When it Gets Worse

"Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 'Go, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the sons of Israel go out of his land.' But Moses spoke before the Lord, saying, 'Behold, the sons of Israel have not listened to me; how then will Pharaoh listen to me, for I am unskilled in speech?' Then the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, and gave them a charge to the sons of Israel and to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt." -Exodus 6.10-13

Israel's workload has been increased. They have to produces the same number of bricks each day, but now they must do so without being provided with any straw. The Israelite foremen are being beaten, and so the heads of Israel go to speak with Pharaoh. His ears are closed, and he sends them away with still with no straw to make bricks. As they leave they meet up with Moses and Aaron, and they aren't too happy with the pair. They accuse Moses of their new hardships, and Moses turns to God asking why he was even sent because the problem has just gotten worse for the people.

But then God shares the promise that He made with Abraham. Canaan will belong to Israel, God will be their God and they will be His people. He will lead them out of bondage and redeem them. This is His promise and He will keep it. He instructs Moses to go again and tell Pharaoh to let the people go, and it comes as no surprise that Moses isn't thrilled with this. He points out how his own people have not listened, so why would Pharaoh. And again we see him bring up his weakness. But then God speaks to him and Aaron, and gives them a charge, He entrusts them with a task, of bringing His people out of Egypt.

Up to this point things have only gotten worse. At first Israel was on board with the plan, God finally seemed to be concerned about them, but after the first attempt things go from bad to worse, and suddenly they aren't so gungho. Moses was already hesitant with the task, imagine how he must have felt in that moment.

Men, sometimes, often times, bad things get worse before they get better. You go into a rough situation with energy and enthusiasm, expecting to see God turn everything around right away. But rarely does it happen that way immediately. Most of the time bad things get worse before they get better. What do you do in those moments? Do you give up? Does one attempt that didn't go as planned break you? Would it break a warrior?

Or do you not focus on the "failure" but on the commission you've been given by God. If you're in the center of His will, you can endure the worse, because you can rest in His promise that it will end. Redemption and restoration are coming with God, but in order to experience them, we have to endure the worse. This is why we have to be warriors.

I'm thinking of a song quote from Rocky 4, "In the warrior's code there's no surrender. Though his body says stop his spirit cries never! Deep in our soul a quiet ember, knows it's you against you, it's the paradox that drives us on. It's a battle of wills. In the heat of attack it's the passion that kills. The victory is yours alone."

That is the attitude we must have. We never quit fighting for truth and righteousness. We never surrender. We stand firm on the charge God has placed on our lives. We trust Him to see us through the worse and bring the victory. Things will often get worse before they get better. Let's man up, let the warrior arise, and battle through it.

"Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."

To God alone be the Glory!

Strength and Honor