To honor in family relationships

"I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

Exodus 20:2‭, ‬12 ESV

Rev. Travis Drake

What does it mean to honor our parents in adulthood? Family relationships are complicated. Sin and brokenness is often found in these relationships, but God calls us from slavery into God's goodness.

Honoring, ancient Israel-style

Honor was hierarchical in Mediterranean culture. There was an order and structure to how honor was given. The ruler was the top of a pyramid demanding the first. Eli was accused of honoring his sons above God. God was claiming that sacrifices were his, but Eli was honoring his sons above God. God is above all. Parents, leaders, and managers... There is someone higher in the food chain than you. God's honor is always to be greater than our own. We can't claim the greatest place in our children's lives. We should not act like the only authority in our house. This command doesn't just speak to those under authority; it speaks to those with authority. We all sit under the authority of God. 

Honor was mutually beneficial. The patron-client relationship describes this. Protection was limited, so a patron provided it to clients. But the clients also honored patrons and both parties benefited. This doesn't call for parents to treat their children as clients! But it points out the mutual benefit of both parties. Honor meant that when we gathered things, it would benefit not just ourselves but also others. Good provision to children raised the honor of the parents. And good provision was, of course, good for the children. So honor is not just for you and I, but for others and for God.

Honoring our parents in light of Jesus' life

Jesus heads with his family to Jerusalem and he stays behind. Now traveling in such large family group, it takes some time for his parents to find that he isn't with them. He stays behind in the temple and that is where his parents find him. Jesus is speaking with the religious teachers and showing his good desire to be in his father's house. But Jesus at that young age, goes back with his parents. He submits to his parents authority. Jesus lets his parents exercise authority as a child. 

But as he grows older, he no longer asks Mary for advice or permission. Jesus doesn't ask Mary for directions. Jesus' parents no longer control him. So for us, submission as a child was for the child to learn and be guided. Jesus' ministry takes off, he calls himself the son of God. Jesus' family come to get him. They think Jesus is acting crazy and they go to bring him home and set him straight. But Jesus doesn't go along with them. Jesus publicly disagrees with his family. Jesus doesn't write them off. Jesus continues to honor them even as he disagrees them. Jesus calls John, the disciple, to care for his mother at the cross.

Honoring our parents in our lives

As children, we should submit to our parents. Even as children who disagree with our parents, we need to submit, even when the desires are not bad. As adults, we must continue to honor and care for our parents, even when we disagree. Why? Because Jesus did. Even as Jesus was being publicly executed, he honored his mother, Mary. So honor isn't just for when it is convenient. Jesus was the commandments in flesh. So to honor, to care, and to love our parents at all times is the command. But on our best days, we cannot muster this. Jesus doesn't simply provide the example, the blueprint. He provides the power. Through the power of the holy spirit, God can change us inside to desire these things. Honoring in Jesus' life led to death, but also resurrection. Consider that in the old testament dishonoring ones parents was punishable by death. So it is with us. We fail to honor God and our parents... And to do so is deserving of death. But for the Christian, we die with Jesus and find life & resurrection. We find desire to do what God desires. And we find honor, even as we honor others, especially.

Understanding Rest

And God spoke all these words, saying, "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. - Exodus 20:1‭-‬2‭, ‬8‭-‬11 ESV

Rev. Travis Drake

The commandments outline how to flourish with God. It is moving from enslavement to freedom in Christ. Many of us in the church struggle to understand and rest/Sabbath. God doesn't just offer it to us; He commands it.

Why we struggle to Sabbath

Why do we constantly struggle with putting down our striving? We see it as a restriction or constraint. Often it is because we think that God will reject us because we aren't doing it tightly. For others, when God command rest, we see it as an imposition of who's the boss. We struggle with keeping God as Lord of our lives. Still others may think that by keeping the Sabbath, they are missing out, falling behind, or getting less. Fears of falling behind in our lives in some way. But God has already seen this and prepared for these things. God first delivers Israel from Egypt and in that, we see that God provides. He knows that we will struggle to trust Him. That's why He rescues first. So we could know that we can trust him. We are constantly looking for ways to control the world around us. Maybe our spouse, or our career, or our parents... God gives us freedom in Christ so that we don't serve other things in our lives.

How to reorient

This command invites us to be like God. The passage points us back to the story of creation. The reason we are commanded to rest isn't just because we need rest, but God, infinite and powerful, enjoys rest. In being commanded to rest, we are invited to be like God. This is not a restriction, this is God wanting is to have more. God has this and wants to share it with us. After centuries of hardship and slavery, God invites them to enjoy things of the King. From centuries of degradation, an invitation to being elevated back to heirs of the King. This isn't an invitation to those who have it together, Israel was always sinful and slavery didn't make it better. It is for sinners like you and I. This invitation is for those who were broken inside and out. We don't need just a physical rescue, a release from our circumstances. We need a rescue from our internal brokenness, a slavery that we carry around with us everywhere we go. So this command is to put down our attempts to do what Christ has done for us. That is what the Sabbath calls us to. It calls to rest in what Jesus has already done for us. For those who believe, we are free in Jesus. That is ultimately what our Sabbath should be about.

How to live into it?

First, we are to examine. We need to look at our Sundays and see how it is different from other days. Does it look different from Saturday? This isn't a call to guilt, we will not see a perfect Sabbath in our lives until we see Jesus. But it is a call to change it, to make it holy in our lives. We need to examine our hearts and perhaps to start thinking on Saturday how we can start resting on Sunday. 

Let's do some dangerous resting. I want us to step out in faith and stop working on something that feels so important in your life. Leave that project, that striving, that thing that we are afraid to put down. Push it off to Monday. Trust in God instead. Place our hope in Jesus instead.

God's name

"You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. - Exodus 20:7 ESV

Rev. Dwight Yoo

The essence of the command

God considers his name as vitally important. Important enough to be one of the ten commandments. How so? In our current day and culture, we pick names because they are cool or unique. But in the times of the old testament, names were very important. Jacob was named for grasping his brothers ankle. It also meant schemer which was proven true later in his life in his planning to obtain his father's blessing. God was asked by Moses what His name was. God called himself, Yahweh, I am. The supreme being of all creation shared his name with Israel. In doing so, he was sharing some of himself. To disrespect God's name is to disrespect God himself. This is how God sees it.

To call on Jesus name, not in a perfunctory way is to call on God. The power is not in the name, but it does represent Him. Jews were so careful that they often used alternatives rather than writing his name.

The expansiveness of the command

Vain means worthless, emptiness, and even evil. To use Jesus' name as an exclamation were be considered empty. Or saying something like oh my god. This is a reducing of God's name. This seems old fashioned but this isn't my opinion, this is God's point of view. And using God's name in an oath, so help me God, with no intention to uphold that oath is evil. To use God's name for our personal gain, like false prophets. They prophecy for their own purposes. Some say that God is leading them to certain actions, but this is simply using God to justify our personal desires. It even covers perfunctory prayers and songs. It is evil to sing praise or pray to God when our hearts are not in it.

In calling ourselves Christians, we are literally bearing God's name. Our actions, behavior, and character are seen as reflections of our parents. When kids are well behaved or ill mannered, the assumption is that their parent's values are reflected there. When Christians act in ways that are contrary to God's agenda and desires, God's name is dishonored. 

The effect of the command

We see this command and we see how we fail to live this out consistently. We fall short in our lives in so many ways to keep not just this command, but all ten commandments. To bring shame on God's name brings guilt. But Jesus lived perfectly and fulfilled these commands consistently in his life. He did this as the way to pay for our guilt. 

second commandment: the image of God

"You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. - Exodus 20:4‭-‬6 ESV

What is prohibited?

There is only one true God and only He is deserving of our worship. We are always drawn to good, created things. These are meant to be enjoyed but they are not to be our ultimate desire. Sex, money, family, respect of men, etc. We are not to create images and sculptures of God.

Why is it prohibited?

The idea is that we are trying to contain or depict God. Any image or sculpture will fall to depict the fullness of God. This made sense when Israel was in the desert. God was the cloud, the pillar of fire. Israel could not create an image of the invisible God. But then Jesus came. He was the fullness of God. The object holds no power. It cannot connect us to God. It does not allow us to control God. Often idols are our attempts to conform God to our own perceptions and our ideas about God. The idol is a misrepresentation of God and an offense to Him. We are offended when we are misunderstood or misrepresented, so then what is God's reaction?

God's image redeemed

Jesus was an authorized depiction of God, but there is another. Us, humans. We are created in God's image. We reflect some of his qualities. We are broken mirrors because of sin. But Jesus was broken for us so that we would not die, but be restored. So we should strive to glorify and illuminate Jesus in every area of our lives.

The wilderness

They set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and the people of Israel said to them, "Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger." Then the Lord said to Moses, "Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily." So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, "At evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord. For what are we, that you grumble against us?" And Moses said, "When the Lord gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full, because the Lord has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him—what are we? Your grumbling is not against us but against the Lord." Then Moses said to Aaron, "Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, 'Come near before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.'" And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. And the Lord said to Moses, "I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, 'At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.'" In the evening quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning dew lay around the camp. And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground. When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, "What is it?" For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, "It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat. This is what the Lord has commanded: 'Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat. You shall each take an omer, according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent.'" And the people of Israel did so. They gathered, some more, some less. But when they measured it with an omer, whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat. And Moses said to them, "Let no one leave any of it over till the morning." But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. Morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as he could eat; but when the sun grew hot, it melted. On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each. And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, he said to them, "This is what the Lord has commanded: 'Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.'" So they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it. Moses said, "Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none." On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. And the Lord said to Moses, "How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? See! The Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day." So the people rested on the seventh day. Now the house of Israel called its name manna. It was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. The people of Israel ate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land. They ate the manna till they came to the border of the land of Canaan. - Exodus 16:1‭-‬31‭, ‬35 ESV

Rev. Travis Drake

Why does grumbling happen?

The nation of Israel exited Egypt. It is around 30 days after nation altering events. The closest we can imagine is the aftermath of 911 in this country. They were in the wilderness and nothing was wrong. They were not starving. They wanted meat and bread. This is not a daily thing, but rather a luxury. They were giving God a bad Yelp review. They were saying that they wanted to be delivered in a certain way. This was not the deliverance they wanted. They wanted things a certain way. God had brought them out of Egypt, but Egypt was still in them. 

How does God respond to our grumbling?

God does not respond the way we expect to grumbling. Why does God appear to be giving in to the people's grumbling? He gives them honey wafers and meat! But that is not the case, God is giving them food and rest. He is giving them daily bread. This requires daily dependence on God. This is not Egypt; this is God providing. God's antidote is to give us back what we need which is relationship with Him. He gives them provisions daily so they could find what they needed, Him. God could've brought them near in Egypt, but He did not do that. He needed them to see their need for God and that would only happen in the wilderness. God will not lose us, even if it costs us our comfort.

Not only does he answer their grumbling with provision, but he also gives them rest. He gives them the Sabbath. He wasn't going to make them gather bread everyday. He was going to arrange things so people could take a day off. Slaves did not have days off. Entire generations lived and died without any rest. So God was teaching them that they were people, not property. Their worth was not in their productivity or their hustle. God promises to provide enough and the people did not trust Him. While we are grumbling, God is providing and rehabilitating us. 

Jesus found no rest upon the cross. He was afflicted with hunger and thirst. He left the riches of heaven to walk upon this sinful world. He suffered indignity to give us dignity. He answered our grumblings with new life and grace.

Consider what our grumbling says about what we think we need instead of God.

Return to God daily to find sustenance and rest.

Crossing the sea

When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the mind of Pharaoh and his servants was changed toward the people, and they said, "What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?" So he made ready his chariot and took his army with him, and took six hundred chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the people of Israel while the people of Israel were going out defiantly. The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh's horses and chariots and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them encamped at the sea, by Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon. When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, "Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: 'Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians'? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness." And Moses said to the people, "Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent." The Lord said to Moses, "Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground. And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen." Then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness. And it lit up the night without one coming near the other all night. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. And in the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic, clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, "Let us flee from before Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians." Then the Lord said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen." So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained. But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses. - Exodus 14:5‭-‬31 ESV

Rev. Ryan Egli

Missing the bigger picture

The Pharaoh was utterly humiliated and done with the people of Israel. He sends them away. But God leads then through the wilderness. This is not a quick route, it is slow and would've taken weeks and months. Meanwhile Pharaoh's heart hardens again and he takes hundreds of chariots from his personal guard and hundreds, if not thousands from the nation's military, then goes to pursue the slaves, the nation of Israel.

Israel is between a rock and a hard place. The military might of Egypt is coming after them. They start to grumble and complain. They forget about who had started their release from slavery. They forgot about God and all the power represented in those plagues. Often it is the same with us when times gets tough, when we are not #blessed or living Instagram perfect lives. We forget God and His mighty works.

God's agenda

God is here to show his power. He is protecting Israel with the pillars of cloud and fire. He then opens a path across the sea. There is a wall of water on both left and right as Israel crosses. God then defeats the entire army without the Israelites lifting a single weapon. He brings the entire sea down upon the Egyptians and not one survives. The people of Israel look upon the army one minute and then nothing... utter anhilation.

From deliverance to doxology

After Moses sees this, he praises God. After him, Miriam lifts the tambourine and sings a song to God. These glimpses of joy are so fleeting here. But in heaven, the songs are the norm. We shall sing of the salvation of God. We will continue to sing about Jesus coming and saving. Praise and worship are the right response to salvation & deliverance. So what about today? We can only identify as one of two camps, either the oppressor, hard hearted Pharaoh or the enslaved Israelites. If the first, we should be afraid and turn to God. If the second, we should remember how God has saved us, we should respond in praise and thankfulness rather than grumbling and complaining.

Exodus: the struggle

Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, "Thus says the Lord , the God of Israel, 'Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.'" But Pharaoh said, "Who is the Lord , that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord , and moreover, I will not let Israel go." Then they said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three days' journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword." But the king of Egypt said to them, "Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people away from their work? Get back to your burdens." And Pharaoh said, "Behold, the people of the land are now many, and you make them rest from their burdens!" The same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen, "You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as in the past; let them go and gather straw for themselves. But the number of bricks that they made in the past you shall impose on them, you shall by no means reduce it, for they are idle. Therefore they cry, 'Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.' Let heavier work be laid on the men that they may labor at it and pay no regard to lying words." So the taskmasters and the foremen of the people went out and said to the people, "Thus says Pharaoh, 'I will not give you straw. Go and get your straw yourselves wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced in the least.'" So the people were scattered throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. The taskmasters were urgent, saying, "Complete your work, your daily task each day, as when there was straw." And the foremen of the people of Israel, whom Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them, were beaten and were asked, "Why have you not done all your task of making bricks today and yesterday, as in the past?" Then the foremen of the people of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, "Why do you treat your servants like this? No straw is given to your servants, yet they say to us, 'Make bricks!' And behold, your servants are beaten; but the fault is in your own people." But he said, "You are idle, you are idle; that is why you say, 'Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord .' Go now and work. No straw will be given you, but you must still deliver the same number of bricks." The foremen of the people of Israel saw that they were in trouble when they said, "You shall by no means reduce your number of bricks, your daily task each day." They met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting for them, as they came out from Pharaoh; and they said to them, "The Lord look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us." 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."

But the Lord said to Moses, "Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for with a strong hand he will send them out, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land." God spoke to Moses and said to him, "I am the Lord . I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself known to them. I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. Say therefore to the people of Israel, 'I am the Lord , and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord .'" Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery. So the Lord said to Moses, "Go in, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the people of Israel go out of his land." But Moses said to the Lord , "Behold, the people of Israel have not listened to me. How then shall Pharaoh listen to me, for I am of uncircumcised lips?" But the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron and gave them a charge about the people of Israel and about Pharaoh king of Egypt: to bring the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt. - Exodus 5-6:‬13 ESV

Rev. Dwight Yoo

Struggling Against

Moses asked for Pharaoh to let the people of Israel to go. The pharaoh refused. Moses asked again in the name of the Lord. Then Pharaoh makes Israel pay for the request by no longer providing straw. He did this to drive a wedge between Moses and the people of Israel. But there's a greater struggle. Pharaoh considered himself a god and Israel was to serve him. The Lord considered Israel His as well. So there is another battle between God and the rulers of this world. God wants the people of Israel for the salvation and blessing of the world. Pharaoh wanted the Israelites to slave for him instead. 

So it is for us, God wants to rule over our lives, but sin is also there. We will read later about God hardening Pharaoh's heart and also Pharaoh hardening his own heart. This is a picture knowing that the true enemy is Satan, not each other. We are called to love our enemies, not hate those who holds differing opinions or worldviews.

Struggling In

Moses finds that the foremen of Israel rebuke him for putting that request to Pharaoh. They are saying that Moses had just made their lives harder. Moses was living in the gap between promise and reality. We are given freedom by Christ, but we only experience struggle. This is the gap that Moses sits in and often where we will find ourselves during times of intense trial. We can find it hard to trust in God's promises. This is not the struggle of a non-believer, but of the believer. We need to go to God.

Finding strength for the struggle

When the foremen of Israel were oppressed, what did they do? They went to Pharaoh their oppressor. So often we find ourselves going to our oppressor for salvation and help. We go to false gods. And just like the foremen, we find no help. And sometimes we may find more trouble rather than help. Often God allows our circumstances to go from bad to worse to show us who our true enemy is and what kind of oppressed life we walked. God brought Israel out of Egypt but then made Israel wander the desert. God wanted to bring Egypt out of the Israelites. So God wants to do with us. He brings us through the gap to show us our false gods and His faithfulness to us.