Sara Groves is one of my favorite artists. She's also an English teacher. She really inspires me as a musician and lyricist. Painting Pictures of Egypt is probably my favorite song of hers. It's pretty old though, from her album Conversations.
So the first line is "I don't want to leave, I don't want to stay," meaning she's comparing her current feelings on her status in life to the children of Israel being in the desert. She's feeling stuck (which the Israelites definitely were stuck for 40 years in the desert). The next verse offers an interesting perspective on the Israelites when they were complaining in the desert. "It's not about losing faith; it's not about trust. It's all about comfortable, when you move so much. The place I was wasn't perfect but I had found a way to live." In other words, they just wanted to feel like they had a home, a place to call their own. They had that in Egypt. "It was milk or honey, but then neither is this."
I also find this second verse interesting because when she's talking about being on the move constantly, she could also be comparing the physical touring to being in the desert. She felt like when she was just a homely school teacher who did music as a side project, and just making a living, she felt better because she had a place to call her own. She was stationary... complacent. Now that she's on the road all the time, she's wondering if it wouldn't have just been better to stay where she was rather than aspiring to the greater things for which she was destined (milk and honey).
Then we get to the chorus: "I've been painting pictures of Egypt, leaving out what it lacks. The future feels so hard, and I want to go back, but the places that used to fit me cannot hold the things I've learned, and those roads have closed off to me while my back was turned." Painting pictures of Egypt... that phrase is very poignant... and leaving out what it lacks, as in imagining her old life better than it used to be, simply because the past is familiar to us, and the future is unknown and, more often than not, can be quite frightening to think about on a grand scale. It's difficult to take it a day at a time and just see what each days holds for us. Those roads have closed off to me... I think of burning bridges just because it's cliche, but in terms of the Israelites, I think this wording was actually very clever because when the children of Israel went out of Egypt they went through the Red Sea and it literally closed back off once they had passed through and drowned all the Egyptians.
"The past is so tangible. I know it by heart." Again, talking about the past being easier because we know it so well. Especially considering how long the Israelites had been slaves to the Egyptians. "A million things are never easy to discard." I thought this line was clever as well because they were only allowed to bring certain things with them when they went out of Egypt. "I am caught between the promise and the things I know." Often the hardest distance to travel is the 12 inches between your head and your heart. Also, in the realm of Christianity, we often allude to a desert being a time in a person's life where one is spiritually dry. Either we are far from being where God wants us to be, or we are exactly where he wants us to be, and we grow weary of waiting and become stagnant.
We have the chorus again, and then we have what we call in the music world the bridge (kind of like bridging the gap between the verses and the chorus; some also call it a channel for the same reason, channeling one body of thought into another... just a little musical terminology for you). I really like this next part because again it offers an interesting perspective "If it comes too quick, I may not appreciate it. Is that the reason behind all this time in sand? If it comes too quick, I may not recognize it. Is that the reason behind all this time in sand?" Recognizing that Yahweh has a perfect plan. We've already seen (and keep seeing even throughout Joshua and Judges) that the Israelites are pretty quick to turn and hightail it in the exact opposite direction Yahweh wants them to go whether things are going their way or not. If it isn't perfect timing, then the people won't know it's from the Lord. We know that Yahweh decided to let the old generation die off before making a new Covenant with his people.
So the first line is "I don't want to leave, I don't want to stay," meaning she's comparing her current feelings on her status in life to the children of Israel being in the desert. She's feeling stuck (which the Israelites definitely were stuck for 40 years in the desert). The next verse offers an interesting perspective on the Israelites when they were complaining in the desert. "It's not about losing faith; it's not about trust. It's all about comfortable, when you move so much. The place I was wasn't perfect but I had found a way to live." In other words, they just wanted to feel like they had a home, a place to call their own. They had that in Egypt. "It was milk or honey, but then neither is this."
I also find this second verse interesting because when she's talking about being on the move constantly, she could also be comparing the physical touring to being in the desert. She felt like when she was just a homely school teacher who did music as a side project, and just making a living, she felt better because she had a place to call her own. She was stationary... complacent. Now that she's on the road all the time, she's wondering if it wouldn't have just been better to stay where she was rather than aspiring to the greater things for which she was destined (milk and honey).
Then we get to the chorus: "I've been painting pictures of Egypt, leaving out what it lacks. The future feels so hard, and I want to go back, but the places that used to fit me cannot hold the things I've learned, and those roads have closed off to me while my back was turned." Painting pictures of Egypt... that phrase is very poignant... and leaving out what it lacks, as in imagining her old life better than it used to be, simply because the past is familiar to us, and the future is unknown and, more often than not, can be quite frightening to think about on a grand scale. It's difficult to take it a day at a time and just see what each days holds for us. Those roads have closed off to me... I think of burning bridges just because it's cliche, but in terms of the Israelites, I think this wording was actually very clever because when the children of Israel went out of Egypt they went through the Red Sea and it literally closed back off once they had passed through and drowned all the Egyptians.
"The past is so tangible. I know it by heart." Again, talking about the past being easier because we know it so well. Especially considering how long the Israelites had been slaves to the Egyptians. "A million things are never easy to discard." I thought this line was clever as well because they were only allowed to bring certain things with them when they went out of Egypt. "I am caught between the promise and the things I know." Often the hardest distance to travel is the 12 inches between your head and your heart. Also, in the realm of Christianity, we often allude to a desert being a time in a person's life where one is spiritually dry. Either we are far from being where God wants us to be, or we are exactly where he wants us to be, and we grow weary of waiting and become stagnant.
We have the chorus again, and then we have what we call in the music world the bridge (kind of like bridging the gap between the verses and the chorus; some also call it a channel for the same reason, channeling one body of thought into another... just a little musical terminology for you). I really like this next part because again it offers an interesting perspective "If it comes too quick, I may not appreciate it. Is that the reason behind all this time in sand? If it comes too quick, I may not recognize it. Is that the reason behind all this time in sand?" Recognizing that Yahweh has a perfect plan. We've already seen (and keep seeing even throughout Joshua and Judges) that the Israelites are pretty quick to turn and hightail it in the exact opposite direction Yahweh wants them to go whether things are going their way or not. If it isn't perfect timing, then the people won't know it's from the Lord. We know that Yahweh decided to let the old generation die off before making a new Covenant with his people.
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