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One of the most difficult and most critical times of my life was just about 4 years ago when I made the decision to leave all of the things I was comfortable with in central Pennsylvania and move to Findlay, Ohio to begin my pursuit of the Master of Divinity degree from Winebrenner Theological Seminary. Now, when I say I was "comfortable", that doesn't mean I was happy, and it definitely doesn't mean I was pursuing godliness. It means I had sought comfort in worldly things and had found it - temporarily. See, when you find comfort in the things you seek, you WILL find it. But you will also find that it has no lasting joy and no real power to bring happiness or contentment. I had several relationships that I thought would bring me comfort and they did, only to bring me pain and misery in the end. I had a job where I was making more money than I've ever made in my life and I was financially comfortable, but that was the only reason I took the job in the first place and I had lost my passion for serving the Lord since I had the wrong attitude toward my workplace. I grew more and more frustrated with my job and took it out on those around me. I even had a "successful" youth ministry at my church, where the youth grew in faith and in numbers. The problem was that their leader was slowly dying inside, dying spiritually from an all-out pursuit of comfort.

Fortunately, God used some key people in my life to speak the truth I needed to hear. About a year before I made the big move, I had been in Findlay, Ohio for a good friend's graduation from seminary. This was my first trip to the place I would move to a year later, and God was beginning to open my eyes. On that trip, Jim, an elder from my church, was sitting down with me at a local coffee house. I remember telling him that I was struggling to find contentment in my life even though I was comfortable and had very little to complain about. I'll never forget his response: "Well Logan, I imagine you will continue to feel that way until you do what the Lord wants you to do". Wow! I knew exactly what he was talking about and so did he, because everyone in our church knew God had been urging me to step out in faith, go to seminary, and get into full-time ministry. Everyone also knew that I was the one delaying it (while saying spiritual things like "I don't believe God wants me to go until I'm ready") and that I was scared of the unknown. But Jim's words started me on the path where I finally decided that I could not expect to find true contentment unless I made changes and stepped out to follow God not knowing where He would take me. Since that time, there have been ups and downs and struggles and victories. It's been quite an adventure and there have been plenty of times where I was scared not knowing how God was going to come through. I haven't always been comfortable, but I've been more content than ever before and there hasn't been one time that I can say God left me hanging.

I share all this about myself because I feel like my experiences gave me a small taste of what it was like for Moses and the Israelites at the time of the Exodus. Moses was comfortable tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, yet he knew he was a Hebrew and that his own countrymen were in captivity. The movie "The Ten Commandments" does a great job showing how Moses was likely discontent knowing that while he was comfortable, his people suffered. Then suddenly, God appears to him in a burning bush and tells Moses to go and do what He already knew was brewing in Moses' heart. Moses initially questions and rejects the idea because it is clear that his focus is on himself and his own abilities, or lack there of. Later, when God convicts him of this self-focused attitude and Moses begins the process of the exodus BY FAITH, he never once looks back.

Now think about the Israelites. They moaned and cried out to God over their suffering at the hands of the ruthless Egyptians. God heard their cry and desired to rescue them. But God wasn't about to do it for them in a way that was comfortable. If they TRULY wanted to be free, they had to leave the country by faith and follow any instructions God gave them through Moses, even the ones that made no sense to them. You and I think it's pretty hard to pack enough supplies for 10 or 12 people on a trip. Try preparing for a trip with 2 million people! This meant the journey would not be comfortable. They would need to fully depend on God for the most basic of needs and protection. They would be chased by the Egyptians with no real way of protecting themselves. At one point, they looked up and got scared when they saw the Egyptians and blamed Moses, saying, "Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn't we say to you in Egypt, 'Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians?' It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!" (Exodus 14:11-12). Seriously? These people were begging God to free them when they were captive, and were now complaining to Moses and God about His chosen method of freeing them! It sounds a little ridiculous, doesn't it? Then again, how many of us do the same thing?

We want freedom from the things that bind us, but we want freedom with the smallest possible cost to us. This is true if you are at a point of discontent in your life and know God is calling you to step out in faith in some way. It is true if you are held captive by the choices of others. And it is most certainly true if you are held captive by your sin issues. Make no mistake about it. God is not waiting to free you. He wants to free you RIGHT NOW. But you have to be willing to leave your captivity by faith. Even in captivity, there are certain comforts. Let's face it, the reason why we continue to make certain sinful choices even after we know they are wrong and cause us pain is because there is a level of comfort to them. This is especially true with sexual sin and other addiction issues. To indulge the flesh in these situations is to meet a need comfortably. If you really want to be freed from those sins, it's time to step out in faith and trust God that He knows what you need and will meet it in His way and His time and to stop giving in to that desire for immediate comfort and gratification. God is ready to lead you on an exodus to freedom in your life if you are willing to leave by faith and trust Him for all of your needs even when it doesn't seem like there's a plan in place. Are you ready? It's the ONLY way to true freedom from captivity!

For further study, read James 3:13-18.

Are you living God's way or your own?
Are you living out the "Kingdom of God" or living out the "Kingdom of Man"?
Who's wisdom are you living by? Godly wisdom or man's wisdom?

This should help you understand if you are living in captivity or are living in freedom in Christ.