It is extremely difficult to do the right thing when everyone around you has given in to temptation. It is almost impossible to bear when we stand up for what God wants us to do and then suffer unfairly. And yet, isn’t that what happens all too often? In the movies the good guys win all the time, but that’s not the way it is in real life.
As we follow Moses back to Egypt on his God-given mission to free the Israelite people from years of slavery and then lead them to the land they were promised hundreds of years earlier, we find he runs into a brick wall by the name of Pharaoh. When Moses presents God’s plan to the ruler of Egypt the reaction is brutal. Not only is Moses kicked out of the palace, the Israelite work load is doubled. To add insult to injury, the Jewish people want nothing more to do with Moses.
Alone and depressed, Moses reminds God that he didn’t want the job in the first place and wonders if this is not some cruel joke the Almighty is playing on him.
What does a Christian do when we obey God and suffer for it? The easiest thing is to just give up and conform to the way everybody else is living, or, if that touches our conscience, we might quietly separate ourselves so that we don’t join in with the sinful behavior, but we don’t do anything to change it. That is the easy way. But is it the right way?
God will accomplish his plan for the world with or without us. But he chooses to give us the great privilege of working with him to carry out his will. If we shrink back from working with him or live like those who reject him, we are making a powerful statement about who and what is most important in our lives. God let Moses hit a brick wall to help his servant learn that the success of leading the Israelites out of Egypt wouldn’t depend on him, but the Lord. It may well be the same for us. If you have hit a brick wall in the form of people or circumstances which are resisting your efforts to be obedient to God, don’t be disillusioned. The God you serve is as powerful today as in the time of Moses. He will act according to his good timing.
Join us either Saturday (6:00 pm) or Sunday (10:00 am) and build yourself up to meet the brick walls in your life.
Hawaii Lutheran Church (WELS)
- Community Lutheran Church
- Honolulu, HI
- Community Lutheran Church holds protestant chapel services in Honolulu, Hawaii near Pearl Harbor, HI. We are next to the USS Arizona Memorial, Pearl Harbor Naval Base, Hickam Air Force Base, and Fort Shafter Hawaii. Look for us directly behind the Salt Lake, Hawaii, Target.