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.
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