“The taskmasters and foremen went out and said to the people, ‘Thus says Pharaoh, “I will not give you straw. Go and get your straw yourselves wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced in the least.”’ So the people were scattered throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. The taskmasters were urgent, saying, ‘Complete your work, your daily task each day, as when there was straw.’ And the foremen of the people of Israel, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten and were asked, ‘Why have you not done all your task of making bricks today and yesterday, as in the past?..’
“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.’
“But the Lord said to Moses, ‘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.’
“‘I am the LORD. I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD I did not make myself known to them. I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan,.. in which they lived as sojourners. Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians,.. deliver you from slavery, and redeem you with an outstretched arm and great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the LORD your God.’” Exodus 5:10-14,22-23; 6:1-7
The Lord had made Moses a promise, then orchestrated events that seem to put its fulfillment in jeopardy. Every but portrays the mental tension with which Moses wrestled. What he deemed an impossible roadblock, the Lord used to prepare the most glorious fulfillment. In orchestrating their miraculous deliverance from Egypt through the Red Sea, God would reveal Himself to Israel as their covenant LORD.
So often in our limited vision, we think God is not at work, that He does not answer our pleas or come through on His promises. We give a nod to His Word, but don’t see it fulfilled because we’ve set our own parameters or wrong rigid expectations. Our everyday frenetic tempo does not allow for contemplation of God’s broader unseen activity. But when we claim the Word and look to the One who gave it, we begin to see how He works in ways we had not imagined to bring about greater and higher ends.
Are there current situations where we doubt earlier decisions that led us here, and that God is present at all? Where are we at an impasse in a relationship, or ministry effort, and any way forward seems impossible? What has God promised, and when will we claim that spoken truth? How has God revealed Himself anew when we have chosen the way of faith?
Lord, in every conundrum, help me see You, at work, and glorified.
As the rain and snow 