Last month, I watched my favorite movie, The Ten Commandments. I’ve written about this movie before but after watching it again, I’ve gained some wisdom and insight about a few more scenes:

• Pharoah was hard-headed and arrogant; he was accustomed to controlling everything and everyone, and no one had ever challenged his authority. Despite Moses repeatedly warning him about different events to come (no water for seven days, burning hail falling from the sky, three days of darkness), Pharoah refused to let the Israelites go. He thought that he was more powerful than God, but in the end, God showed Pharoah that He’s in control. As a result, Pharoah was defeated. Pharoah reminds me of the devil; now of course the devil was defeated when Jesus died for everyone’s sins (Jesus’ death brought freedom from shame and guilt and gave us forgiveness), but unfortunately, he is still trying his hardest to set traps and wreak havoc in the lives of believers. But each time we resist him, use the word, and ask God to help us, he is defeated again and again.

• I hated seeing how the slaves were treated like animals. They worked long, grueling hours in the hot sun to cut straw to make bricks, carry heavy bundles of straw, and separate the wheat from the chaff. They were not allowed to rest or eat any of the grain that came from the wheat. Pharoah and his clan enjoyed the fruit of the slaves’ labor without having to lift a finger. An elderly slave had expressed his frustrations about how everyone was being treated; the task master didn’t care about his concerns and wanted him to keep working, so he lashed at him with a whip. The elderly slave continued to speak about the conditions and the task master threw a straw cutter at him, which pierced him in the abdomen and caused him to die. When Moses carried the elderly slave out of the mud pit, the task master demanded that he take the elderly slave’s place.

God is not a task master. He’s kind, compassionate, understanding and encouraging. We can bring our concerns to Him, and He will help us and let us know that He cares.

• I enjoyed seeing the Israelites when they were set free—they packed their belongings, sang, and walked out of Egypt with their families. It reminded me of how God has been telling me that it’s time to go forward and leave the negative mindset and fear (Egypt) behind. I have listened to fear too many times throughout the years and believed its lies instead of believing and trusting in God’s character and in His word, but no more. Each day, I’m trying the best I can to fight against the enemy’s lies by using God’s word. Some days are rough, and I may feel like I’ve failed. On other days, I feel like I have been successful. I thank God for giving me the strength and the encouragement to keep going.

• Towards the end of the movie, Moses had left the Israelites behind to get the Ten Commandments from God. Everyone was running around and acting wild (committing adultery, dancing, drinking wine, etc). Dathan was feeding everyone’s fears and negative thoughts, saying that Moses wasn’t going to return; who else was going to lead them? Then Dathan suggested that they should build a god of gold to lead them. This scene saddened me because it resembled the problems in the world today—people following themselves instead of God, adultery, senseless murders, gender confusion, robberies, etc. It also reminded me of how we may be dealing with trials and feel like they are never going to end. We get impatient and try to take things in our own hands. In addition, this scene is similar to how we don’t trust God when He promised that He would meet our needs and take care of us. We may have certain fears and concerns and the enemy will try to magnify them to have us worrying and stressing out instead of trusting that God will resolve the situation.

Overall, it’s amazing that I’ve seen this movie several times and God gives me different revelations each time. We are already free and have a right to have joy and peace through Jesus Christ, who died for us so we could obtain those benefits. The enemy is going to do whatever he can to stop believers from becoming who God Created us to be. It’s up to us to not allow him to destroy our future and to trust that God can strengthen us and help us get where we need to be.