Genesis 13:1-4

And Abram went up out of Egypt…

… he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south. And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold. And he went on his journeys from the south even to Bethel, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hai; Unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the Lord.

Abram went down into Egypt as a saved man, but he came up out of Egypt a spiritual man. He had fallen, but he did not stay fallen. He picked something up. He learned from it. That is what I want to do when I blow it. I do not want to waste the failure. I want to come out of it wiser, softer, and more aware of how much I need the Lord.

What strikes me is that there is no record of Abram building an altar in Egypt. No record of him pitching a tent there. Egypt was a place of fear, compromise, and self protection. But when he came up out of Egypt, he did not keep drifting. He went back to Bethel. He went back to the place where his tent had been at the beginning. He went back to the altar he had made there at the first. And there he called on the name of the Lord.

That is where recovery starts.

When a man knows he has been in Egypt, the answer is not to come up with some new spiritual gimmick. The answer is to go back to where it was real. Back to the altar. Back to the place of worship. Back to the place where fellowship with the Lord was fresh. Back to the things that marked your life when your heart was alive.

Jesus said the same thing to the church at Ephesus.

Revelation 2:5

Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works…

That is such a simple word. Remember. Repent. Repeat.

Remember where you were when things were alive.
Repent of the drift.
Repeat the first works.

Maybe five years ago your walk with the Lord was strong. Maybe four months ago there was a tenderness in your heart that has cooled since then. Maybe there was a season when you were up early in the Word. Maybe you were worshiping with joy. Maybe you were memorizing Scripture. Maybe you were sharing your faith boldly. Maybe there was a hunger in you that is not there right now.

Then do it again.

Go back to what you were doing when things were cooking spiritually. Not because routines themselves are the answer, but because those were the places where your heart was opening to the Lord. Abram did not sit around in Egypt studying his failure. He came up out of Egypt and went back to Bethel. He went back to the tent. He went back to the altar. He went back to calling on the name of the Lord.

I love that.

Because it means failure does not have to be the end of the story. A detour does not have to define a man forever. Abram fell, but he got back to the altar. And when he got back there, he found what Egypt could never give him. Egypt may have made him richer in silver and gold, but Bethel is where his soul got straightened out again.

That is still true. The world can hand me things and still leave me empty. I can walk away with more stuff and less peace. More comfort and less joy. More gain on paper and less fire in my heart. The treasure Abram really needed was not what he carried out of Egypt. It was what he recovered when he got back to the altar.

So if you know you have been in Egypt, come up out of it. Do not just regret it. Return from it. Go back to where the Lord met you. Go back to the place where worship was real. Go back to the place where your tent had been at the beginning. Go back to the altar once more.

That is where Abram went.

That is where he called on the name of the Lord again.

And that is where things began to get right.