Reading 19 | The Bible in 100 Passages

Thursday, October 2, 2025  

Today's Scripture
Exodus 6:28–7:7

On the day when the Lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, he said to him, “I am the Lord; tell Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I am speaking to you.” But Moses said in the Lord’s presence, “Since I am a poor speaker, why would Pharaoh listen to me?”

The Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his land. But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and I will multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. When Pharaoh does not listen to you, I will lay my hand upon Egypt and bring my people the Israelites, company by company, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out from among them.” Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the Lord commanded them. Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh. (NRSV)

Reflection

A truism that I wish weren’t so true is that hindsight is 20/20. My friend recently said to me, “I wish I would have handled that differently. I wouldn’t be in this mess if I had.” I reminded them that we make decisions based on what we know at the time. It’s only now that we can see what would have been a better path back then.

I’m assuming that the writer of Exodus wrote this passage looking back. In hindsight it was much easier to say that God made Pharaoh’s heart hard and that the Egyptians would know God is God. I imagine that Moses and Aaron were like the rest of us when faced with a challenging proposition.

Undoubtedly, they followed some sort of discernment process. I imagine there was no shortage of doubt, retreat, reconsideration, bargaining, hiding, deferring, and flat-out refusal. Eventually, Moses and Aaron moved forward, and the Israelites did escape. It might be a generous historical retelling to state in verse 6, “they did just as the Lord commanded.” It is unlikely that any human at any time can claim that sort of faithfulness.

Yet we know how the story ends up. I trust that story and countless others throughout our sacred text when I’m facing my own discernment process. Where is God calling me in this situation? Looking back, I often wish I would have handled things differently, but I always want my overarching response to be faithfulness to God. Looking back is easy. Walking forward with faith is much more challenging.

Prayer

Merciful and patient God, thanks for all the ways you get our attention. Thanks for the countless stories of discernment, missteps, blown opportunities, and dumb decisions. We know the end of the story is that nothing separates us from your love. For that I am most grateful. Amen.

Written by Andrea Denney, Executive Director of Operational Ministries

Reflection and Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church

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