Exodus 5 tells the story of when Moses and Aaron speak to Pharaoh for the first time. In verses 22-23 we see a frustrated Moses complaining to God because nothing has happened the way it was supposed to. Moses held up his end of the bargain, so why didn’t God?
Since we know how the end of story goes, it’s easy to pass Moses’s protests off as whining. But Moses had no idea how things would turn out. Really, the burning bush was the first encounter he’d had with God; there wasn’t really a personal relationship between him and God up to that point. God told Moses to go back to Egypt, the one place Moses didn’t want to go because he was a wanted murderer. God told Moses to go back to be a leader who would confront Pharaoh, the greatest human authority in Moses’s life. Of course Moses is afraid, and he barters with God. God gives him grace in the companionship of his brother, Aaron, but doesn’t let him off the hook. Moses steps out in immense faith and confronts Pharaoh. Pharaoh refuses Moses’s request and makes life harder for the very people Moses was trying to save.
Moses had to have felt like everything was falling apart, much like I feel now. But it’s only because we can’t see the end of the story. Maybe, as was the case with Moses, things have to get worse before they get better. God sent the plagues not just to show Egypt who they were dealing with, but also to show the Israelites who they were dealing with. Would they have followed God faithfully in the wilderness if they hadn’t seen his power and sovereignty unleashed? Probably not; even after they had seen God’s mighty works they wanted to turn back to Egypt. Maybe things in life are sometimes bad to provide an opportunity for God to show his power and sovereignty. We just have to remember that it’s not the end of the story yet.
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