HELP!: A 10-Day Devotional by Brandon LakeSample

Declaration makes a difference. The song “Pharaoh” came about because many of my friends were bound up by fear, worry, doubt, depression, anxiety, and addiction. I was not ok with it, so I simply started singing, “Let my people go,” over and over again.

These words come from the story of the Israelites’ Exodus from Egypt. Moses had demanded that Pharaoh let his people go after more than 400 years of captivity, but rather than complying, Pharaoh retaliated (Exodus 5). He then made things even harder on God’s people, so Moses and Aaron went back again and again to demand freedom. Eventually, after God sent ten plagues on the people of Egypt, Pharaoh let the Israelites go—and even then, he changed his mind at the last minute, chasing after the Israelites into the desert, which we see in Exodus 14. But God! God parted the Red Sea for the Israelites to pass—and then when the Egyptians attempted to cross the sea themselves, God threw their army into confusion and let the seas collapse onto them. Finally, the Israelites were free.

Like the Israelites, we have Pharaohs in our own lives—and sometimes they relentlessly attack us repeatedly. They do not want to let us go. Pharaoh could be fear, worry, doubt, depression, anxiety, addiction, oppression, etc. This song is a metaphor and quite literally speaks to all those things.

What’s the Pharaoh that’s trying to keep you in chains? Declare freedom to that Pharaoh. He does not have the authority to keep you bound. Who the Son sets free is free indeed. Sing it out, declare it, get rowdy, and tell Pharaoh to go.