Gathering

1. Describe a decision you made or an action you took that you later wished you hadn’t. What did you do about it?

Backstory

Israel had moved to Egypt at the invitation of Joseph and Pharaoh during a worldwide drought and famine. This family consisted of 70 at that time—eleven sons of Jacob, their children, and grandchildren. Some 400 years later, they had multiplied to a nation that numbered in the hundreds of thousands and had been reduced to being slaves for hundreds of years. God called Moses, a Hebrew raised in Pharaoh’s court, to lead these people to freedom and back to the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Though Pharaoh refused to let them go, he relented after a series of plagues. The 10th and last plague, involving the death of the firstborn son of every family in Egypt, took Pharaoh’s son. After dealing with his losses, Pharaoh regretted that he had freed all his slave laborers. As a result, the Hebrews found themselves caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place!

God’s Story

Choose two or three people to read Exodus 14:5-31.

Finding My Story in God’s Story

2. If you were Pharaoh, what is going on in your heart and mind at this point—your son is dead and you’ve just freed this nation of slaves?

  1. Their God killed my son and I let them go—what was I thinking?
  2. How will I get my pyramid built without those Hebrews to do the work?
  3. After all that I’ve lost, they can’t do anything more to me now.
  4. I will go after them and make them pay.
  5. Other __________.

3. The Hebrews were excited to be free, then they see the chariots fast approaching. What surprises you about their reactions upon seeing the Egyptian army approach?

  1. How suddenly slavery didn’t seem like such a bad idea after all.
  2. How quickly they blamed Moses for the current predicament.
  3. How quickly they forgot the miracles that just gained them their freedom.
  4. Other __________.

4. What comes to mind if you were one of the men, women, children, and livestock traversing this now-dry riverbed to safety?

  1. Charleston Heston and that Ten Commandments movie they show every Easter.
  2. This is phenomenal! WOW! What will God do next?
  3. This is too good to be true, we’re going to drown at any moment.
  4. What if those Egyptian soldiers catch up with us?
  5. Other __________.

5. How do you suppose Pharaoh and his soldiers felt as the Egyptian army washes away?

  1. I should have checked my Horoscope and stayed home today.
  2. First my son and now my army. Why didn’t I just let them go?
  3. Who is this God that Moses serves? We’ve never seen a god like this in Egypt!
  4. After all we experienced in Egypt, what made him order us into the riverbed?
  5. Now what? I have no one to protect me, not even the palace guard.
  6. Other __________.

6. As you think back over your childhood, describe an amazing event that seems like it had to be a miracle. If you don’t think it measures up as a “miracle,” what made it so amazing?

7. How do you find yourself responding to this biblical story?

  1. To be honest, it is hard for me to believe that everything here really happened.
  2. I am amazed at a God who could do something like this to protect his people.
  3. If this is real, I could use a miracle from God right now.
  4. Other __________.

 

Our Story

8. Share ONE big thought that you will take away from this time together today.

9. How has this men’s group helped you see the Exodus and God’s redemptive ways in a different light?

10. What action will you try to take this week as a response to this study? How do you need this group to support you in that next step?