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Reading Through the Bible Together | Exodus 5–8 — When Obedience Makes Things Worse

Welcome back to Reading Through the Bible Together. Today we’re reading Exodus 5–8.

Moses finally goes to Pharaoh with God’s command, and it looks like the breakthrough should come quickly. Instead, everything gets harder. Pharaoh increases the workload, the people turn on Moses, and the first lesson of Exodus becomes painfully clear: sometimes obeying God does not make life easier right away. Sometimes it exposes what is really in the heart of the enemy, and what is really in our own hearts too.

In Exodus 5, Pharaoh refuses the Lord and tightens the chains. Israel’s suffering deepens, and Moses is left asking the question many of us ask in the middle of disappointment: “Why, Lord?” But God answers in Exodus 6 with something stronger than an explanation. He gives a promise rooted in His name and covenant: I am the Lord… I will deliver you… I will redeem you… I will take you as my people… I will bring you into the land. The rescue will not hang on Israel’s strength or Moses’ confidence. It will hang on God’s Word.

Exodus 7–8 then shows the conflict for what it really is: not Moses vs. Pharaoh, but the Lord vs. the gods of Egypt. God turns a staff into a serpent, turns the Nile to blood, and sends waves of judgment that expose Egypt’s helplessness and Pharaoh’s stubbornness. Again and again Pharaoh bargains, hardens, and resists. Even when he says the right words, his heart stays the same. The plagues are not random. They are targeted signs that the Lord alone rules creation, and that salvation will come by power, not negotiation.

These chapters teach us to expect resistance when God begins to free His people, to cling to God’s promises when circumstances get worse, and to see that the Lord is not only rescuing Israel from slavery, but also revealing who He is: the covenant God who acts, judges, saves, and will not share His glory.

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