Exodus 5

When Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and demanded that he let the Israelites go as God instructed, Pharaoh's heart was immediately hardened and he refused because he did not know God. Not only that, but He also became so angry at this notion that he ordered the Egyptian slave drivers to stop gathering straw for the Israelite slaves to make bricks. He demanded that their brick quota remain constant, and that they should be beaten "if" they fell short. Since they now had to gather their own straw from all over Egypt, completing their work was nearly impossible.

Essentially, the Israelites were being beaten every day no matter how hard they worked. They became furious with Moses and Aaron for trying to appeal to Pharaoh in the first place. They believed their lives would have been better if Pharaoh was never challenged. Even Moses pleads to the Lord in verse 23 and asks why He would bring him and the rest of His people to such misery. He cries to the Lord saying “Why, Lord, have you brought trouble on your people? Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on them, and you have not rescued your people at all."

You see, when God told Moses and Aaron to go before Pharaoh and demand the release of the Israelites, they probably assumed that the Almighty God would make it happen with no hindrance. They never expected opposition. So, when trouble came, they all wished they could have remained in the familiar bondage they had been before because it was easier then. They were ready to accept defeat instead of continuing to believe in God and remember His promise.

How many times have we done this? How often do we ask God for freedom and deliverance from different types of bondage in our lives, and then back down when it’s more work than we anticipated? Isn’t it tempting sometimes to pretend like we can stay comfortable in darkness because fighting for abundance seems too hard?
 
It’s important to clarify that God promises us freedom and victory over all things, but He never promises us that it will be easy. Our inheritance as His children is the authority to be free from darkness in this world, but we only get to receive it when we fully surrender what we think the process should look like. More often than not, when Satan sees that you are on the path to freedom, he will come at you harder than ever before. He will use every piece of ammo he has to try and keep you from your Promised Land. In these times, you have to remember that God is bigger than your present circumstances. Nothing threatens a promise made by God.

Sometimes rescue is immediate, but a lot of times it is a process. It is always worth the fight. It is always worth believing in. It is always worth waiting for. Rescue is always coming.
 
Author | Meredith Ashburn