He was a young man at the top of his game - a star athlete, a top scholar, tall and good looking. Then, God called him to be a missionary. At this point in his life, being a missionary was the farthest thing from Jerry’s mind. He went outside to a lake to talk with God in private. He told God the long list of reasons why he shouldn’t be a missionary. Slowly, God answered all his objections.
At last he had one more complaint - the heart of his worries: “God, I can’t be a missionary. I’m no good at that kind of stuff. I’ll fail for sure.”
Then, he felt like God answered him very clearly: “OK, then, will you fail for me?” That was the heart of the issue. Was he willing to be faithful to God even if it meant failing?
That question is the first main point of our Exodus text today. God called Moses to lead Israel out of Egypt. Moses and Israel put their faith in God. They took a radical step of faith and obedience. They went to Pharaoh and asked him to let them walk out of Egypt.
(Don’t get distracted by the details of their request. This is an example of Middle-Eastern bargaining. The opening offer is to go into the wilderness to worship, but hidden inside that, both Moses and Pharaoh know that Israel is really asking for freedom.)
So after taking this radical step of faith in God, we would expect God to reward their faith and to set them free. Not exactly. Instead of freedom, they get more oppression.
Pharaoh’s response is really shrewd here. By making the Israelites work harder, he does three things. First, they are now so tired they don’t have any energy to fight for change. Second, they will now be happy simply to return to the old levels of oppression. (At least, it was better than this!) Third, he turns the Israelites against each other. The Israelite foremen attack Moses and Aaron and call on God to judge against them! Epic fail!
Sometimes faithfulness leads to failure. Sometimes obeying God makes our lives harder. Don’t be confused by all of the beautiful promises in the Bible. They are true. Being a Christian is awesome. Following God is absolutely the best way to live. ... But sometimes it really sucks! Sometimes we suffer because we do the wrong things. Other times we suffer specifically because we do the right things.
So here is the first main point of Exodus 5. Will you follow God even if you fail? Will you be faithful even if it makes your life harder? Will you value obedience over success?
