#LENT2019 Day 5-6, Part 2: Exodus 5:1-6:1

(For our lent devotional, we’ll be going through the book of Exodus with the rest of our church and be looking at the hand of God carrying the Israelites through their captivity and oppression as well as their sin and unbelief. Keep up with us as we look at how much God loves His people and never leaves us alone.)

NOTE: I haven’t been able to update for a couple of days so I’m double-posting! Hopefully you guys can read this when you can.

(Part 2) First: read Exodus 5:1-6:1

After this unique and groundbreaking encounter between Moses and God, Moses and Aaron go back to the Israelites about all that God had told Moses. Moses told Aaron, and the people rejoiced and worshipped. It was finally turning out okay. There was no word of Moses changing his mind, but just acting in obedience to what God was telling him to do. It’s going okay… right?

So Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh and ask for the Israelites to leave. Moses and Aaron actually take two different approaches to get the Israelites to leave: first, they regurgitate God’s command to them, saying:

“Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let by people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.” In response to this, Pharaoh doesn’t even budge. He says,

“Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.”

So Moses and Aaron try again. They word it differently and say:

“The God of the Hebrews has met with us, Please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the Lord our god, lets he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.”

The tone here is clearly different. They’re being more proper and making an actual request. It’s as though they think God’s word isn’t enough— they add their own spin (albeit uncreatively).

Pharaoh’s heart is sealed shut. He responds with this:

“Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people away from their work? Get back to your burdens.”

After this conversation, Pharaoh increases the labor of the Israelites and makes life even harder for them by not giving them the straw they needed to make bricks, but requiring that they labor some more and go pick out their own straw for themselves. The foremen, the men that lead the Israelites, are beaten, and they cry out to Pharaoh, exclaiming,

“Why do you treat your servants like this? No straw is given to your servants, yet they say to us, ‘Make bricks!’ And behold, your servants are beaten; but the fault is in your own people.” Pharaoh responds to the foremen of Israel with this simple statement:

“You are idle, you are idle; that is why you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord. Go now and work. No straw will be given you, but you must still deliver the same number of bricks.”

This shows the dark and cruel nature of Israel’s oppressive situation. Here we see how dire Israel is and how terrible their living conditions are. Pharaoh is forcing them in their labor and beating them if they don’t fulfill what Pharaoh cuts out for them. And not only that, but Pharaoh is also enacting a dark strategy of control over the Israelites: He is keeping them fighting amongst themselves and divided. He uses the situation to play his control card over the Israelites and keep them from being united and therefore becoming a formidable force. It is not just Pharaoh’s stubbornness we see here; Pharaoh is a cunning, smart dictator that intends to keep his control.

At this point, the Israelites see that Pharaoh isn’t pleased with them and are not only alarmed but also upset. They have forgotten God’s message and they have forgotten their worship. They direct their antagonistic sentiment at the reason for Pharaoh’s anger, which is Moses and Aaron. They complain to Moses and Aaron, and Moses responds by going to God. He turns and says to the Lord,

“O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.”

Moses is finding fault with God. He’s upset at God for not following through with what God said He would do. Clearly, Moses thought that would work— He had his own idea of how God would move, and this was turning out worse than he thought. Moses didn’t trust that God would do it and at the first push-back from Pharaoh (which God anticipated and told Moses about), Moses complains. Here, Moses accuses God of being complicit as well; he sees God to be an agent in Pharaoh’s evil toward the Israelites.

In response to Moses, God says this in 6:1:

“Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for with a strong hand he will send them out, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.”

God reassures Moses here. And in this chapter, we are confronted with the sobering truth that God is not a God that waves a magic wand and has hard situations disappear within seconds. Yes, perhaps God can work like this— He is all-powerful after all. But in His victories against evil, God puts in work too. There’s a fight that needs to happen in order for there to be a victory. And God, in His allowance of the situation, shows us that in the process of delivering Israel from oppression and evil, greater evil and oppression may happen first. In this process, it’s easy to lose sight of God’s promise. And what was God’s promise? It was God’s presence, and later, God’s provident victory over their situation.

So, in response to Israel’s and Moses’ forgetfulness, God reiterates His promise with a foretelling of the victory to come. God’s resolve is clear, and his message to Israel and Moses is even clearer: the victory is coming, so fight now knowing you’re fighting a battle already won.

How many times in our lives do we forget God’s promise of presence and victory? How many times do we, in light of all that God has said, forget that He is with us? How often do we crumble in the face of hard situations?

I know I did. This past week was so hard, guys. I didn’t know why I had so much on my plate, why the list of things to do was unending, why there was so much burden I had to bear. In the midst of my stresses, my anxieties, and my fears of not being enough for the things that He had set me out to do, I panicked and freaked out.

But God’s invitation is clear: I AM HERE. AND YOU HAVE ALREADY WON THE BATTLE. So trust in me, trust in what I have for you, and keep going. You’ll get to the other side because I am with you.

Today, no matter what’s in front of us, let’s take a step of faith towards God. Regardless of what’s in front of us, Let’s move towards the Lord and remember who He is. Let’s trust in his promises to us and move in faith. That move is not gonna be an easy one, but when it gets tough, remember this: We are fighting a victory that has already been won.

Happy Hump Day, y’all. We out here and we’re gonna make it through everything, not because we can do it and can handle all things, because #wontHedoit. So hang in there. You got this— and we got each other.

all my love,

janedo