Deliver Your People

So the taskmasters and the supervisors of the people went out and said to the people, "Thus says Pharaoh, 'I will not give you straw. Go and get straw yourselves, wherever you can find it; but your work will not be lessened in the least.'" 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?"

Exodus 5:10-14

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 5:22-23

Have you ever listened to a weather forecast that told you things would get worse before they got better? That is pretty much what the message was to Moses from God.

The plans of the LORD were not being frustrated, but before conditions got better for His children, God tested them by allowing their suffering to increase.

Even when we are obedient to the LORD, the skies of adversity may not always clear immediately. Circumstances may get worse before they improve. God's grace will sustain us, and the storm will pass.

It is always darkest

before the dawn.

Our Daily Bread - March 12, 2005