August 7, 2023

The road to freedom can be rough. God hears our cries for help, but sometimes things get worse when we move toward Jesus. Then, because we don't see immediate progress, we often give up in frustration, quitting before the real work begins and pointing our finger at God for not helping when it was the devil causing the resistance. The enemy comes on strong when we try to turn our life around. He is especially hard on new believers. 

The leaders of the Israelites agreed that the Lord had spoken to Moses and sent him and Aaron to ask Pharaoh to let them go into the wilderness to worship God. Pharoah didn't believe them and clarified that he didn't know their God and had no reason to release them to worship him. What made things worse is he stopped providing the straw for making bricks and made them gather it themselves without decreasing their quota. Though it seemed God had left them to handle the situation alone, he needed to see that they were willing to participate in their release. They needed to make the first move. It's comparable to accepting Jesus as our Savior. We make our move toward Jesus, receive his gift of salvation, and he gives us the Holy Spirit and frees us from the penalty of sin. Then he teaches us how to live in that freedom. 

And they said unto them, The LORD look upon you, and judge; because ye have made our savour to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to slay us. And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Lord, wherefore hast thou so evil entreated this people? why is it that thou hast sent me? Exodus 5:21-22