Getting to Know God (Exodus 1–20)

How can we learn about God and his ways? In Exodus 1–20 we meet the true and living God who makes and keeps promises, who judges, saves and triumphs, who provides for his people and teaches them his holy ways. A set of 8 simple studies that cover the early and momentous chapters of Exodus. It gives us a clear picture of God's character and how we should respond.

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Table of contents:

1. The God who keeps his promises
2. The God who is personal
3. The God who is determined
4. The God who is boss
5. The God who saves
6. The God who triumphs
7. The God who provides
8. The God who is holy

Before you begin

Have you ever noticed the uncomfortable challenge in these famous words of Paul?

…and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. (2 Tim 3:15-17)

I’m not talking about the challenge to read our Bibles, and to sit under the teaching, rebuking, correcting work of the Scriptures. I’m not even talking about the challenge to get out there and do good works, having been thoroughly equipped for them by God’s word. The challenge we often miss in these verses is that the ‘Scripture’ Paul speaks of is primarily the Old Testament.

The books of the Old Testament were the “sacred writings” that Timothy had known since childhood (v. 15). These were the God-breathed words that were so profitable, and that were able to equip the man of God for every good work.

The uncomfortable challenge for us is: Would we ever describe the Old Testament like this? Do we see it as a rich source of teaching, correction and practical training in righteousness? Do we mine it regularly to learn about God and his ways? Or do we regard the Old Testament as a foreign country, and its God as somehow more distant and scary than the loving Father of our Lord Jesus Christ?

In this Pathway Bible Guide, we’re going to study the first 20 chapters of Exodus and, as we do so, we’ll find that Paul’s words about the ancient Hebrew Scriptures are stunningly true. The God we meet in these momentous chapters is the true and living God who makes and keeps promises, who judges and saves and triumphs, who provides for his people and teaches them his holy ways. In Exodus 1-20, we’ll get to know this God afresh, and experience for ourselves the truth of 2 Timothy 3—that this is the God who has saved us through Jesus Christ, who teaches, rebukes, corrects and trains us through the powerful words which he breathes out.

— Bryson Smith