He was a young dreamer, this shepherd boy of Israel. But, this young dreamer, guided by God, would one day save his family from total destruction.

Sold into slavery by his brothers, eventually Joseph became a leader in the foreign land of Egypt. Second in command of the nation of Egypt, by following the dreams that God had given him, his provision of food and leadership finally brought his brothers to him for help and the family was saved. They not only were saved, they flourished and grew in numbers to the point that a new Pharoah of Egypt, out of fear of their numbers, brought all of the Hebrews into the bondage of slavery.

Evil task masters drove the people daily to build the kingdom of an earthly ruler. Whipped and chained, mud up to their knees, scars on their back was the payment for their work. There was no freedom. Only bondage. There was no dignity. Only men and women whose identity was stripped and possessions stolen. Their moans and cries for freedom were finally heard in heaven and Moses, an earthly deliverer was sent to take the slaves out of Egypt to freedom.

It never ceases to amaze me how a people who were caught up in the slavery of such bondage could ever want to return once they had left it? But, they did. Wondering in the dessert, they began to wish for the comforts of a slave. You see, the comforts of a slave are only the little bits of food and dwelling places given to them from their taskmasters and owners. Freedom was not worth the fight to them and they began to complain.

Sometimes, we are no different than the once enslaved Hebrews who gained their freedom, only to want to go back into slavery because the dessert got too hot, the race was too far to run, and the enemy spoke enticing words to come back to the shackles and be given a small piece of moldy bread in a dark prison cell.

Slavery to sin, slavery to self, slavery to material things, slavery to monetary gain, slavery to failure, slavery to one's past, all come with shackles that wrap tightly around the wrists and ankles. This is a life of a dark cell where the slave hides in the darkness. All the slave can do is respond to the taskmasters commands to give him more of their life.

Freedom, true freedom, comes from the truth of God's Word. This truth will set you free. The absolute truth of God's Word is the only thing to bring light into the darkened cell of slavery. And when that light has come into that cell, when the eyes adjust to this new light, the eyes of the slave become open to focus on Jesus, the final heavenly deliverer, standing with the shackle breaker in His hands to smash those shackles once and for all.

Why go back into a life of slavery once a slave becomes free?