Rolled Away

May 14

We can be bound by slavery to sin for so long that we no longer recognize that we are slaves to a harsh task master who has stolen our dignity and denied us a hope. We can be so sucked in to the quagmire of sin that we no longer realize we’re living in a pit that is preventing us from rising to fulfillment in Christ.

But, we can be set free. In Joshua 5:9 we are told that, “The Lord said to Joshua, ‘Today I have rolled away the disgrace of Egypt from you.’” Perhaps Joshua hadn’t recognized the imprint the chains of Egypt had made upon him but the Lord saw them and determined every vestige of slavery must be removed!

The God who delivered His people would not allow any remnant of their bondage to dog their heels as they were delivered to freedom! The male children born to the Israelites in the wilderness had not been circumcised. God required this rite of them as an evidence of their delivery from sin.

Just as the cutting away of the flesh is painful, so is the cutting away of sin. Though we can be accustomed to the natural state in the wilderness where the rite of circumcision has not been performed, so can we become accustomed to the natural state of sin. He requires that sin be cut away so we can be fully His.