Photo by Sonia Sanmartin
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
Moses is mad because God gave him a promise but it wasn’t going the way he thought it would. Moses had an idea (like we all do) about how this “deliverance” business was going to go down. But things didn’t go according to his plan. However, just because they weren’t going according to Moses’ plan didn’t mean that they weren’t going according to God’s plan.
God had said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their suffering, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians. Come I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” Exodus 3:7, 10
Here was the plan, Moses was going to go to Pharaoh and tell him that God had sent him to deliver the Israelites out of his hand. And Pharaoh was going to say, “Yeah, okay, they can go.” Seemed like an easy task, since God had sent him and everything. But things don’t always work out the way we think they will.
Moses isn’t the only one who thought he knew how things should work out. We do this too. I have done it so many times. I receive a promise about something and I work out how God and I will make it happen. I have often run back to God flustered because I didn’t get the results I thought I would get.
Maybe you’re frustrated and want to quit pursuing that dream because you have faced obstacles without making much progress. Maybe God said that relationship will glorify Him but all you see is the brokenness and mess that doesn’t seem to change. Maybe in your pursuit of what God told you, you have faced insurmountable mountains. And it has felt like every time you conquer one, another replaces it. The promise feels like an endless battle of trying to figure out if God is really in it or not.
Be encouraged, Moses faced the same thing you are facing.
Few things to remember:
You have to throw out your plan.
Trust means I have let go of how I think things should work out and when. We can trust God and trust in our plans at the same time. Proverbs 3: 5 is such a good reminder. Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not depend on your own understanding. We can trust God without fully understanding what it is He is doing or what His purpose is. Often, we are so hung up on how things should work out that we miss what God is doing right amid the problems we are facing.
It is not going to be easy.
Moses didn’t want to go in the first place, so he figured God was going to make this easy for him. But if it was easy it wouldn’t need the intervention of heaven now, would it?
God always comes in the impossible because that’s the only way that He will get all the glory. If you could do that thing in your strength, you wouldn’t need God. It is going to be hard. It is going to be harder than you think, but, be strong God is with you.
But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9 If there is no weakness or human inability to accomplish it then God’s power cannot be seen. So He allows situations to lead us to weakness, so He can intervene on our behalf and show Himself mighty.
It will get worse before it gets better.
Instead of Pharaoh letting the Israelites go, he increased the oppression. Let heavier work be laid on the men that they may labor at it and pay no regard to lying words. Exodus 5:9 And the foremen came to Moses and Aaron angry for the trouble they had added on them. And they said to them, “ The LORD look on you and judge because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hands to kill us. “ Exodus 5: 21
Sometimes, our obedience of faith will bring us trouble before it can bring us results. The enemy wants to counterattack what you have heard and make you doubt.
The person you are praying for will seem to deteriorate rather than make a change in their life and it will feel like it’s futile. The situation will get more difficult and you will wonder if God is in it. The opposition will intensify and you will be tempted to run, but stand firm in faith.
Even when things seem to get worse, it is evidence that there is a turning around. The enemy wants you to believe that you didn’t hear right but you did. Warfare is a sign that heaven is moving. Stand firm and keep doing what God has told you to do. If you don’t quit, you will begin to see change.
Sometimes, what we thought will take a few days will take weeks. What we thought might take months will take years. Sometimes, it will require you to stand firm in faith for a very long time before you see the promise come to pass.
God’s purposes will stand.
We have to remember this, not ours but His. We have to keep realigning ourselves to His purposes. Otherwise, we will live frustrated lives. Sometimes what makes the least sense to us is God’s greatest purpose being accomplished on earth.
Moses was sure that God had one purpose- to deliver the Israelites-and he was right but that wasn’t the only thing God was after. God was looking to glorify himself in the sight of the Egyptians and the Israelites. So things not going according to plan was God’s plan all along.
My purpose will be established, and I will do all that pleases me and fulfills my purpose,’ Isaiah 46:10
When it seems like God is doing nothing, He actually is doing a lot, we just can’t see it or comprehend it, yet. God isn’t in a hurry like we are, He has eternity in mind.
Keep choosing trust, with time His purposes in your life will begin to take form and make sense.
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