Resting on God’s love and truth helps us when we need to have hard conversations with others.
The artist known as Reflect puts his musicality to work, engaging truths about slavery with a mix of wisdom, ingenuity, and kindness. Listeners experience a hard conversation in Reflect’s rap, “Tell Pharaoh, you gotta’ let go,” imploring us to let go of anything we might adore more than God and His commands.
Paraphrasing God’s repeated message to Egypt’s ruler (Exodus 5, 7–10), Reflect sings, “It’s not unique, God’s Word Moses had to repeat, ‘Let my people go.’ This is Juneteenth.” The lyrics parallel Pharaoh’s self-adoration that kept the Hebrew people in bondage with the refusals to emancipate America’s slaves. In each instance, people idolized personal power and selfish lifestyles.
Reflect reminds God’s people of the covenant directive: “ ‘Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. . . . Come now, let us settle the matter,’ says the Lord” (Isaiah 1:17–18). Alongside God’s strict command is the loving promise.
In His commands for justice, God’s love for us is apparent. Many enslaved in America survived on faith in this love seen in Moses’ conversations with God, in the Israelites’ exodus conversations, and in Jesus’ life and ministry.
God’s commands are rooted in love, even when we may fail to recognize this. His uncompromising love and truth empower us to overcome faulty thinking and actions.
