Hard as a brick ...

Hear the word of God:

Then the Lord said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh, and say to him, 'Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. For if you refuse to let them go and still hold them, the hand of the Lord will strike with a deadly pestilence your livestock in the field: the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds, and the flocks. But the Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so that nothing shall die of all that belongs to the Israelites.'"

The Lord set a time, saying, "Tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land." And on the next day the Lord did so; all the livestock of the Egyptians died, but of the livestock of the Israelites not one died. Pharaoh inquired and found that not one of the livestock of the Israelites was dead. But the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he would not let the people go.
Exodus 9:1-7 – NRSV

This is the fifth of the ten mighty plagues sent as warnings to the Pharaoh. It may be that Pharaoh had come to see this as a contest between the gods: his gods and the God of Israel. It seemed that he was confident that his gods, being more numerous and native to the land, would surely win such a battle. Yet even though it seems that the domain of each of the Egyptian gods is assaulted one by one, plague by plague, Pharaoh hardens his heart. Is this because he perceives himself to be a god also, and he still feels alive and powerful? Does he perceive himself as having a right to power? Does he fail to see that using power requires him to be right? Or is he just hard-headed?

Pharaoh hardens his own heart. Until the sixth plague, that is. Then on the sixth, the eighth, and the ninth plague, the narrator tells us that God participates in the hardening. Does that mean that God tinkered with the internal workings of Pharaoh’s mind? It might be, but I don’t think so. I think it means that God continued to pursue his course in freeing the Israelites even though he knew that this would deepen the resistance that was building in the mind of Pharaoh. If Pharaoh is going to fire his will like a brick in a kiln, then God is going to continue the pressure until that will is shattered. If necessary, God will shatter that hardened will with the awareness that it is the God, the Creator of the Universe, that Pharaoh resists.

Surely we are never so stubborn. Surely we never continue in a course just to prove that we are right. Surely we never keep doing something just to prove that we have the power to do it. Surely we never harden our own heart in opposition to the will or the purposes of our great God.

Yet we do, don’t we? Even though our intentions may have been good, we sometimes make this mistake. I think that, whenever we find ourselves strengthening our resolve, especially whenever it involves an exercise of power, we have to ask ourselves, “Am I acting within the current movement of God within the world, or, am I acting according to my own perceptions of how things ought to be?” "Am I resolved, or resistant?" If we find ourselves continuing to hit a brick wall, then perhaps we need to try to figure out who put the bricks there.

Blessings,

Ron

Resisting God ...

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