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Afterwards Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, “Let my people go, so that they may celebrate a festival to me in the wilderness.” ’ But Pharaoh said, ‘Who is the Lord, that I should heed him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and I will not let Israel go.’ Then they said, ‘The God of the Hebrews has revealed himself to us; let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness to sacrifice to the Lord our God, or he will fall upon us with pestilence or sword.’ But the king of Egypt said to them, ‘Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their work? Get to your labors!’Pharaoh continued, ‘Now they are more numerous than the people of the land and yet you want them to stop working!’ That same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people, as well as their supervisors,‘You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as before; let them go and gather straw for themselves. But you shall require of them the same quantity of bricks as they have made previously; do not diminish it, for they are lazy; that is why they cry, “Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.” Let heavier work be laid on them; then they will labor at it and pay no attention to deceptive words.’ (Exodus 5: 1-9)
The day many of you have been waiting for! Friday! I used to look forward to Thursday because Friday was my day off, and yes, I did have to work on Sundays, like I'm doing this Sunday, and the next Sunday, and the Sunday after that! Thanks be to God for all the opportunities that come our way! And speaking of that, this is the 20th year of ConCafe! Yes, back in 1999 when I didn't know better, I started an email devotional while serving as senior pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church in San Antonio. I may have had a smaller venue through strictly emails, but in 1999 I discovered that yahoo.com provided a free mail service called yahoogroups and I started sending it to members of my church. I may have started even earlier because when I was a campus minister and having not to preach every Sunday, at campus minister meetings I would hear my fellow CMs saying they were dying spiritually because they no longer had to read the Bible. What? So, what they meant was they no longer spent the time in prayerful reflection of the work through which they prepared a sermon and so in that way they were dying. I resolved then and there that I would study the lectionary for my own blessing and benefit and in case I got an invitation to preach at a church. But, in 1999 with the introduction of Consecrated Coffee through yahoogroups and thanks to my district superintendent who read them faithfully, one day he says, "I love your devotionals! What are they called again? Con Cafe?" And I said, Yes, that's what they're called and so thank you, Rev. Harold Sassman, who is now in glory, for the name! And thank you for being faithful readers for as long as you have!
Well, dear Friend, here is another Bible story you should know. You may have already read it or heard a sermon on it, but I pray it blesses your devotional life today.
Last week we studied Moses' call. He was very reluctant to say yes, but here in today's passage, he and Aaron approach the Pharaoh with their request on God's behalf, with a message no king or pharaoh wants to hear, "Let my people go." These rulers have not achieved their position by being necessarily dumb or good, well, some have, but that's another story; pharaoh knew the reason behind the request. The Hebrews were slaves, which meant free labor for the Egyptian government. They were a free work force that worked from sun up until sundown. They had been forced to lose their male children and even harder work quotas given to them. Their prayers were what drove God to call Moses, for through Moses God would set His people free. This first attempt resulted in a fiasco for the working Hebrew. They were viewed by suspicion by the Egyptians for now there were more Hebrews than them, and in case of war, the Egyptians feared the Hebrews would turn against them and fight with the enemy. Moses' approach, as inspired by God, was that Pharaoh simply let the people go into the wilderness to have a worship festival unto the Lord. Pharaoh asks, "Who is the Lord that I should do what he says?" Moses tries to explain and Pharaoh's response is to require that the Hebrews find their own straw, while still meeting the daily quota of brick production. This was cruel and unusual punishment. The brick makers are now being asked to be farm workers as well. Pharaoh's thinking was with more work to do they won't be asking for any festivals.
Here's a reality lesson for Moses. God was on his side, but this first request met with rejection and an added burden to the people of God. The end of chapter 5 has Moses asking, "Why have you done harm to these people, and why have you called me? Pharaoh has not done what You want him to do and has made life worse for the slaves!" Ouch. We've been there, perhaps more than we care to remember. The smaller picture that reality brings sometimes hides the bigger picture of the Lord, yet we pray, "Why, Lord, why?" We tend not to understand and we either let it get us down or we learn from it and move onward and upward knowing that God is not yet through and some day we will understand the why. All the while, knowing that God is still with us. The entire Moses story is one of severe challenges, just like life. There were miracles, but there were also complaining and moaning, all while the journey of 40 years had barely begun. Think about it. Every step that the people took towards the promise of God, Moses did too. There is no account of Moses riding a camel or donkey or carried on the shoulders of servants while his people walked. He walked alongside them. And every step of the people, God walked with them too. Visible by day as a cloud and by night as a fire; God was with them.
Dear one, God is with you and with me. Whatever life may be throwing our way, God is still with us. Our challenges may not make sense to anyone right now, but rejoice in the fact that we are not alone. Yes, some days sure feel like no one cares and that we cry alone, but think again, God is with us.
PRAYER: Loving God, as I pray, I pray for this dear reader. You, Heavenly Father know what they are facing and we all who read this join together in one voice and under the name of Jesus our Savior to pray a wonderful blessing upon our dear friend; may it be just what they need to strengthen their day and their faith. Be glorified in their life, dear Father, for we pray in faith in Christ Jesus' strong name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Share this devotional with someone who needs to hear this message. And share hope with all who need it!
Eradio Valverde
