.

But Pharaoh said,"Who is the LORD,that I should heed himand let Israel go?"(Exodus 5:2)

Easy to be shocked and stunned at Pharaoh's words, isn't it?

"Who is the LORD...?"!!!

Really?! Don't you know?! Haven't you heard?!

Exodus begins by telling us "a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph" (1:8).

Presumably the king didn't know about the God of Israel, The LORD.

Apparently he didn't tell the story to his children because his son didn't know either.

So poor old Pharaoh doesn't have any idea who God is.

And before we become too surprised, remember, Moses isn't sure who to tell the Israelite leaders has appeared to him either.

So God graciously tells Moses, "I Am Who I Am" (also translated "I will be who I will be").

Moses, finally, after some convincing, and causing God more than a little frustration, believes and decides to obey. He goes to the king of Egypt with a message from The LORD.

But rather than give Moses & Aaron the benefit of the doubt, Pharaoh does what a lot of us do...he continues on with life the way he was already going.

Mistake number one.

Moses and Aaron attempt to persuade him with an eye witness account:

"The God of the Hebrews has revealed himself to us; let us go a three days journey into the wilderness to sacrifices to our God, or he will fall upon us with pestilence or sword."

But the king wouldn't accept their testimony.

As a matter of fact, the king goes the opposite direction and flies in the face of the message the brothers bring.

Mistake number two.

And as I'm sitting here watching the story unfold, like a viewer who knows the result of a movie where the character turns the slowly turns the door handle, preparing to go into the room where there is trouble, I want to yell out,

"Are you crazy?! Don't go in there!! Don't do it!!"

But it's no use. The character on my screen doesn't hear me and neither does Pharaoh.

And, unfortunately, so often, neither do you or I.

How many times do you and I head down a road we know we shouldn't be on, and at the first sign of trouble, instead of repenting, asking forgiveness, and turning around, we put our foot to the accelerator and go harder to get what we really shouldn't be driving toward in the first place?

Maybe it's a relationship.

Maybe it's the way we spend our time.

Maybe it's a pattern or habit that we're doing.

Maybe it's something we're not doing we know we should be doing.

Whatever.

Both Pharaoh and Moses want to know who it is they're speaking to.

Moses chooses to obey after the encounter.

Pharaoh refuses to obey after the encounter.

One finds life and liberation after some trouble.

The other one only finds trouble.

"Who is the LORD that I should heed him...?"

Like the old saying goes, there are two ways to find out. The easy way and the hard way.

May we choose the easy way.

Grace & Peace.