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Marked by Memory

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  Exodus 13:8–9 (ESV) “You shall tell your son on that day, ‘It is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ And it shall be to you as a sign on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the law of the LORD may be in your mouth. For with a strong hand the LORD has brought you out of Egypt.” God does not allow Passover to fade into history. He commands it to be remembered, repeated, and embodied. Yeast is removed, firstborns are redeemed, and the story is told again and again — not so Israel will merely recall what happened, but so they will be shaped by it. Memory becomes the tool God uses to form His people. The sign on the hand points to action. What God has done is meant to affect how His people live. Each year, they celebrate. Each year, they remove yeast. Each year, they act out obedience. Faith is not only believed — it is practiced. God knows that repeated action shapes allegiance. What we do consistently trains our hearts. The sign on th...
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Where Safety Lives

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  Exodus 12:22–23 (ESV) “None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you.” On the night of Passover, safety was not found in action, strength, or visibility. It was found in staying inside the house. The Israelites were commanded not only to apply the blood, but to remain under it. Obedience required restraint as much as action. Faith meant trusting that God was at work even when they could not see it, hear it, or control it. The house became more than shelter — it became sacred space. Families gathered together, ate together, waited together. Parents acted on behalf of their children. Children were protected not by their own understanding, but by the faith and obedience of the household. Deliverance was communal. No one was saved alone...
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On That Very Day

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  Exodus 12:40–41 (ESV) “The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years. At the end of 430 years, on that very day, all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.” For generations, Israel lived without understanding. Four hundred and thirty years is not a season — it is a lifetime multiplied. Parents died without seeing deliverance. Children were born into bondage. Faith was carried forward without answers, without clarity, and often without visible evidence of God’s hand at work. These verses remind us that God was not absent during those years. He was not late. He was not indifferent. He was keeping time. What felt endless to Israel was never forgotten by God. Deliverance came not when suffering felt unbearable, but when God’s promise reached its appointed moment — to the very day. Israel could not see the plan while they were making bricks. They could not trace God’s hand through years of oppression. But this moment reveals that even when God’s...
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When Allegiance Costs Belonging

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  Exodus 12:7, 12–13 (ESV) “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it… For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night… The blood shall be a sign for you… And when I see the blood, I will pass over you.” The blood on the doorposts was not only an act of obedience — it was a visible break in belonging. For Egyptians who feared the LORD, applying the blood meant leaving behind national identity, religious tradition, and social safety. It marked their households as no longer fully Egyptian. Obedience required a loss of belonging. Silence was not safer. To remain unmarked in order to preserve acceptance was to choose death. Faith that stayed hidden did not protect lives — it exposed them. Obedience, costly as it was, chose life. That night, belonging to Egypt and allegiance to God could not coexist. For Israel, the command carried a different but equally serious weight. They had been protected thr...
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The Hardest Surrender

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  Exodus 11:4–6 (ESV) “So Moses said, ‘Thus says the LORD: About midnight I will go out in the midst of Egypt, and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die… There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again.’” This final plague strikes at the deepest place of human attachment: our children. Egypt’s firstborn represented legacy, future, security, and hope. They were the most guarded, the most cherished, the least imaginable loss. This is why the final plague is so devastating — not because God delights in pain, but because it reveals what has been held most tightly outside of His care. For parents, this story lands in the gut. There are many things we may be willing to surrender to God — time, plans, resources — but our children feel untouchable. Love tells us to protect them at all costs. Fear tells us that if we let go, everything could fall apart. Yet Exodus reveals a hard truth: what we refuse to entrust ...
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When the Lights Go Out

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  Exodus 10:21 (ESV) “Then the LORD said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness to be felt.’” This plague is different from the others. It brings no noise, no destruction, no immediate physical pain — only darkness. And not ordinary darkness, but a darkness that can be felt . The people cannot see one another. They cannot move about. Life comes to a standstill. This darkness directly confronts Egypt’s trust in Ra, the sun god — the source of light, life, and order in their worldview. When Ra fails, everything collapses. What the Egyptians trusted to give them clarity and meaning offers nothing at all. This is not just a challenge to a false god; it is a revelation of reality. Light does not come from creation. It comes from God alone. When God withdraws His sustaining presence, darkness is what remains. The darkness reveals what life is like apart from Him — disorienting, isolating, paralyzing. Pharaoh ...
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When We Try To Negotiate With God

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  Exodus 10:8–11 (ESV) “So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. And he said to them, ‘Go, serve the LORD your God. But which ones are to go?’ Moses said, ‘We will go with our young and our old. We will go with our sons and daughters and flocks and herds, for we must hold a feast to the LORD.’ But he said to them, ‘The LORD be with you, if ever I let you and your little ones go! … No! Go, the men among you, and serve the LORD.’ And they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence.” Pharaoh no longer outright refuses to obey God. Instead, he negotiates. He offers obedience with limits. Worship is allowed—but only on his terms. Only the men may go. Families, children, and possessions must stay behind. What sounds like compromise is actually control. By keeping part of the people back, Pharaoh keeps leverage and ensures that true freedom is never possible. God has never asked for partial obedience. From the beginning, the command has been clear: all the people are to go. Pha...
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