• God used Moses’ willingness to bring His people back to Him
• In this process we find the theme that the people don’t trust God
• Pharaoh doesn’t believe God’s promises and doesn’t want to obey Him
• Yet, the Hebrews have the same tendency to distrust God
• Exodus 5
• Tough times and abusive relationship harken back to the state of Israel in this time
• True victory in Christ allows us to serve with real godly agency
• Pharaoh quickly escalates his anger and that finds outworking in his agency. He actively moves opposite of God’s command
• Exodus 5:15
• This is a good example of unbiblical agency: reacting in anger, leveling accusations, putting more burden on others, then blaming them when they can’t meet unrealistic demands
• Now we see Israel being unfaithful and not believing in God’s protection or provision
• Exodus 6
• Tough times can push us to misunderstand and view our relationship with God differently
• People are vulnerable to this when our foundational understanding of God is lacking
• But God is there, even in the roughest of times
• The Hebrews say this hard time as a hand of wrath, but ultimately was a hand ushering them to freedom for them and the future of their nation
• Hebrews 4 & 5
• Hebrews 6:4-12
• God doesn’t put us in a place without Him–that is our choice
• God has already moved to free us, but it’s our choice to believe and trust Him
• We’ve been given true victory and agency over our sinful tendencies thru Christ

QUESTIONS:

1. ARE YOU PRODUCING THE FRUIT OF BIBLICAL AGENCY? OR FROM A HARVEST BASED PURELY ON SELFISH GAIN
2. HOW HAS THE TRAUMA OF YOUR PAST BEEN INFLUENCING YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD?
3. HOW HAS YOUR VICTORY IN CHRIST AFFECTED YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM?