The Rough Side of Faith
When Moses returns to Egypt, he and Aaron first go before the elders of Israel to tell them about what God is going to do. Aaron performs the signs God gave to Moses at the burning bush and tells the people about God’s concern for His people. The elders bow down and worship. First win.
If you remember how Moses tried to rescue the Israelites before fleeing to exile, Acts 7 tells us that he thought the people would understand what he was doing, but they did not. So coming back this time instead of meeting with resistance from his own people, they are supportive, recognizing the hand of God in these things. That was a big moment for Moses.
The next step is to go before Pharaoh. And this I think is where faith gets tricky. Moses starts out hesitant wanting to go back to Egypt, but God convinces him to go. God even sends Aaron to him so he doesn’t have to go alone. One of the reasons Moses hasn’t been able to return home for so long is there were people in Egypt wanting to kill him, so when he returns and doesn’t die that’s another big thing. And finally when Moses and Aaron go before the Israelites, people who didn’t recognize his purpose before, are bowing and worshiping God because they trust they are about to be delivered. I think Moses is likely on a spiritual high right about now. Thinking is there anything the Lord cannot do? Then Pharaoh.
Sometimes as I am reading these stories in hindsight, I’m reading with the end in mind. So for the Exodus story I’m reading knowing the Red Sea Crossing is coming. So often I’m a little incredulous why the men and women are struggling in the middle of the story. Don’t they know the Lord will deliver? But the truth is-they do not. They can have faith, but they aren’t in safe places, drinking coffee and reading in under an hour how the Lord rescued them from their situation. They are living it. Which changes the way I understand the story as I try to put myself more in their shoes.
Moses is just coming off of some pretty serious wins. He was tentative at first, but now it seems like the Lord really is going to come through for him, and I imagine him relaxing some from his initial doubts and fears. Going before Pharaoh might still seem daunting, but looks a lot more doable from this position of winning the Israelite leaders over. Which is why I think this next part is so surprising.
Moses and Aaron go before Pharaoh to tell him to let God’s people go, and the bottom drops out. Pharaoh replies, “Who is the Lord that I should let the people go?” Those answers to the questions that God had reassured Moses with at the burning bush now seem of no effect. God had answered each question Moses had with Himself. And automatically Pharaoh is coming in saying in effect, “I neither know nor care about your God.” Which makes conversation after that rather awkward.
But it isn’t just that. Pharaoh doesn’t just stop at simply being annoyed by this demand. He responds in kind. Now remember the Israelites have had decades of hard labor. They have been mistreated all their lives. Pharaoh isn’t some small nuisance in their lives. He is the source of their misery. And now he is angry. He immediately increases the people’s workload not only requiring them to make the same number of bricks as before but now requiring them to provide the materials to produce their quotas as well. How much money does a slave have to pay for production materials? They just went from a bad situation to poking the hornets nest. And who do you think the people turn on? That’s right, Moses.
Whatever victory Moses just won with the Israelite leaders, he seems to have lost just as quickly. And now, once again, it’s not just the Egyptians angry with Moses, it’s the Israelites too. I’m thinking Moses is having some pretty major flashbacks to the time he was having to flee into exile. And that’s why faith is hard. Because deliverance doesn’t always come in a day, and when hopes get up then dashed that quickly it is easy to think I am never doing that again.
The thing about this story is we know where it ends up. We know how in the end God proves faithful and does deliver, but I want to end this post here, because I think sometimes in our lives of faith we are looking for a quick and immediate resolution. Sometimes it doesn’t come in a day. Sometimes we get in hot water, and we don’t know what to do, and our instinct is to get out as quickly as we got in. But for Moses, where can he run?
