Stranger Things, Part 2: When the Empire Strikes Back

It didn’t end the war. But it changed the tone. Gave the people a reason to hope again. And that kind of morale? You can’t measure it on a battlefield. You feel it in the soul of a people who’ve been told they don’t stand a chance.

Which brings us to another empire. Another oppressor. Another moment.

God appears to Moses—an aging shepherd with a complicated past—and tells him to return to Egypt.

Go back?
To the palace he ran from?
To the Pharaoh he once knew as a brother?
To the land where his name is a whisper of scandal?

“Go back… and set my people free.”

It was more than strange. It was the kind of command that could unravel a man. Moses had built a life outside of Egypt. He had family now. Routine. Peace. Quite content with where he was in life. But then, a bush burns without being consumed. And in the middle of that fire, God speaks.

“I have seen the affliction. I have heard the cry.
I am come down… and I am sending you.”

Moses resisted. Questioned. Protested. “Who am I?” “What if they don’t listen?” “I’m not good with words.” “Send someone else.”

But God didn’t relent. Because this wasn’t just about Moses being ready. It was also about the moment being ripe. Egypt—so proud, so powerful was already on borrowed time. Its gods were hollow. Its ruler stubborn. Its immigrants enslaved and crying out for something more.

God wasn’t just preparing Moses for the mission. He was preparing the mission for Moses.

Still, when he obeyed, Pharaoh didn’t fold. In fact, things got worse. The empire struck back. Hard. He doubled the labor. Beat the people down. Mocked Moses. Drew the line in the sand. And even after the plagues… even after the deaths… Pharaoh didn’t stop. He chased them into the Red Sea. The nerve. The arrogance. The sheer fury of the empire refusing to yield. But that sea? That sea would obey. It would open at God’s word.
And close at His signal. The wind and the waves surely obeyed His will. Even when the mission seems too strange to be real. Even when the enemy counters with all its might. God’s directives hold.

His plan doesn’t buckle. His people don’t drown. God’s purpose never flinches under pressure.

So if you’re facing a mission that feels bigger than you or stranger than you expected. If the opposition seems to rise after you obeyed. Don’t panic.

Sometimes the empire strikes back.
But deliverance still moves forward.
And the sea, strange as it seems, still splits.