So I am basically going to give some bullet points, some major conclusions that I have come to from studying Galatians 4. I hope this blesses you in some way!

• Everytime the Israelites turned away from God they were put in physical bondage by the Lord so that so that they would see their true bondage to sin–their real affliction was turning away from the Lord. This physical picture was given to us in the OT so that in the NT we could have a clear picture of our relationship with our sin. (Exodus 6:5-9; Ezra 9:7-9)
• Legalism is self-made religion (Colossians 2:8,20)
• We have undergone a drastic identity change; we are no longer slaves, but sons. (Romans 8:14-17; Romans 8:23; Ephesians 1:5; Hosea 2:23/Romans 9:25-26; 1 Peter 2:9-10; Titus 2:14)
• Paul is telling the Galatians to embrace their new identity–to live in the truth and knowledge that they are His children. The Spirit living inside of us affects our identity and our everyday actions. He is the seal, the pledge of our inheritance. We have been regenerated and washed, made clean and new. This is the process of sanctification He continues in us everyday.(Romans 5:5; Romans 8:15-17; Ezekiel 36:25-28; 1 Corinthians 2:6-16; Titus 3:3-7; Romans 12:2; John 3:1-8)
• Suffering AND glorification are part of the inheritance because the sufferings of this life aren’t even worthy to be compared to the glory that will be revealed to us. The weight of that glory envelops and overwhelms our suffering so much so that the scars and wounds of this world will be completely and thoroughly healed–but we will keep the precious lessons that we learn about the character of God through that suffering.(Romans 8:16-17)
• We focus too much on the sufferings of this life–but it is the future glory that will keep us persevering to the end.
• Love for Jesus is the only true path to righteousness. When I am secure in my relationship with Jesus all my other relationships will have the freedom to be secure. (Colossians 2:15-23; Hebrews 8:5)
• Like the Pharisees, I sometimes do my deeds to be noticed by men, I love the place of honor. But the Scripture says that we should SEEK to be servants. The greatest sin of the Pharisees is living in pretense. Jesus values realness. Admitting weakness and being real about where we are with the Lord. (Matthew 23; Isaiah 1)
• By living in the fear of rejection I am living in the fear of the law–as if every person I encounter is a law in themselves, each expecting their own things of me.
• The people of Israel have always struggled with sacrificing their time, money, and resources to “appease” the Lord instead of confessing and dealing with their iniquity. We as a people make it our first reaction to go through the motions, to give the Lord a “sacrifice” of our time. This is exactly what the pharisees did. On the outside everything was perfect, but they were never repentant, they never dealt with their iniquity. But if they would just come to the Lord and confess their sin and repent of it, He is so ready to forgive. It is the same with me and the Galatians. We observe days, months, seasons and years instead of focusing on being love with the Lord. (Isaiah 1; Colossians 2)
• How do we keep from observing worthless and vain things? Seek the things that are above, where Christ is. Put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience–bearing with one another, forgiving one another; for love is the perfect bond of unity. (Colossians 3)
• When we put legalism to death it allows only love itself to be the perfect bond of unity among the brethren.
• We haven’t been born of the flesh but born of the Spirit (John 3). This is why the barren woman can rejoice, because just Abraham has many descendants, so we can have many spiritual children through the new covenant (Genesis 15:1-6; Genesis 16:7-16; Genesis 17:17-21; Romans 4:18-25; Romans 10:8; Hebrew 11:11; Hebrews 9:15-24; Hebrews 12:22-24; Psalm 113:9; Ruth 1:11-13/Ruth 4:14-16; Isaiah 54:1; Galatians 4:26-28).