When God led the children of Israel out of Egypt he did it in such a way that he blessed them in the process. Not only did he set them free from their bondage of being slaves he orchestrated it so that they spoiled the Egyptians at the same time. The Egyptians GAVE their riches to the Israelites! They were slaves but God set them at liberty and gave them the riches of the Egyptians. (Read Exodus 12)
The psalmist is asking for deliverance from iniquity. Often it is not our own iniquity that we need deliverance from. Sometimes it is other peoples’ iniquity that is oppressing us or that we are in bondage to. We can choose NOT to be oppressed or suffer in bondage any more and break that stronghold in our lives but we need to be willing to follow God’s leading. Just as the children of Israel had to follow the fire by night and the cloud by day, we must hike after Christ as our trail guide.
There is a place on my favorite trail up Old Rag Mountain where the trail brings you to the bottom of a crevice and the next blaze is literally halfway up the rock wall a good ten feet above your head. You must go up. There is no other way. However, in the crevice of oppression or bondage, we have Christ as our fellow hiking companion, our trail guide, who goes before us and shows us where the hand holds are and the footholds are to get us up that wall and deliver us to freedom that awaits us at the top. Quite often he sends along help in the form of another Christian to give us a hand up. I know this to be true. To be crystal clear about it, this has happened to me and others I know, not only in the literal physical sense of climbing this particular crevice on Old Rag Mountain, but also in the spiritual sense of climbing out of the crevice of oppression imposed on us by others.
When God brings us out of bondage or captivity into liberty, we come out with a high hand as the Israelites did. We come out with the riches of knowledge, wisdom, understanding, and compassion for others who are suffering the way we have. These riches can be used to help others out of the same experiences that Christ sets us free from.
I am thankful for the riches of knowledge, wisdom, and understanding that I am gaining in this process. God is giving them to me for a purpose. I just don’t know what that is yet. God gave the riches of the Egyptians to the Israelites for a purpose. It was not until God gave Moses the instructions to build the tabernacle that the purpose was realized. So for now I will climb after my guide and soak up the riches he is giving me by his grace as he leads me up out of this crevice.
He leads. I follow.
