Craig Thomas

Psalm 114 is a short psalm that poetically describes Israel’s miraculous deliverance from Egyptian bondage. The very first verse caught my attention:

“1 When Israel went out of Egypt, The house of Jacob from a people of strange language,”

When Jacob’s family was providentially spared from the great famine in the days of Joseph, they fled to Egypt for food and refuge (Gen. 45-47). The Egyptians despised them because they were shepherds (Gen. 46:33-34). Therefore, Joseph persuaded Pharaoh to allow his family to dwell in the land of Goshen. That land was suitable for their livestock and gave the Israelites a measure of isolation from the pagan Egyptians. It was profitable in the sense that their relative isolation would help minimize the influence of the Egyptian culture on God’s people, the Israelites

Christians, as God’s people today, live “in the world” (Jn. 17:11) but we are “not of the world” (Jn. 17:14, 16). We, if you will, “rub shoulders” with the Egyptians. John goes on to tell us (1 Jn. 2:15-17):

"15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”

Even though we live in a lost and dying world, a world dominated by sin and Satan; we follow God’s Word as our only guide (Rom. 8:14; Psa. 119:105). The Israelites lived among a people who spoke a “strange language.” When it comes to sin and the ways of the world, we as Christians also live among a people who do not speak our language — the language of obedience and righteousness (Rom. 6:17-18). To please God, we must live separate from the ways, views, attitudes, and opinions of the world. Why?

“16 For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.’ 17 Therefore ‘Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you.’ 18 ‘I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the Lord Almighty.’ 7:1 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”

How’s your pursuit of “perfecting holiness” going? Do you still speak the “strange language” of the world or do you speak as God speaks? (cf. 1 Pet. 4:11)