In our passage this week we see a depressed Moses. He is dejected because the people of Israel are in misery. He had been sent by the Lord to bring them out of Egypt, out of the land of bondage. Yet in his eyes, he has made matters worse. He delivered the message to Pharaoh the Lord had given him, and Pharaoh’s response was to punish Israel. So he goes to the Lord and asks, “Why?”
“O Lord, why have you done injury to this people? Why did you send me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.” We know, of course, that Israel’s deliverance is inevitable at this point. God had promised it long ago. There is no possibility Pharaoh will prevail. Nevertheless, God delays this deliverance for his own purposes, and Israel suffers in the delay. What can we learn from this?
First, we need to remember all of God’s word, not just the promises. If we remember what God has revealed to Moses at this point, we can put it under 3 broad categories. God revealed his name; he revealed his promise; and he revealed a warning. God r
evealed his name as “I Am.” He is the infinite, eternal God who is, who was, and always will be. He had no beginning, and all things have being from him. He is sovereign over all.
His promise was that he would have a people to be his very own. He chose Abraham and Abrahams’s descendants to be this people. He told Abraham his descendants would be enslaved for a long time, but he would deliver them out of bondage and into a land of blessing. These things Moses had a grip on, that is, God is sovereign, God has promised. Check. So in Moses’ mind, the deliverance would be easy on Israel.
However, God also gave Moses a warning that Pharaoh would not let Israel go without difficulty. He warned Moses that Pharaoh’s heart would be hard. Hard portends something bad. It would be through tribulation Israel left Egypt.
If this sounds familiar, it is because Jesus told his followers they would have tribulation in this world. The apostle Paul told Christians it would be through many tribulations we enter the kingdom of heaven.
In other words God warns his people they will go through hardships. The promises of God in Christ are so staggering, so immense we can find ourselves expecting only ease and blessing in this world. We should remember much of the fulfilment is yet future. It is appointed first for the Christian to pass through this fallen world filled with tribulation. Peter told suffering Christians nothing strange was happening to them. It was what they should expect in this world.
We also learn here the benefit of trials. God was sovereign over the deliverance of Israel, but also over the way or path Israel must walk in that deliverance. Moses asks why they are suffering. We can’t answer all the questions of the suffering of God’s people, but we do know it will ultimately glorify God and help his people whom he has loves.
God will use Pharaoh to teach his people the path of destruction. Pharaoh defies God even to his own destruction. Sin and rebellion will kill you. If Pharaoh would but humble himself before God he might find mercy, but he will not. God is also teaching Israel their dependence upon God and the uselessness of idols. Nothing can help them in their present misery. They have no resources or strength that can extract them from their condition. Only God can.
Trials help Christians to truly seek God’s glory and to value communion with God above all else. James told Christians to count it all joy when they have trials because it will produce fidelity to God. James placed the development of our faith as more important that temporal comforts. Peter did, too. He said trials prove your faith is true, and your faith is of greater worth than gold.
Nobody wants the misery of tribulation. Everybody needs it. We shouldn’t judge God’s reasons for the suffering of others. But for ourselves we should see it as opportunity to remember the temporal nature of our lives, the blessedness of eternal salvation in Christ, and that God who loves me may do with me as he will. I will wait his day and trust him.
