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Pastor's Blog February 2, 2023
"Let My People Go"
If God gave you clarity on a situation you're currently facing, how would you respond? This is exactly what God gives Pharaoh in Exodus 8:1, "And the LORD spoke to Moses, 'Go to Pharaoh and say to him, "Thus says the LORD: 'Let My people go, that they may serve Me.'"'" (NKJV).
This sounds like a command: Moses uses the formula "coh amar y'adonai" - thus says the Lord - and what follows is God's instruction for Pharaoh to let Israel go. But the literal Hebrew of God's instruction is very interesting: "Release my people, and they will serve me." The word for "release" or "let go" conjures up the picture of someone hanging onto an object and being unwilling to open their hand, long after it was time to let it go. God isn't yelling at Pharaoh in Exodus 8:1. Instead, he's informing Pharaoh of his situation: Israel would come and serve me, if only you would open your hand and simply let go.
Exodus 8:2-4 points out that the second plague will hit Egypt if Pharaoh doesn't listen to God. And Exodus 8:5-15 indicates that Pharaoh's response is one of dismissal: he'll dismiss himself from listening to God, but he won't dismiss or release Israel to serve God. Despite this negative outcome, "thus says the Lord" in Exodus 8:1 portrays God as one who gives us encouragement and salvation.
When God speaks with "thus says the Lord," he does so to free and empower people. God wanted to free Pharaoh so he didn't feel the need to hang on to Israel anymore - as well as his pride, ego, and other insecurities he was nursing. Likewise, God wanted to empower Israel to actually serve him, rather than leave Israel to figure out how to do so on their own.
Friends, when God speaks to you about your situation, his intention is to free you from what binds you and empower you to turn to him, because "thus says the Lord."
God bless,
Pastor Nathaniel Gamble
