Saturday Read: Clinging to Dead Things

The Israelites carried Joseph's bones through the wilderness for forty years (Exodus 13:19). It was a promise kept, an act of faithfulness - Joseph had made them swear to bring his remains back to the promised land. But imagine the logistics: preserving, protecting, transporting bones through desert wandering, never settling because they were between the old and the new. They couldn't fully embrace their future until they properly laid their past to rest.

We do the same spiritually. We carry dead relationships, refusing to release what God has ended. We cling to old identities that no longer fit who God is making us. We maintain traditions that lost their meaning years ago. We worship at the altar of "how it used to be," making nostalgia our idol. Like the Israelites looking back at Egypt, we romanticize past seasons while resenting present realities.

The rich young ruler couldn't follow Jesus because he couldn't release his wealth (Mark 10:22). It wasn't that money was evil - it was that his attachment to it was stronger than his attraction to Christ. He walked away sad, choosing his past comfort over his future calling. How many blessings have we missed because our hands were too full of things God asked us to release?

Paul wrote about "forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead" (Philippians 3:13). This wasn't denial or suppression - it was intentional release. He acknowledged his past (persecutor of the church) without being defined by it. He honored his heritage (Hebrew of Hebrews) without being limited by it. He moved forward unburdened by what was behind, hands free to receive what was ahead.

Jesus used agricultural imagery: "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:62). Plowing requires forward focus; looking backward creates crooked furrows and wasted effort. You can't move forward while facing backward. You can't embrace your future while clutching your past.

What dead things are you carrying that God wants you to bury? What old identities are you maintaining that prevent new ones from forming? What past hurts are you nursing that keep you from present healing? What former glories are you living in that prevent future growth? God isn't asking you to erase your history - he's asking you to stop being imprisoned by it.

Ecclesiastes reminds us there's "a time to keep, and a time to cast away" (Ecclesiastes 3:6). Wisdom knows the difference. Some things deserve to be preserved; others need to be released. Joseph's bones were worth carrying because they pointed forward to God's promises. But many things we carry are just dead weight, preventing the journey God's calling us toward.

Today, ask God: What am I holding that you want me to release? What past am I clinging to that's preventing my future? Then practice the painful, liberating work of letting go. Open your hands, release what was, and receive what is. The promised land awaits those willing to finally bury their bones and move forward.