Read the Word:
Exodus 5:10-23
Meditate on the Word:
Where do we place the blame when things get hard? It becomes obvious looking at this passage that Pharaoh is the bad guy. He is rebelling against God’s command to let His people go. In his rage, Pharaoh has placed a burden on the people that they absolutely cannot meet. Then, the slave drivers beat the Israelite slaves, blaming them for not meeting the demand. The Israelite slaves blame the Egyptians for imposing these impossible working conditions on them. But then, they also turn their anger toward Moses and Aaron, and call on God to judge them. Moses then goes to God and blames Him for not rescuing the people.
To be clear, it was not the fault of the Israelites that Pharaoh was treating them so badly. They were simply placing the blame on those that they saw. The people saw the overseers and blamed them. The overseers blamed Moses and Aaron. The enemy had convinced them that these were the people to blame for their suffering. Of course, we know now that this was all part of God’s plan for their rescue. Nobody seemed able to see it at the time.
Today, we can still be deceived into blaming the wrong people for our problems. We are told to blame immigrants, the poor, the rich, the government, even our neighbors. The problem with always trying to assign blame is that we then feel it is our job to rid ourselves of whatever enemy we are being sold that week. It is exhausting and doesn’t solve anything. What if we truly trusted in God and loved Him first and neighbor as ourselves? What if we gave up the fear that is marketed to us and instead trusted that God will bring us through what He has brought us to?
Pray the Word:
Confess to the Lord any area where you have focused more on assigning blame than on trusting Him.
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