When God's people cry out to Him in pain, how does God respond? Hey, this is Shriat Bible Project. In today's reflection, we're exploring the ancient

Exodus story where we discover God's response to the oppressed and hurting. Listen in.

Hi, this is Karissa at Bible Project and today we are taking a look at the book of

Exodus the first half of the book chapters 1 through 18 in the of Exodus, we find Abraham's family having grown incredibly numerous,

just as God had promised him in Genesis.

But they're also in Egypt, enslaved and oppressed by the Egyptian leaders.

The leaders are threatened by how numerous the Israelites have become,

so out of fear they intentionally oppress them. The text says making their lives bitter with

forced labor, working them ruthlessly. Out of fear the Pharaoh commands that any baby boy who's born is to be

immediately taken from his mother and killed. And when that doesn't work, he commands that

they be thrown in the river and drowned. This is a brutal setting, one that's

hard to really take in. And Yawe was affected too, grieved by the suffering of his people.

So he responds to this brutality by powerfully delivering Israel out of Egypt,

a story that has come to be known as the Israelite exodus.

Exodus, also the name of the book,

is a word that just means a going out or a departure.

In the biblical story, it describes the Israelites exit from Egypt, but the biblical exodus is more than just an exit or

departure it also involves the powerful acts of God's justice against evil the

biblical exodus is about God's deliverance, his rescue, and his

redemption. There are certain stories throughout history that people groups hold dear, stories that form the identities of people and

nations and entire religious groups. The exodus is one such story. It shapes the way we understand who God is, and this is important because how

we view God and how we think God views us plays a really important role in shaping our own identities.

...