You do everything you know to do. You plan, pray, and work hard. But despite your best efforts, things get worse rather than better. It’s frustrating, discouraging, and even angering. You ask yourself, “What did I do wrong?” If your analysis turns up nothing, you begin to question God and feel He’s not being attentive or fair.
This is where Moses finds himself in Ex. 5:22-23. He has gone back to Egypt and done everything God has told him to do, but things get worse, rather than better. He complains to God about this, and this is when God reveals His simple objective for tough times.
What is God’s objective for tough times? It’s to reveal Himself! In everything He does, and everything He doesn’t do, God goes out of His way to reveal Himself. He does this through creation (Rom. 1:20) and specifically through people; such as Abraham, Moses, and us! But the ultimate revelation of Himself is in His Son, Jesus…”God with us.” (Matt. 1:23)
At the beginning of Moses’ mission, (Exodus 6), God shows him a valuable lesson. He shows Moses that there are times when God will allow things to go bad, simply to reveal Himself in an even greater way. At times, He does the same thing in our lives, much to our dismay. But in the end, we and others are the better for it, because we get and even bigger view of God.
God’s objective is to reveal Himself to us, because He knows that in seeing Him more clearly, we learn to trust Him more fully. And one day, we will stand face to face with Jesus and we will be fully changed into His likeness. (1 John 3:2) That will be the big reveal!
Bret Legg is the Teaching and Counseling Pastor at Warren Baptist Church in Augusta, GA.