Thurs.’s Devo - Things Get Worse

Read Ex. 5:1-23 Moses and Aaron go together to tell the Pharaoh that he needs to let all his slaves free to go into the wilderness and hold a feast to their god. I imagine that would be like a total stranger walking up to a sheriff and telling him he needed to let all his inmates free to leave the state for a party. Pharaoh wanted to know who this god was that he was suppose to obey since he didn’t know him and wasn’t about to let Israel go. Moses told him he was the God of the Hebrews and that he had met with them and if they didn’t go and sacrifice to him he would bring pestilence or the sword. I’m sure this was the craziest thing this Pharaoh had heard in his reign. He told them to get back to work and since Moses and Aaron took the people away from their work, he added more work to their load. He instructed the task masters to stop supplying them with straw but to make the Hebrews gather their own and their quotas for the day would stay the same. This ought to stop their silly notions of leaving to go to the wilderness and worship their god. When the people had to gather their own material to make bricks, they couldn’t keep up with their quotas so their own Hebrew officers were beaten. They went to complain to Pharaoh. He gave them no mercy and kept their quotas the same. These officers happened to run into Moses and Aaron as they were leaving their meeting with the Pharaoh and they blamed them for all their woes. Poor Moses! He cried out to God for some answers. Moses and Aaron obeyed God and did everything he told them to do and it got them no where just as God said it would. It is one thing to read in the Bible that you will have trials and tribulations and another thing to have them. It is easy to have faith when you don’t need it. But the test comes when you do. Everything we go through is to purify us and prepare us for the next test. We grow this way. Moses is being tried to be a leader who will obey no matter what the response from the people. Before it is all over he will have a face of flint, set on God. Lord, help us to resolve to have faith no matter what comes our way, knowing that you are in control and all things will work for our good if we are trusting you.