It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better
BUT GRACE ABOUNDS ALL THE MORE
In Exodus 5, Moses arrives in Egypt, marches into Pharaoh's palace, and says "Let my people go." The time for salvation has come! The people are ready to be delivered! The mumbling, reluctant, former shepherd of Midian finally obeys God’s call…and it all seems to backfire. Pharaoh responds to the request for the Israel’s freedom by laying even heavier burdens upon them. The work gets harder. Their treatment becomes harsher. And they seem more enslaved than ever! So why does God write the story this way? Why in Exodus 5 and in the stories of our lives do things get worse before they get better? As we follow God’s call and obey God’s will things often become messier, more complex, and more difficult than they were before. Causing us to cry out, “O Lord, why?” “Why is it so hard?” “Why did I ever bother with this?” But God writes the story this way to show us more grace. To prove to us time and time again that where sin, difficulty, trouble, and all kinds of evil abound, grace really does abound all the more.