The Israelite foremen realized they were in trouble when they were told, “You are not to reduce the number of bricks required of you for each day.” When they left Pharaoh, they found Moses and Aaron waiting to meet them, and they said, “May the LORD look upon you and judge you! You have made us a stench to Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.”
Moses returned to the LORD and said, “O Lord, why have you brought trouble upon this people? Is this why you sent me? Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble upon this people, and you have not rescued your people at all.”
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country.”
Exodus 5:19-6:1
This passage came to mind a couple weeks ago. I felt the Lord’s prodding to talk with someone despite it not making any sense to me. Gathering up my courage, I submitted and obeyed. Things started out very well, but my second conversation with this person ended right where I had first expected. The failure I’d expected had come. I returned to the Lord, giving him a piece of my mind: “Didn’t I tell you this didn’t make sense? Didn’t I predict this would end in failure? Now I’m worried things could be worse than before!”
Would you want to stand up to that guy?
In the midst of that those words sounded familiar, and I finally remembered Moses. The Lord had instructed him to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. It took some arm twisting, but Moses reluctantly went. I’m sure it didn’t make much sense to him either. Forty years prior he had wanted to help the Israelites out and that had only resulted in his exile. Wouldn’t he just mess it up again? Why would Pharaoh listen to him? Pharaoh was the most powerful man in the entire world! The Egyptian empire was at its peak; they had never been stronger. What could God do against such odds? It didn’t make sense!
Moses’ first encounter with Pharaoh did not go well. Not only did it not get the desired outcome, but Pharaoh put an even greater burden on the enslaved Israelites. Talk about failure! Not only had Moses failed to secure their release, they were worse off than before. Moses made sure the Lord understood, as quoted above.
However, we don’t remember Moses because he was a failure. If you’re familiar with the story (and it’s retold every Passover), the Lord did deliver his people. Moses simply needed to continue to trust the Lord and obey. His first approach to Pharaoh was only the beginning. His obedience was success, not failure.
Where does that leave me? As I pondered that passage, I set to trusting the Lord. If that had been what he wanted me to do, then he had a good reason for it, even if I didn’t see it. I’ve slowly been seeing good come out of the situation, and I’m going to continue to trust that the Lord has something beautiful planned. I simply need to trust and obey. Will you?