Goading the gods

August 12, 2020

“Against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.” —Exodus 12:12

The Biblical Exodus story has been a source of inspiration for freedom movements everywhere. “Let my people go!” was the cry of abolitionists from Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and Walt Whitman to Martin Luther King, Jr. An oppressed people delivered from a seemingly invincible world power is the stuff of dreams. But there is a lesser-known facet of the story highlighted in the text above. 

Deliverance from oppression is one thing; building a nation and an identity that transcends slavery is quite another, and according to the Scriptural narrative, neither can be accomplished by human effort alone. It required a leader, a vision, and the call of an Almighty God. Anything less is doomed to failure because it fails to take into account the spiritual nature of oppression. Slavery is a mindset as well as a policy. Remove the policy, and the mindset remains in both the oppressor and the oppressed. Too often, people have striven to alter the policy without transforming the thinking and attitudes of either side.

What’s more, oppression is demonic. Satan is the author of bondage. His whole purpose is to enslave and destroy. Any attempt to deal with oppression, slavery, and injustice must be able to encompass the demonic roots of oppression, and unfortunately for merely secular programs, they are ill-equipped to deal with spiritual entities. Today’s Scripture highlights the demonic elements of oppression—God was not only setting his people free; he was demonstrating his power over the demonic authorities that governed Egypt. 

We tend to think this kind of talk is antiquated; that it is a relic of a bygone and superstitious era, but we have no problem speaking of corporate or team spirit. We use that kind of language, but fail to appreciate its import. There is something very real about it, even if we cannot fully define it. For the past two months, we’ve witnessed mobs of mostly young people roaming through city streets, destroying property, assaulting police officers, and looting indiscriminately. Most of those doing this would never do so on their own. It is when they gather together that something is created that wasn’t there before. Call it what you will—mob spirit, mob mentality, sociopathy—behind it are the principalities and powers of which St. Paul speaks in Ephesians 6. According to the Bible, these same powers rule entire nations, holding vast numbers of people in bondage. 

When God sets people free, he does so by breaking the demonic powers that hold people captive, which makes me wonder—What false gods hold us in their power? Is the present pandemic God’s way of breaking the power of our culture’s gods of pleasure, greed, sports, and unending pursuit of bigger and better? I love watching baseball and basketball, and miss seeing my Cubbies, but perhaps it’s good to let go so I am free to pursue more significant matters. If so, as much as it pains me, I will thank God for his harsh but clear action to set me free.