As they left Pharaoh’s court, they confronted Moses and Aaron, who were waiting outside for them. (Exodus 5:20)

Read: Exodus 4:1-5:21, Matthew 18:1-20, Psalm 22:19-31, Proverbs 5:15-21

Listen: 

Relate: Moses shows up in Egypt with a command from God for Pharaoh: Let my people go. Pharaoh mocks the audacity of this once great man who has now become a desert mystic. Instead of obeying God, Pharaoh just makes things harder for the Hebrew slaves. This causes a “committee” of these Hebrews to come and confront Moses. Please bear with me while I imagine this confrontation…

Foreman’s complaint:

I can’t even do my job anymore Moses. You said things were going to get better. You said we were on our way out of here. Yah, right. All I’ve seen is more work required from us and fewer resources to do it. All day long I see my workers getting beat and abused far more than they ever were before and at the end of the day, I get beat within inches of my life myself. Why? Because you showed up. Not God… you. Hope? You think you’re offering us hope? What is hope? It is only an unrealistic dream that keeps us from being able to accept the drudgery that we call life. You can take your hope and shove it. Yes, I know that things are supposed to be better than this. I know that life should offer me more. But as long as I can keep my mind away distracted by that fact, I’ve found I can endure this existence just fine.

Moses reply:

Endure? Is that what you’re doing? Is that what you call it? You were made for more than that. I know things have only been made worse since I’ve arrived. For that I’m sorry. Even more, I’m sorry that I didn’t warn you that this might happen first. To be honest I didn’t really expect it myself. I just thought I’d come in here, there would be a big confrontation and God would show his power and off we’d go. That is what will happen, I still believe it, but it looks like it might take longer than we’ve expected. God sees you. He knows you. He has heard your tears and He will bring you out. Did you hear me? He will bring you out. I know things look darker now. I know that since you have begun to experience hope your pain seems all the worse. Trust me, this dark night will end. Just hold on. Dawn is coming.

Relate: Sometimes hope seems a bit subversive, doesn’t it? I mean, I can get along with the daily monotony and grind of life just fine as long as I’m not hoping for something more. It is easy to look at evil and injustice and shrug my shoulders when I can say, “That’s just the way it is. I can’t change it.” It is only when I start thinking thoughts like “I can make a difference” that I really truly experience the pain. The life I’m living doesn’t seem all too shallow until I begin to realize that I was made for so much more.

So should I give up hope? Should I push down those expectations that seem so unrealistic? If I do, won’t I always remain a slave? Is this short-term pain worth the freedom it is promising? I’ve heard dawn is coming but how long will this dark night last?

Respond: 

Dear God,
This is a broken world. I know there is more, there has to be. But whenever I begin to raise my vision it seems that I am more and more aware of the injustice of the world around me. I feel more and more powerless to make the change that I know is needed in my life and in my world. Help me to remember that it is in hope that I am saved. You *will* come. You *will* put things right. I just ask that you do so quickly.
Amen