Patience and the Providence of God

Exodus 5:22–23 Moses returned to the Lord and said, “O Lord, why have you brought trouble upon this people? Is this why you sent me? 23 Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble upon this people, and you have not rescued your people at all.”

Moses had done what God called him to do. He went back to Egypt. He had his meeting with Pharaoh and told him what God had commanded.

I assume it was more than a little baffling to him that things went from bad to worse for God’s people. Pharaoh said that the people could not leave and then he doubled the work load of the Israelites. Now they had to retrieve the straw needed to make the bricks they were required to produce and on top of that they were required to produce the same amount of bricks.

Understandably, the people got mad at Moses. He promised deliverance, but instead got their leaders a beating and their people under a greater load of labor.

Don’t you know that was not how Moses pictured it? I imagine Moses would have been expecting the people to be singing his praise. When they were having their meeting with him to tell Moses what a loser they thought he was, I imagine he was saying to himself, “I thought we’d be marching toward Palestine by now.”

Things do not always happen the way we think they should. That doesn’t discount the sovereignty and will of God. It only reminds us that we must have patience and trust God’s timing.

Keep sharing Christ with that uninterested friend or family member. Keep praying. Keep doing the work of telling the truth of the Gospel. If it His will, God will bring deliverance in due time to the praise of His glory.