What happens when our identities emerge from resting in the love of God rather than obeying the demands of our cultural gods? Walter Brueggemann writes at the end of his book, Delivered Into Covenant, that the book of Exodus is all about Sabbath rest. It’s about how the Israelites couldn’t receive rest until they were outside Pharaoh’s dominion. And about how the invitation to rest in the love of God moves us into a new way of being. According to Brueggemann, the way of Pharaoh is a way of anxiety, acquisitiveness, and relentless productivity. The Israelites can never make enough bricks. They can never satisfy the demands on them. They can never feel secure. And Pharaoh will never have enough.

In contrast, the way of YHWH is a way of peace, abundance, and creativity. Themes from the Genesis story of creation run through the book of Exodus, and run in contrast to the self-destructive way of Pharaoh. (The plagues, for instance, are often seen as a sign of decreation, an undoing of God’s good work.)

When we rest in the love of God, we receive the peace of knowing that we don’t have to prove ourselves in order to belong. We live in abundance, where there is enough time, enough money, enough food, enough care for all. This peace and abundance doesn’t leave us lazy or without purpose. Rather, this way gives us a different motivation for our work. Rather than working as creatures striving to produce, we work as image-bearers who reflect the goodness of God.

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