Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go.”

- Exodus 5:2

Yes, Pharaoh is arrogant, annoying and self-assured. But we shouldn’t be surprised to hear of him acting this way.

He’s acting exactly in line with how we should expect him to act. He doesn’t know the Lord. Why should we expect him to obey the Lord?

This pattern shows up in our own lives and relationships. People who don’t know the Lord don’t live according to the Lord’s desires for them. This shouldn’t surprise us. But it does.

We know that there are consequences for disobeying the Lord and for refusing to live in the way the Lord designed humans to live. Gravity is real whether you know the law or not, whether you believe in it or not, whether you plan for it or not.

As God’s people, we hold this constant tension.

On the one hand, we can’t expect people who don’t know the Lord to suddenly desire to obey him. We should expect people to live in a way that lines up with their worldview and their gods.

But on the other hand, knowing that there are consequences to disobedience, we should long for those we love and live with, work with and play alongside, call family and consider friends … we should long for all of these people to come to know the Lord.

Much of the damage we do in our relationships with those who don’t know the Lord comes because we push them to obey the commands of a God they don’t know.

When have you expected God-loving obedience from someone who did not know the Lord? How has that done damage to your relationship? How might we not get hung up on lifestyle choices of people who do not know the Lord and instead faithfully participate in the work of the Spirit to encourage people to first know the Lord, trusting that obedience will follow?