Most people assume that if they are following God correctly, life should immediately start making more sense.
Doors should open. Pressure should decrease. Things should become clearer.
But sometimes obedience doesn’t lead you away from tension. Sometimes it leads you straight into it.
That’s exactly where Israel finds itself in Exodus 14.
After generations of slavery, they are finally free. Egypt is behind them. Chains are broken. The miracle has happened. And then God leads them directly to the edge of the Red Sea.
Water in front of them. Pharaoh’s army is behind them, and mountains surround them.
No escape route.
No backup plan.
No visible solution.
And naturally, the people begin asking the same question we ask when life stops making sense: “God… did You bring us here just to let us die?”
There are moments in life where everything changes in an instant.
A call. A diagnosis. A wedding. A funeral. A salvation.
One second you’re standing in one reality… and the next, everything is different.
That’s what Exodus 12 is.
For generations, Israel had lived in slavery. Egypt was all they knew. Their parents were slaves. Their grandparents were slaves. Entire generations were born into bondage, wondering if freedom would ever actually come.
And then one night changed everything.
If you ask most people what the Bible is about, you’ll hear something like: “Jesus died for our sins so we can go to heaven.”
That’s true—but it’s not the whole story.
The Bible is ultimately about how God rescues people and teaches them how to live free… and then sends them to do the same for others.
And nowhere is that pattern clearer than in Exodus.
Exodus is the moment where God takes a people in chains and begins forming them into a people in covenant. It’s where we see Him confront oppression, reveal His name, and move His people from survival into purpose.
But before any miracles happen…
Before the sea parts…
Before Moses steps into leadership…
The story starts in a place most of us recognize…
oday we begin a new series and will take the next several weeks to study David. We know he was a king; scripture also says he was a man after God’s heart. But what made him tick? What were the unique traits around him? What can we learn about David that we can apply to our lives?
We are going to be looking at things like…
God promises that if you obey Him, He will protect and provide for you. This is the truth we see developed for us in Esther 8. But too often, we look for loopholes that only make us partially obey. While they haven’t been perfect, Esther and Mordecai have tried to live in obedience to the Word of God and have been attempting to live in a way that honors God.
Today we enter the second half of our study on The Story of Esther. And today, we will observe a “Plot Twist” in the story of Esther.
We left off last week with Haman becoming offended at Mordecai (again) and doubled down on his plans to destroy him and the Jews, even going so far as to have a large gallow set up to hang Mordecai from. The gallow casts a shadow over us as we walk into chapter 6. Things seem hopeless. We still aren’t seeing God mentioned in the book, but God is still working.
So far, Esther has hosted meal #1 and is getting ready to host a second meal in today's first passage…
