He Wasn't Lying

Then Moses turned to the Lord and said, “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.”                  Exodus 5:22-23 ESV

Wow, can I relate to Moses in this moment!

God had assigned to Moses a task that Moses had felt ill-equipped to handle.  He had expressed this to the Lord.  God still wanted him to do it and conceded to send Aaron with him so Moses would not have to do the task alone.  And so Moses (and Aaron) had gone.

First, they went to the people.  They had a meeting with the leaders of the children of Israel.  They shared with the people what God had said.  They got the leaders on board, and I'm sure all the people were feeling more hopeful than they had in years.  When they understood that God had heard their prayers and seen their circumstances, and when they were told that God was getting ready to rescue them, the Scripture says that they worshiped.  They weren't out of Egypt yet, but they had hope.

And then the next day, they had to carry on with the tasks of their slavery.  I feel like they may have started that day feeling a little lighter of heart, a little more optimistic.  But that optimism was short-lived.  Moses and Aaron went and spoke to Pharaoh, and not only did he not let the people go, but Pharaoh decided to make their lives even more miserable.  Instead of deliverance from slavery, the people got more work to do.

The response of the people was not surprising.  "Disappointed" wouldn't begin to cover what they must have been feeling.  They went back to Moses and Aaron and complained.  They were confused.  They'd been promised release, but instead they got greater burden.

And naturally, Moses takes their complaint to God, along with one of his own.  "You've been unkind to the people.  You made me go do something I told you I didn't want to do.  Nothing is getting better here.  You lied!"  

God, of course, had not lied.  But from the perspective of Moses and the children of Israel, that's what it looked like.  God had spoken directly to Moses.  Moses relayed the message to Aaron, who told it to the people.  And yet it appeared that what was happening was the exact opposite of what had been promised.

Because we have the whole of Scripture and can see how the story played out, we know that the people of Israel did, in fact, get delivered from Egypt.  But it didn't happen in the way they thought it would or in the time frame they had hoped.

The people were upset.  Moses was upset.  

And I can relate to this, and I'll bet you can too.

Sometimes, trusting the Lord involves doing what you don't want to do for a while.  Sometimes it is painful.  Often it looks pointless or impossible.  You likely find yourself at times wondering, as Moses did, whether God is actually going to come through or if He lied.  We don't like to phrase it that way because it sounds harsh and un-Christian.  But that's kind of the heart of our question.  Was God dishonest with us?

If we could only see the big picture...

Our stories have not yet been written down for us to read.   We can't go to our own book of Exodus and see the miracles that God is preparing to do.  We can't begin to imagine something as spectacular as a sea opening before us to take us from bondage to freedom.  

So we wait.  We question.  We complain.  We doubt.  And we wait some more.

As you wait, remember -- today's troubles are temporary.  When things seem to get worse before they get better, remember Moses and the children of Israel.  There is freedom beyond the sea.

The miracles are out there.  And God is faithful.  He's just not in a hurry like I am.

...Just a thought...