith, especially when doubt arises about my own abilities in the kingdom of God. Once again the fault lies in my inability to remember that "God brought me out of Egypt." He brought me through the desert of Sinai. He guided me along the Dead Sea and the Jordan River. He protected me and gave me victory over Og and Sihon. He delivered the city of Ai and the pagan kings.
Each of these, although taken from the narrative of the people of Israel, are my story; the names and places are just different. This is a visual line of God's faithfulness, a line affirming his presence and power.
When I begin to doubt or lose my way I only need to look back...and hopefully not too far...to see a faithful post that God has erected in my fence. He is building something. He was faithful there...and there...and there...and there...and there... He gives me enough space to stretch and anchors me when I start to become weak.
My life is a succession of stretching and posting, stretching and posting. Pull...set. Pull...set. God is growing me; God is grounding me. God is growing me; God is grounding me. And all the while the greatest tension is on that corner post - God himself. He is anchoring it all.
"I am the LORD your God who brought you out of Egypt." Unfortunately there I times when I think it was Delta or United.
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