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Day Three: Canaan and Egypt in Our Lives

What do Egypt and Canaan portray in life? Canaan illustrates spiritual values and goals. Egypt illustrates natural things in the world – our home, clothing, schedules and so on.

Canaan is the ideal of love to the Lord and love to the neighbor. It is the love of family, the dream of a life of use and service to others. Canaan portrays the spiritual promises the Lord leads us to in the truths of His Word. The Lord calls us to go to Canaan, just as He called the people of Israel to go there in the opening chapters of the Word. The Lord calls us to fulfill spiritual goals and dreams in our lives; He calls us to become spiritually reborn.

Egypt portrays the things of the world. The meaning of Egypt is not merely physical possessions and material objects, but also worldly knowledge and skills that can serve and express the higher, spiritual ideals of Canaan. For example, doctors can have the higher love of healing the sick, but that love rests on the foundation of their worldly knowledge of the science of medicine.

The Egypt of our lives, worldly knowledge and physical possessions, can turn into a place of captivity, but this is not its created purpose. Worldly things and knowledge in themselves are not evil; they are not innately contrary to the will of God. The Lord gives us the physical things of the world so that we can tangibly express the higher values of heaven, here on earth. Egypt can be a place of great wealth. It is for this reason that several stories in the Bible speak of a journey from Canaan to Egypt for the purpose of gathering wealth. In the book of Genesis, it is recorded that Abram went down to Egypt to gather food and wealth when there was a famine in Canaan. In the same way, the Lord sent Joseph to Egypt to gather storehouses of food for his family, so that they could survive the famine in Canaan.

The journey from Canaan to Egypt is a journey we often make in our lives. The Lord touches our hearts with a dream, and a hunger for the fulfillment of that dream. We journey south, from our state of inspiration in Canaan, to a state of learning and preparation in Egypt. Egypt is a cognitive state of mind, a time of learning and preparation. Often the inspiration we felt in Canaan is temporarily left behind as we set our mind to the pursuits of study and learning in Egypt. A teacher with the Canaan vision of helping children to learn may find that love distant as he sojourns in the Egypt of grading homework and dealing with discipline in the classroom. But the intention is to return to Canaan after gathering wealth during a temporary stay in Egypt. We are called to return to the promised land of Canaan, to our spiritual ideals, with the wealth and provisions of Egypt. For it is in Canaan that our lives are made whole.

Insight
Canaan illustrates spiritual values and goals.
Egypt illustrates natural things in the world–our home, clothing, schedules and so on.

Key Point
Everything in the Bible has a spiritual meaning – whether it is a specific object or an event, it has a deeper meaning for your life.

Reflection
List some of the specific Canaan and Egypt aspects of your life. Here are some examples to get you started. As you continue your reading this week, feel free to come back and add more to this list.

In what areas of your life are you trapped in details (Egypt) and need to remember the purpose and vision (Canaan) of that part of your life?

Download this Reflection in printable form. (PDF)

Discussion Board
Share your thoughts on today's Journey in the discussion board.

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