Hear the word of God:
Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, 'Let my people go, so that they may celebrate a festival to me in the wilderness.'" But Pharaoh said, "Who is the Lord, that I should heed him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and I will not let Israel go." …
That same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people, as well as their supervisors, "You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as before; let them go and gather straw for themselves. But you shall require of them the same quantity of bricks as they have made previously; do not diminish it, for they are lazy; that is why they cry, 'Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.' Let heavier work be laid on them; then they will labor at it and pay no attention to deceptive words." …
So the people scattered throughout the land of Egypt, to gather stubble for straw. The taskmasters were urgent, saying, "Complete your work, the same daily assignment as when you were given straw." And the supervisors of the Israelites, whom Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, and were asked, "Why did you not finish the required quantity of bricks yesterday and today, as you did before?"
Then the Israelite supervisors came to Pharaoh and cried, "Why do you treat your servants like this?...”
He said, "You are lazy, lazy; that is why you say, 'Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.' Go now, and work … “
The Israelite supervisors saw that they were in trouble … As they left Pharaoh, they came upon Moses and Aaron who were waiting to meet them. They said to them, "The Lord look upon you and judge! You have brought us into bad odor with Pharaoh and his officials, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us."
Then Moses turned again to the Lord and said, "O Lord, why have you mistreated this people? Why did you ever send me? Since I first came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has mistreated this people, and you have done nothing at all to deliver your people."
Exodus 5 – NRSV
When we do the right thing, when we do that which we believe that God expects us to do, we expect good things to happen. Our tendency is to think that righteousness and reward are directly connected. Yet this story makes one thing perfectly clear – even for Moses the old saw is true: “Things tend to get worse before they get better.”
Why is that?
When we work to change a person or a community into one that is righteous, that brings about the stress of change. When circumstances force people to change, they frequently don’t behave very well. Pharaoh is about to have to deal with some change. He doesn’t like the change, and he doesn’t really think that he has to change, so he exercises his power to bring about a kind of change to his advantage that he believes will make the Israelites think twice before they ask for change again. Pharaoh acts out, before God, and before God’s people.
Still, God is patient; after all, he will give Pharaoh ten chances to change his mind. Yet Pharaoh will not be able to deny God his move to liberate his people. Pharaoh cannot stop God. Neither can anyone else. We humans can cost God time or resources. We can deny him ourselves by misusing our free will. Those decisions to resist God may cost the people of God pain and time, yet eventually those who frustrate God are the ones who find themselves frustrated, in pain, or worse. This pain does not necessarily come from the hands of God, but is sometimes a natural consequence of the misuse of that which God has given.
Every day we encounter parents and children who are trapped in unholy uses and abuses of power. Because they believe that they have the right to this power, or because they think that this is the only way that they can survive their situation, they will resist our redirecting their use of power to one that is holy and benevolent. Not only that, they may act out even more profoundly just so we understand just exactly who decides what.
Those are the times to endure the grief, pray for those resisting, and move patiently toward the future that God will establish.
May God bless us with such patience.
Ron
