Exodus 5: Making Bricks Without Straw

"Then Moses turned to the LORD and said, “O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever 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.” Exodus 5:22-23

A few days ago, we looked at how in both the New and Old Testaments, we find a God who longs to save his people. In Exodus 1-3, we found God's people being oppressed, yet God sovereignly reaching into their lives through the person of Moses and promising salvation. This dialogue between Moses and God continues in chapter 4, but in chapter 5 we find the story really starts to get going. Moses and Aaron go to Pharoah and demand that he let their people go. However, Pharoah's heart is hard, and he becomes angry with Moses, and thus decides to oppress the Egyptians rather than free them. The Hebrews were already commanded to make bricks, but Pharoah now commanded them to both make the bricks and gather their own straw, all while not reducing their daily brick-making quota. In other words, Pharoah gave them a horrible, impossible task. In response to this, the Israelites complain to Moses, who had just come to them and promised the Lord's deliverance. Moses and Aaron literally just stood in front of the Israelite people at the end of chapter 4 and spoke of how God had promised to deliver them, but now rather than being delivered, they were being persecuted more than they were before. At the end of chapter 5, we find Moses having the same reaction as the Israelites (see verses above), calling out to God and wondering what the heck is going on. God has promised to save his people, but everything is just going in the wrong direction. Does God even care?

Well before we get to the good news that y'all know is coming, let us take a moment to point out how we are often just like Moses and the Israelites in chapter 5. Being commanded to make bricks without straw, they found themselves at an impossible task, wondering if God was faithful. Yet if we take a step back and remember the whole story of the Exodus, we certainly find that God was faithful, and that the Israelites were merely impatient. Yet how often are we the same way? We often expect God to deliver us in this way at this time by this means, but how often does it actually happen that way? We often desire for God to save us our way, but if we take a moment to consider the great mind of God, we realize that his way is always better than ours, even though it might not make sense to us.

As you know, the Israelites did not have to eternally "make bricks without straw." In the next chapter, we find God promising deliverance to Moses and the Israelites once again, and then the plagues coming upon Israel (which we will look at tomorrow). Yet amidst is all, let us not miss the point: Moses and the Israelites were unfaithful and impatient with God's plan for their salvation, yet so are we. Let us notice that the Lord has promised to provide for us in every circumstance (Phil. 4:19), and although that provision may not come quickly and easily as we could have hoped, amidst it all, God is working a greater plan that he knows will work out for our great salvation.

So, don't test the plan of God, trust in the plan of God. You may be called to make bricks without straw, yet amidst it all, trust in the God who has promised to provide. He will surely deliver you, even if not in this life, then in the next. Don't be faithless, be faithful, that the Lord might be known in all the world. Amen!