Verse of the day: Exodus
5:22-23 So
Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Lord, why have You brought
trouble on this people? Why is it
You have sent me? 23 For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has
done evil to this people; neither have You delivered Your people at all.”
How
often have we set out on a path we were sure God wanted us to take, only to
find that the path became more difficult than we expected? How often have we
done something, in the Name of the Lord, with every good intention, expecting a
positive outcome, only to find ourselves in situations where we are
misunderstood, and persecuted? What do we do when this happens? Where do we
turn? The short answer…we turn to God. The truth of the matter is that every
path that the Lord directs us to take is not always going to be a path that is
going to be obstacle-free. There certainly will be those that will be, but not
all of them. It is those paths, and those circumstances that we encounter, that
will challenge our faith, and cause us to question whether or not it was really
the direction God wanted us to take. It may even cause us to question God, and
ask, “God, why did you allow this? Why are you doing this to me?” If we are not
careful, we may open to the door to being discouraged to the point of simply
quitting. However, we must remember some things about what God has already told
us about our ways and His ways. Isaiah 55:8-9 tells us, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. 9 “For as the
heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways,
and My thoughts than your thoughts.” In this case, Moses seems to have
forgotten that the Lord specifically told him that Pharaoh would not let the
Israelites go in this first encounter. We too do not go into the world, and
into God’s service, without knowing what we may encounter, as God has already
warned us in His Word. All too often, we only want to serve the Lord during
instances when He does not allow us to experience hardships, or when our life
does not become complicated by those we are trying to minister to. We must not
forget that ministry, and serving the Lord, involves people. This means that we
never know what will happen, and what God will allow, when we are dealing with
people in sharing Christ, or offering our help and service to them. Others,
including other Christians, are sinners just like we are. As sinners, they
will, just like us, have moments of being ungrateful, experiencing
disappointment, and just feeling hopeless; and we may very catch some of them
at the height of feeling this way. The result may be that they will come at us,
and blame us, when things do not go their way in life, or for the moment; just
like the Israelites blamed Moses, and came at him, when Pharaoh increased their
burden after Moses and Aaron confronted him (v. 18-21). I can only imagine that
Moses must have felt very discouraged at this moment, since this is the second
time that he has experienced rejection from the very people he tried to help
before (Exodus 2:14). However, Moses took the appropriate action in turning to
God, and expressing his frustration to Him. He did not just give up and go back
to his old life or give up on serving the Lord. He went back to the One who sent
Him, not only to communicate what he was feeling, but receive further
instruction on what to do. The reality of serving God is that we certainly
stand the chance of experiencing discouragements that could very well cause us
to forsake our service to Him. It is of utmost importance that we remind
ourselves, by getting into God’s Word, that He has given us the remedy for
overcoming those moments of discouragement we face when things do not turn out
the way we thought they would, simply because we were following God’s
direction. Hebrews 4:16 reminds us, “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we
may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 tells us, “We are hard-pressed on
every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed,
but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but
not destroyed”. Galatians 6:9-10 encourages us, “And let us not
grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose
heart. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially
to those who are of the household of faith.” The bottom line is that
whenever we serve God and things do not turn out exactly as we thought they
would, we must trust that God knows something we do not, and that He is working
something we cannot see because He has chosen not to show us, as He wants us to
serve Him by faith. Therefore,
my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of
the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord (1 Corinthians
15:58).
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