Treasures of Egypt

Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.

Hebrews 11:26

These words are spoken of Moses, late prince of Egypt, who fled the palace for the desert, that the God of his fathers might use him mightily for greater purposes. As Moses sat on the desert boulders, staring at the dumb sheep he guarded as shepherd, he must have wondered at so poor a bargain he’d struck. From a somebody to a nobody, a royal dignitary to a lowly herdsman.

Last term, I submitted my resignation at my place of work. In many respects, I have a brilliant job, arguably the best in the school. As Head of Sixth Form in a boys’ Grammar, I saw the students at their best. Gone were the petty misdemeanours symptomatic of lower school immaturity; in came the career ambitions and the first real signs of manliness and gentlemanlike attitudes. Had I been higher promoted, I should have spent my hours attending tedious meetings, crushed under the weight of paperwork and inane emails, whilst poring and fretting over the latest Ofsted frameworks. Had I been lower down the pecking order, the volume of marking would have swamped me and I’d have had too little influence to have made an impact. No, my station was respected, influential and useful. From next term, the prestige, office, assistant and deputy will all have gone 

There are many natural reasons to have stepped down- I sometimes worked a 50-60 hour week, my actual classroom teaching suffered and I had little homelife. My role at Salem may now expand as the Lord opens more doorways which were hitherto beyond reach. I’m no Moses surrendering the pleasures of Egypt. The post of Head of Sixth Form isn’t royalty and I become no desert fugitive. But I know that the God of heaven can more than compensate for the loss of pension, kudos and satisfaction.

God calls each one of us to forsake Egypt. How does HJe call you?

Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ.

Philippians 3:8