"Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble upon this people, and you have not rescued your people at all" (Exodus 5:23).
Have you ever felt like you have been obedient to the Lord for something God called you to do and all you get are more roadblocks? This is the way Moses felt. When Moses went to tell Pharaoh to release the people because God said so, Pharaoh simply got angry and made the people make bricks without straw. Moses caught the blame for this from the people. It is interesting to see that Moses is just learning what obedience really means in the realm of God's Kingdom. You see, Moses has not even begun to release plagues upon Egypt. He hasn't even gotten started yet in his calling, and he is complaining about his circumstances. There are many more encounters with Pharaoh to come and many more plagues with no deliverances in sight. Why would God tell Moses that he is going to deliver them and not do it?
It was all in timing. God never said when He was going to deliver. He just said He would. In the next chapter, we find Moses arguing with God about not being capable of the job God has called him to, "But Moses said to the Lord, 'If the Israelites will not listen to me, why would Pharaoh listen to me since I speak with faltering lips?' Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron about the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he commanded them to bring the Israelites out of Egypt.'" Do you get the feeling God was losing His patience?
God had a good reason for His delays. He said, "And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it." God not only wanted the people of Israel to know Him, but also the Egyptians. It would be the greatest show of God's power on earth.
In your life and my life, God often causes delays that we cannot understand. Our obedience sometimes seems it is not getting rewarded. Jesus said He learned obedience through the things He suffered (Hebrews 5:8). Imagine that. Jesus having to learn obedience. What does that say for you and me? Sometimes God's delays are simply because He wants more glory in the situation, more recognition, more Christ-likeness in you and me through greater patience and obedience. Faint not, for the promise may yet come.
