Introduction: The God Who Rescues

“The LORD is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation.” — Exodus 15:2

At the end of the last book, Joseph’s whole family went to live in Egypt, where there was food in the famine. Jacob’s twelve sons had children, and their children had children, until there were thousands and thousands of them. They were called the Israelites, because Jacob’s other name was Israel.

But this book begins with a problem. A new king came to rule Egypt, and he made the Israelites into slaves.

Had God forgotten His promises to Abraham? Had He forgotten that He would give Abraham’s family a land of their own, and bless the whole world through them?

No. God never forgets His promises. This is the book where God rescues His people. You will meet a baby in a basket, a bush that burns without burning up, and a sea that opens like a door. You will see bread fall from the sky and water pour out of a rock, and walls come tumbling down. You will meet brave women like Rahab and Deborah and Ruth, and a not-very-brave man called Gideon whom God made brave.

You will also see God’s people grumbling and complaining and disobeying, again and again. And you will see God being patient with them, again and again.

The Bible tells this story so that we can know what God is like. He hears His people when they cry. He keeps His promises. And He is the God who rescues.

Dear God, thank you that you hear people when they cry out to you. As we read these stories, help us to trust you, the God who rescues. Amen.