You can be sure that I have heard the groans of the people of Israel, who are now slaves to the Egyptians. And I am well aware of my covenant with them. Exodus 6:5
It is easy to follow God and his direction in our lives when life is easy. However, when difficulties come, and there are bumps along the way, it is an entirely different story. While we would most likely never choose problems, unfortunately, no person on this earth will face a life without hard times. Therefore, we must decide what we will do and how we will respond when these hard times come.
Moses had a clear calling on His life: to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. God specifically called him to leave his home to go to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, to tell him to let the people of Israel free from slavery. After some arguing and questioning God, Moses went. He went to Egypt, spreading God’s message to Pharaoh that His people, the Israelites, must be freed from the slavery they were in. Perhaps Moses thought that because God had called him, this task would go rather smoothly. I would have been tempted to think that way. This was not the case. After Moses went to Pharaoh, everything went downhill. Pharaoh refused to let the Israelites go, making their work for him and the rest of Egypt even more complex and challenging. He was even harder on the Israelites than before. One of the tasks of the Israelites during slavery was making bricks. The Egyptians had previously supplied the straw they needed to make those bricks. After Moses demanded that the Israelites be set free, Pharaoh not only refused, he also decided that Egypt would not be supplying the straw. The Israelites had to start gathering their straw for bricks, making their work 10 times more challenging. With this change, the Israelites confronted Moses, blaming him for Pharaoh’s wrath.
Moses turned to God after seeing the Israelites’ plight. He said to God, “Ever since I came to Pharaoh as your spokesman, he has been even more brutal to your people. And you have done nothing to rescue them!” (Exodus 5:23). In response to Moses’s cry to Him, God said to him, “You can be sure that I have heard the groans of the people of Israel, who are now slaves to the Egyptians. And I am well aware of my covenant with them (Exodus 6:5). God made it clear to Moses that He saw their pain and that He would rescue them. He would take care of them in their time of need. Yes, life was difficult, but this was certainly no time to give up.
My friend, whatever it is you are facing, whatever hard challenge or difficulty comes your way, God sees you, and He is working, even when you can’t see it. He cares about your hardship, and He will bring good out of even the hardest time. Will you trust Him today?
What hardship are you facing now? Take it to God. Tell Him about the challenge you are facing. Ask Him to work and act in a way that only He can throughout the situation. Then, trust Him to work and provide, all for your good and His glory.
After this presentation to Israel’s leaders, Moses and Aaron went and spoke to Pharaoh. They told him, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Let my people go so they may hold a festival in my honor in the wilderness.”
“Is that so?” retorted Pharaoh. “And who is the Lord? Why should I listen to him and let Israel go? I don’t know the Lord, and I will not let Israel go.”
But Aaron and Moses persisted. “The God of the Hebrews has met with us,” they declared. “So let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness so we can offer sacrifices to the Lord our God. If we don’t, he will kill us with a plague or with the sword.”
Pharaoh replied, “Moses and Aaron, why are you distracting the people from their tasks? Get back to work! Look, there are many of your people in the land, and you are stopping them from their work.”
That same day Pharaoh sent this order to the Egyptian slave drivers and the Israelite foremen: “Do not supply any more straw for making bricks. Make the people get it themselves! But still require them to make the same number of bricks as before. Don’t reduce the quota. They are lazy. That’s why they are crying out, ‘Let us go and offer sacrifices to our God.’ Load them down with more work. Make them sweat! That will teach them to listen to lies!”
So the slave drivers and foremen went out and told the people: “This is what Pharaoh says: I will not provide any more straw for you. Go and get it yourselves. Find it wherever you can. But you must produce just as many bricks as before!” So the people scattered throughout the land of Egypt in search of stubble to use as straw.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian slave drivers continued to push hard. “Meet your daily quota of bricks, just as you did when we provided you with straw!” they demanded. Then they whipped the Israelite foremen they had put in charge of the work crews. “Why haven’t you met your quotas either yesterday or today?” they demanded.
So the Israelite foremen went to Pharaoh and pleaded with him. “Please don’t treat your servants like this,” they begged. “We are given no straw, but the slave drivers still demand, ‘Make bricks!’ We are being beaten, but it isn’t our fault! Your own people are to blame!”
But Pharaoh shouted, “You’re just lazy! Lazy! That’s why you’re saying, ‘Let us go and offer sacrifices to the Lord.’ Now get back to work! No straw will be given to you, but you must still produce the full quota of bricks.”
The Israelite foremen could see that they were in serious trouble when they were told, “You must not reduce the number of bricks you make each day.” As they left Pharaoh’s court, they confronted Moses and Aaron, who were waiting outside for them. The foremen said to them, “May the Lord judge and punish you for making us stink before Pharaoh and his officials. You have put a sword into their hands, an excuse to kill us!”
Then Moses went back to the Lord and protested, “Why have you brought all this trouble on your own people, Lord? Why did you send me? Ever since I came to Pharaoh as your spokesman, he has been even more brutal to your people. And you have done nothing to rescue them!”
Then the Lord told Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh. When he feels the force of my strong hand, he will let the people go. In fact, he will force them to leave his land!”
And God said to Moses, “I am Yahweh—‘the Lord.’ I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as El-Shaddai—‘God Almighty’—but I did not reveal my name, Yahweh, to them. And I reaffirmed my covenant with them. Under its terms, I promised to give them the land of Canaan, where they were living as foreigners. You can be sure that I have heard the groans of the people of Israel, who are now slaves to the Egyptians. And I am well aware of my covenant with them.
“Therefore, say to the people of Israel: ‘I am the Lord. I will free you from your oppression and will rescue you from your slavery in Egypt. I will redeem you with a powerful arm and great acts of judgment. I will claim you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God who has freed you from your oppression in Egypt. I will bring you into the land I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I will give it to you as your very own possession. I am the Lord!’ ”
