Making Bricks Without Straw?

             

In Exodus, Moses is sent back to Egypt to bring the Israelites out of slavery.  I’m sure Moses didn’t realize how trying and testing it would be to get Pharaoh to let them go.  With every plague and argument with Pharaoh I’m sure he hoped it would be the last.  Maybe he went thinking that because it was God’s will it would somehow be easy.  I think we all naively think that sometimes.  God’s will isn’t always easy.  Pharaoh didn’t appreciate God’s will at all. Pharaoh refused to move so that God’s will could be fulfilled.   Pharaoh started to do everything he could to make it harder on the Israelites.  In Exodus 5 he declares that they won’t be given straw to help them make the bricks.  Basically they’ll have to gather it themselves which makes their back breaking labor even more intense.  (Incidentally I heard once that if you look at the bricks on some of the pyramids there are in fact a few layers where archeologists could tell were made by throwing all sorts of things in the clay… thus backing up this Biblical account.) 

             

When God is getting them out of 400 years of slavery, it appears that things are getting harder in their circumstance.  What God has already told Moses He is doing appears in the natural to be the exact opposite.  Their oppression seems to be getting worse!

           

 I’ve been thinking a lot about this recently.  Sometimes/Often when life and situations appear to get harder and harder, and it’s as if the intensity has been turned up….that is when breakthrough is pushed forth. But most of us, myself included in moments, tend to want to think giving up could be an option (Galatians 6:9) It’s just like the Israelites being expected to make bricks without straw.  That was an impossible situation for them, but God was taking them from the impossible to the possible.  God was doing a great work, and they were days away from their deliverance.    

             

Am I the only one that have had moments of wondering, “What am I expected to make bricks without straw now?” When things in my life have taken longer or seemed impossible, I’ve thought that to myself.   But there is good news in that. . .when the intensity is being turned up, you know God is up to something big.  When the pressure seems mounting you know you need a miracle so get ready, God’s bringing one forth! 

Joshua 1:5-6 “⁵ No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. ⁶ Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.”

            

 I love Joshua 1:1-10 and quote it often.  Notice here in vs. 5 is say No One will be able to stand against you.  This promise God made to Joshua we all as God’s children have right to.  No ONE can stand between you and what God has promised you.  Not unless you let them.  Pharaoh thought he was all powerful, but he couldn’t stand between the children of Israel and God’s promises.  He had to move.  He may have required for a moment the Israelites do the impossible with making bricks without straw, but God had another plan.  Look to God!  Impossibility is made possible through Him.  If for a moment the intensity in your life has turned up that means you’re in prime location for a massive tide rushing breakthrough!  The Israelites weren’t required to make bricks without straw for long, because their deliverance was drawing nigh. People in this kind of season tend to quit expecting because they’ve grown so weary.  But Expectation is breeding ground for miracles.  Choose to expect!  Trust Him beyond what you see.  Begin to expect for a mighty move of God in your life because God is doing something you have yet to see.

            

 Remember God has awesome plans for your life.  Get excited.