“Thus the LORD saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore” (Exodus 14:30 ESV)

I love to take the old familiar Bible stories I learned in Children’s Church and dig deeper to discover what God is really trying to teach me. The crossing of the Red Sea is one of my absolute favorites! I’ve studied it many times and God never fails to reveal something new every time. A few years ago, I really read, I mean I REALLY READ, this Scripture quoted above and noticed a detail that we often skip over but has very significant meaning: they saw the Egyptians dead.

For 400 years the Hebrews had lived in bondage to the Egyptians who had forced them, God’s people, His chosen, to live under a false identity—slaves. This is the short version but you already know the story: God had led them out of bondage, miraculously delivered them, and now what had kept them in bondage and living in that false identity is dead at their feet.

It had never occurred to me until a few years ago that these Egyptians were not strangers to the Israelites. No doubt some soldiers had been mean to them, had beaten them and inflicted pain, but still, they knew them. Think about Moses. He is looking at men that he grew up with and Ramesses who was part of his Egyptian family! Regardless of bondage, slavery, and abuse, there was still a history with all these Egyptians.

If you saw Tami’s Facebook Live Prayer for Prodigals last night,[1] May 26, 2020, you heard her pray against bondage. During that prayer God began to impress upon me that the next stronghold I needed to come against in praying for a prodigal whom I love is his identity. The list of identities with which he lives is a long one. None of them are his true identity, which is the man of God he was created to be, but he lives every day in bondage to the false ones. He knows them. He knows how they operate and, despite the pain he’s experienced because of them, he only knows how to live in the bondage. He has no idea how to live in the deliverance and in his true identity.

Let’s go back to the Red Sea for a moment. I hope that as they looked upon the dead bodies of the Egyptian army that they did not cry over them, that they did not mourn for them, and that they did not try to breathe life back into them. I hope that even though they could call the names of each one, that they remembered that the intention, the whole reason they had followed, had been to take them back into bondage. It was important that they saw the Egyptians dead so that they could grasp that what kept them in bondage couldn’t hurt them anymore, couldn’t chase them anymore, and couldn’t influence them anymore.

Picture it as they gazed upon the lifeless Egyptians and the realization that they were truly delivered began to sink in. I can only imagine the power in the transition as their true identity as God’s Chosen emerges to the surface, and the false identity shatters! Then imagine the power as they turn their backs on the dead army, face forward, and take their first step toward their promise in their true identity as children of God!

Oh, how I long for the day that this particular prodigal makes that transition! I can’t wait to meet the man that God created him to be!

In the meantime, there are a few things that I have learned along the way while praying for this prodigal that, hopefully, will encourage and inspire you.

1. Your prodigal needs you to walk out of bondage with them. Moses lived in Egypt but never lived in bondage as a slave. However, he went into enemy territory and demanded that Pharaoh release his people. Then he walked out of Egypt with those that DID live in bondage. In the spiritual realm, you are Moses for your prodigal. When you engaged in this fight you marched into enemy territory and demanded that the enemy release your prodigal. Now your prodigal needs for you to march out of their “Egypt” with them. And let me gently say that they need to feel unconditional love, not judgment, for where they’ve been.
2. Your prodigal needs for you to move with them at their pace. One of the emotions we must guard against is the frustration that your prodigal may not grow in the Lord at the rate that we think they should. After all, they were raised in church, they know scripture, they know what to do and how to do it. But revelation must come directly from God. We will be anxious to get them to deliverance but only God knows what they can handle and when. It’s crucial that we allow only God to provide any revelation so that they are not overwhelmed to the point that they become paralyzed. As long as they are moving forward, no matter how slow, just hold their hand and walk beside them. It’s still progress.
3. There may come a point when your prodigal will feel trapped. The path out of Egypt was not an easy road and neither will your prodigal’s road be easy. The enemy will follow and at the first obstacle your prodigal may feel trapped and like there is no use to keep trying. They may feel like there is no escape. That’s where you stand in faith and expectation until God opens the way for a miraculous deliverance and rest in the assurance that God will hold back the waters and keep the ground dry until you and your prodigal reach the other side.
4. Be aware of their pain. Remember that the Children of Israel knew the Egyptians. Regardless of whatever pain or suffering your prodigal experienced in the bondage, they have a connection. Therefore, walking away will be painful. Types of bondage will be different for each prodigal. For some, it’s an addiction; for others it may a person they love. No matter what it is, at this point of the journey, pray for the right words to remind them that it does not love them back, and its intention is to take them back into bondage. You won’t understand this connection, but be aware that their pain is real and love them through it.
5. Rejoice in the transition. This is the moment you’ve been waiting for. When your prodigal sees his/her “Egyptian” dead at his/her feet and realize he/she is truly delivered, rejoice as you watch the old identity shatter and his/her true identity emerge. Then rejoice in watching your prodigal turn his/her back to it, face forward, and take that first step toward the promises, fully knowing who he/she is in God!
6. Your prodigal will have to learn how to live in the deliverance and their true identity. Don’t forget that your prodigal is more familiar with what life is like in the bondage than in this new life in deliverance. That frustration that he/she should be growing in the Lord at a faster rate may try to kick in again. They need you to be patient, extend grace, and be ready with forgiveness as he/she learns to live as a son or daughter of the King.

The journey with your prodigal out of Egypt may be rough, but never lose sight of the truth that IT IS GOD’S WILL for your prodigal to be delivered from any and all bondage, and IT IS GOD’S WILL that he/she finds his/her identity in Him and Him alone.

One other detail about the deliverance of Israel that we haven’t mentioned is the visible presence of God that never left them as they made their journey. We know there was a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. In one of my studies, some of the references mentioned that this wasn’t a white cloud like we picture that they just followed, but rather, it surrounded and engulfed them and they walked IN it.

As you walk with your prodigal out of his/her Egypt, remember that the Presence of God surrounds you. You and your prodigal do not walk alone, my friend.

[1]https://www.facebook.com/112190170325165/videos/869331053578165/UzpfSTEzNjAwMzY1MzkzNzU1MTo2MDM3ODY5ODcxNTkyMTM/

(Darlene Vice has served in many areas of ministry but her heart is women’s ministry. Recently, she published her first women’s Bible Study entitled “Behind Leah’s Veil.”
Darlene and her husband, Tommy, have been married for 35 years. They have two adult children, and 6 months ago became first-time grandparents.)