“Then the Lord spoke to Moses: ‘Tell the Israelites to turn back and camp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea; you must camp in front of Baal-zephon, facing it by the sea. Pharaoh will say of the Israelites: They are wandering around the land in confusion; the wilderness has boxed them in. I will harden Pharaoh’s heart so that he will pursue them. Then I will receive glory by means of Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.’ So the Israelites did this.” (CSB – Read the chapter)
As I shared with you a few weeks ago, in the last few months I have rewatched or watched for the first time the first six Mission Impossible movies. One of the regularly used tools in Ethan Hunt’s toolkit is to impersonate another character in such a way that he is able to get a third character to reveal vital information to accomplish a mission. I think that happens at least once in all six films including the very first scene of the first one. He’ll create situations that are designed to set up targeted characters to give him the information or perform some action that he wants them to do, but to do so entirely of their own free will. That feels a little like what God is doing to Pharaoh here…which isn’t nearly so entertaining of a thought as when Hunt does it. Let’s talk about what’s going on here, what God’s plans are, and what this all reveals about Him.
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