Suffering Isn't the Whole Story

So I’m there in this coffee shop feeling like I’m on another planet from everyone around me, lost in the cloudiness and confusion that suffering surrounds us with

And for some reason I was drawn into a conversation happening a few tables over from me and I journaled about it

I wrote in my journal as I sat there that there was a man next to me sharing with two women

He talked about how his father was about to pass

I quoted him as saying “it’s like looking in a mirror”

Clearly he was carrying something heavy

And I’ll never forget these two friends of his just had no idea what to say and kept trying to veer the conversation in any other direction they could - movies? food? music?

I wanted to shout to both of them - the man lost in suffering and to the people trying to navigate the conversation - “I get it!”

To the man: I feel your pain! I’m lost with you! It hurts! I don’t have answers!

To the others: I know it’s weird! I also have no idea what to say. I feel your discomfort!

But what I believe even more after spending time in our text this week is that suffering is part of the reality of all human stories

It should be something we can and do talk about either from the mountaintop or from the valley

And I know what some of you are thinking: I DO NOT want to go there today

Maybe you’re in a season of unimaginable suffering or maybe you are afraid of the stickiness and you don’t want to get any on you today

Please hear me: this is something I’m convinced God wants us to talk openly about today and even moreso something he actually wants to encourage us about

My genuine hope and prayer has been that this would be one of the ironically most hope-filled sermons you hear

Here’s what I want you to leave with today: Suffering Isn’t the Whole Story

Will you choose to lean in with me for just the next 30 minutes or so?

[Move as illustration to near the bricks without straw part]

Each of you have been enlisted to work for a brand new roofing company

Exciting surprise to start your day

One minor note is that you actually don’t have a choice and neither do I as to whether you accept this new position

We have enough people to have quite a few crews each with a crew leader

With all the hurricanes that pass through here we’ll always have work

Now let’s think about what it’s going to be like to work in this business for a minute

Think about what it’s going to feel like: hot (there’s no way around this because it’s Florida and you’re on a roof with long pants and a long sleeved shirt in the middle of the day)

Hear the sounds: constant hammering, maybe the buzz of the occasional saw, the motor of a refilling air compressor, the repetitive “pft” of the nailguns

Now one day we’re all in the middle of our projects and all of our crew leaders get a text update [FIRE SOUND EFFECT] (pull out phone)

Let me read to what it says

“Effective immediately, we will no longer be supplying any nails. And we are instituting a new rule barring supply of nails from any known hardware store or supplier. Instead, all workers are expected to gather nails from current and previous sites where available.”

Um what?

Someone must be playing a prank on us [FIRE SOUND EFFECT AGAIN]

Oh but here’s another message that will probably make sense of this

“This is not a joke. Please share with all employees. Note: all project deadlines remain in affect in spite of this change. All missed deadlines will result in strong punishment.”

What do we do?

How do you feel? Is your heartrate up? Do you feel the stress of this?

What if your life was at stake? Your families life?

As we continue the story of Exodus today, we’re going to see that God’s people facing a very similar situation

Have you ever felt that what’s being demanded of you is impossible?

We’ll also see that God’s people had unmet expectations in the midst of their suffering

Have you ever felt like your expectations of God weren’t met?

Here’s the big idea today: while we often expect things to get easier because we obey and follow God, more often than not, they get harder and sometimes impossibly harder

While that may feel like a hopeless reality to embrace, I am praying that we all can see God’s goodness and His kindness and His grace right in the middle of all of that

Context

So what’s happened so far in this story?

Israelites are enslaved

God teams up Moses and Aaron out in the desert and they now come back to Egypt before the elders, the leaders of the enslaved Israelite people

They shared what God told them in the desert and aided by some miraculous signs, the elders believe them, they believe that God has heard their cries and they believe He is going to save them from Egyptian oppression

And we actually leave them in Chapter 4 worshipping God and we will see by the end of our text today, they were clearly expecting immediate relief from their suffering

Text

English Standard Version Chapter 5

Making Bricks Without Straw

5 Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.’ ” 2 But Pharaoh said, “Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.” 3 Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.” 4 But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people away from their work? Get back to your burdens.” 5 And Pharaoh said, “Behold, the people of the land are now many, and you make them rest from their burdens!” 6 The same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen, 7 “You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as in the past; let them go and gather straw for themselves. 8 But the number of bricks that they made in the past you shall impose on them, you shall by no means reduce it, for they are idle. Therefore they cry, ‘Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.’ 9 Let heavier work be laid on the men that they may labor at it and pay no regard to lying words.”

10 So the taskmasters and the foremen of the people went out and said to the people, “Thus says Pharaoh, ‘I will not give you straw. 11 Go and get your straw yourselves wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced in the least.’ ” 12 So the people were scattered throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. 13 The taskmasters were urgent, saying, “Complete your work, your daily task each day, as when there was straw.” 14 And the foremen of the people of Israel, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten and were asked, “Why have you not done all your task of making bricks today and yesterday, as in the past?”

15 Then the foremen of the people of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, “Why do you treat your servants like this? 16 No straw is given to your servants, yet they say to us, ‘Make bricks!’ And behold, your servants are beaten; but the fault is in your own people.” 17 But he said, “You are idle, you are idle; that is why you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the LORD.’ 18 Go now and work. No straw will be given you, but you must still deliver the same number of bricks.” 19 The foremen of the people of Israel saw that they were in trouble when they said, “You shall by no means reduce your number of bricks, your daily task each day.” 20 They met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting for them, as they came out from Pharaoh; 21 and they said to them, “The LORD look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.”

22 Then Moses turned to the LORD and said, “O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? 23 For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.”

Exodus 5:1–23 ESV

Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.’ ” But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.” Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.” But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people away from their work? Get back to your burdens.” And Pharaoh said, “Behold, the people of the land are now many, and you make them rest from their burdens!” The same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen, “You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as in the past; let them go and gather straw for themselves. But the number of bricks that they made in the past you shall impose on them, you shall by no means reduce it, for they are idle. Therefore they cry, ‘Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.’ Let heavier work be laid on the men that they may labor at it and pay no regard to lying words.” So the taskmasters and the foremen of the people went out and said to the people, “Thus says Pharaoh, ‘I will not give you straw. Go and get your straw yourselves wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced in the least.’ ” So the people were scattered throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. The taskmasters were urgent, saying, “Complete your work, your daily task each day, as when there was straw.” And the foremen of the people of Israel, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten and were asked, “Why have you not done all your task of making bricks today and yesterday, as in the past?” Then the foremen of the people of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, “Why do you treat your servants like this? No straw is given to your servants, yet they say to us, ‘Make bricks!’ And behold, your servants are beaten; but the fault is in your own people.” But he said, “You are idle, you are idle; that is why you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’ Go now and work. No straw will be given you, but you must still deliver the same number of bricks.” The foremen of the people of Israel saw that they were in trouble when they said, “You shall by no means reduce your number of bricks, your daily task each day.” They met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting for them, as they came out from Pharaoh; and they said to them, “The Lord look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.” Then Moses turned to the Lord and said, “O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.”

Making Bricks Without Straw

Pray

Additional Context

Making Bricks Without Straw

5 Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.’ ” 2 But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.”

Right here at the beginning, things are already not going according to expectation

Pharaoh responds immediately saying “Who is the Lord”

This isn’t an innocent naivety on his part

He’s making a statement that could be translated more like: “I don’t care what this so-called God of yours has to say”

One of the main ideas of Exodus is freedom from human bondage and the bondage of sin

Pharaoh is an earthly picture of both

Satan is the ultimate enemy of God

He is not His rival as he was formed by God and will be destroyed by him

But he is a formidable and wicked enemy always seeking to gain for himself what God alone deserves

He wants to control God’s people and force us to serve him

And his weapon, his design of choice is quite cunning: sin

The Israelites were born into slavery

These people had no choice in the matter because it was generations beyond their control

This is our story whether we admit it or not

Every one of us is born into bondage, our hearts already captured by sin

The hopelessness of the Israelites situation is the same as our own

We cannot save ourselves or simply request that we be let go

An outside force greater than the master that rules us must break us out

This is what God is setting up and what we know now that He did through the cross

When sin demanded sacrifice, demanded more than we could reasonably ever give, Jesus stepped in and offered himself

I don’t want us to move on without seeing this: the tyrannical rule of Pharaoh reveals the oppression of sin

3 Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.”

4 But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people away from their work? Get back to your burdens.” 5 And Pharaoh said, “Behold, the people of the land are now many, and you make them rest from their burdens!” 6 The same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen, 7 “You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as in the past; let them go and gather straw for themselves. 8 But the number of bricks that they made in the past you shall impose on them, you shall by no means reduce it, for they are idle. Therefore they cry, ‘Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.’ 9 Let heavier work be laid on the men that they may labor at it and pay no regard to lying words.”

After Moses returned and met with the Elders, word probably spread

The expectations of the leaders for immediate salvation took hold with the people and there is a high likelihood that they had stopped working to see what would come of Moses’ and Aaron’s meeting

Pharaoh’s perception that all of this was between Pharaoh and Moses’ / the people

He shows that he doesn’t acknowledge God further is thinking that this is all just a deceptive tactic Moses is using

The reality is that it was between Pharaoh and God

So first let me say that there is a lot here in this text

In Verse 2: Pharaoh

The more time I’ve spent mining through it, the more treasures there seem to be

I want to encourage you to spend more time in this and the rest of Exodus outside of Sunday

If your only encounter with God’s word is in these times, you’re going to miss a good bit of what God wants to speak with you through the power of His Word

There’s a few things we need to understand as we approach this text

The Master

As we continue through Exodus, we are getting to know more and more about who this Pharaoh really is

We already know that his father before him was threatened by the Israelite population and attempted murder as a means of controlling the problem

This Pharaoh sees the people differently

They are a commodity, a means to an end

He most likely has them working to build temples and dwellings for the various false gods of Egypt and maybe even a place for him personally

The curtain is pulled back to reveal more of him throughout this text

In Verse 2 he says “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.”

Don’t mistake this for innocent naivety on Pharaoh’s behalf

He’s not saying “Hmm I’ve never met God” but a better translation would be “Why should I acknowledge anything that this so-called God says?”

His disregard for God is echoed in Verse 4 when after Moses speaks on God’s behalf he then addresses Moses and Aaron

When after Moses speaks on God’s behalf he then addresses Moses and Aaron

He is saying “I’m only speaking with the people right in front of me”

Pharaoh believes this whole thing is between him and Moses and Aaron

He choses to believe his own instincts, that Moses and Aaron are trying to trick him to justify the laziness of the people

The Demand

Coming out of the previous text, the word has probably spread into the slave camps

People are most likely not doing their work

Either way, Pharaoh remains unfazed in spite of a few repeated requests and echoes his same demands throughout

What is the demand?

The Demand

Make bricks without straw

To understand the severity of this situation, we need to educate ourselves on making mudbricks

This is a mudbrick [show photo]

The Israelites were cranking these things out often for us in building temples and dwelling for Egyptian false gods

In the service of any idol, any false god, it will eventually demand the impossible from us

To make a mudbrick, they’d dredge clay from the river, mix it with water, and then add straw

Also of note is that this wasn’t like making a cake where you just mixed everything and it was ready to go

They had to knead all of these ingredients together for up to 4 days with their feet before they were the right consistency for forming with their molds

Then they had to leave them out in the sun to dry for days at a time

What I want to highlight here is that the people were already suffering

This was not easy work

The straw was really important for a few reasons

Most people think they were using straw just for the strength that it adds to the brick (think rebar in concrete)

However, the straw was critical to making the brick dry faster because of how watery the clay was (from the river)

If you take out the straw, not only is the brick brittle and fragile, it also will take longer to be usable

So not you can see the problem: if they can’t get straw, there is literally no way to stay on their quota and beyond that it’s all but guaranteed anything they end up building with straw-less bricks will have to be redone (more work)

So they people scatter to gather stubble

Very short remaining stalks of plants leftover after harvesting (between the root and where the scythe or sickle cut the plant

It was not a good substitute for quality straw

It was also more difficult to gather as it required pulling and separating it by hand

Don’t Overlook Suffering’s Connection to Sin

Before you react to what I’m not saying let me clarify

There is clearly a connection but we are not the ones to discern for anyone else what that connection may be

We can only know it in ourselves

I didn’t say all suffering is caused by sin

This can be a dangerous lie

Because if we believe it we think that repentance is just a means of changing our external circumstances

Personal application: while my brother was in his long losing fight against his injuries, I felt the Spirit convicting me and working in me to root out some deep sin

But what I can tell you is that confessing it and walking out repentance did not change my circumstances

Some suffering seems to have no explanation and no direct tie

We get this picture in this text because we don’t even get to hear directly from the people who are suffering most

We hear from Pharaoh and Moses and foremen but we don’t see what the actual slaves, the ones doing this impossible work are feeling

I can only imagine it’s worse than what the foremen, their representatives are feeling

I can imagine they feel it’s quite unfair that they are the recipients of this merciless order when they had nothing to do with the request that caused it in the first place

And I myself have believed this

But here’s the reality: the slaves, the Israelites were born into slavery

These people had no choice in the matter because it was generations beyond their control

This is our story whether we admit it or not

Every one of us is born into bondage, our hearts already captured by sin

The hopelessness of the Israelites situation is the same as our own

We cannot save ourselves or simply request that we be let go

An outside force greater than the master that rules us must break us out

This is what God is setting up and what we know now that He did through the cross

When sin demanded sacrifice, demanded more than we could reasonably ever give, Jesus stepped in and offered himself

I don’t want us to move on without seeing this: the tyrannical rule of Pharaoh reveals the oppression of sin

One of the main themes of Exodus is liberation from human bondage and from the bondage of sin

In this text we see Pharaoh and his demands as a picture of our enemy, Satan, and his means of enslaving us, sin

He makes impossible demands and then counts on his various taskmasters to enforce them

Do you see this parallel?

Exodus 5:13 ESV

The taskmasters were urgent, saying, “Complete your work, your daily task each day, as when there was straw.”

13 The taskmasters were urgent, saying, “Complete your work, your daily task each day, as when there was straw.”

Do you ever feel the pressure of urgency?

Especially when it seems your margins, your resources, your sanity has depleted, the taskmaster (whomever or whatever that may be for you) makes more urgent demands

Maybe it’s a deadline, an expectation you’ve formed of yourself, maybe it’s another person literally driving you, or maybe it’s an image you’re trying to maintain

We do this in the church too

Everyone is ruled by the same ultimate master of sin but how it manifests is strategically different

We justify busyness

For me, my taskmaster might be telling me to “work harder, perform, seek the approval of the people around you, be perfect!” which is true for me

For you, your taskmaster might be telling you to “rebel! disregard what other people think, be free to do what YOU want!”

Their voices may sound different but regardless their demands will be impossible

And then there’s this revealing little phrase at the end "As when there was straw”

"As when there was straw”

The pressure to maintain the same pace and same output no matter how you’re actually doing

Maybe you’re heard the phrase “the tyranny of the urgent”

This is the idea that urgency is a vicious, unforgiving ruler

Do you ever feel like you’re just completing daily tasks? It’s not enjoyable or fulfilling but you’re getting it done

Whatever voice is driving you, if it’s not God, will drive you into the ground.

Who is your taskmaster? Who or what is driving you? What is it saying?

Taskmasters Always Demand More Than You Can Give.

Pharaoh = sin, taskmaster = specific manifestation

Everyone is ruled by it, but it looks different for each of us

Work harder and perform or rebel

Voices may be different but regardless the demands will be impossible

Where are you allowing sin to be your master when freedom is what you’ve been offered?

What are you believing about your sin? That it’s not cruel? That it won’t take from you? Demand from you?

Eventually, like Pharaoh and his taskmasters, it will demand from you more than you can give

Don’t Let Go of God’s Promises.

The second point God wants us to see is this: We need to train ourselves to not let go of the promises of God so quickly.

English Standard Version Chapter 5

Isn’t this a completely human reaction?

I find myself relating more to this than jumping to condemn them

I mean wouldn’t I react the same way if I had been convinced that something good was coming and then things got much worse?

The problem is that regardless of how justified or strongly we feel about our suffering, there still are things that are true and that aren’t

The foremen think that Moses and Aaron are to blame

This is just speculation because we don’t know from the text but my instinct tells me that there’s at least the chance that Moses didn’t pass on the full message when he came back

While we don’t know what information they were operating with we do

22 Then Moses turned to the Lord and said, “O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? 23 For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.”

English Standard Version Chapter 5

Where is Moses getting this?

He has the boldness and the audacity really to come at God and make these accusations after God sought him out to tell him what is true

Whenever we are prone to believe this, we have to search truth: scripture

This is why the daily discipline of reading and knowing God’s Word is so important

We can’t defend ourselves against lies unless we have truth to hold it up against

We need to know what God’s promises actually are

Promises to Israel

I have seen your affliction and know your suffering and will deliver you and bring you to the promised land. ()

This is interesting because the word for seen in the Hebrew doesn’t mean “noticed”

It actually adds the element of concern, of care

This is the same word Pharaoh uses when he first says “I do not know the Lord”

So in a great parallel, wh

For the Israelites and for you today if you’re surrounded by suffering, GOD SEES YOU not just with His eyes but with His heart

He feels and understands from an experiential place your heartache

I will bring you up out of slavery. ()

He will break Israel out in the most unexpected ways which we’ll see in the weeks ahead

And he’ll do the same for us: through Jesus on the cross

After Pharaoh refuses, and I strike Egypt, He will let you go. ()

This is the one that Moses has allowed his expectations to edit for him

Right we do the same thing

We allow the longing of our hearts for good things, even the second true half of the promise to blot out and cover over the first part of what God says

He tells them things are going to go this way

And he does the same for us and yet we manage to be surprised by suffering

Promises to Us

This is why the daily discipline of reading and knowing God’s Word is so important

We can’t defend ourselves against lies unless we have truth to hold it up against

We need to know what God’s promises actually are

Jesus speaking to his brothers, his followers, his disciples, his friends at the meal they shared before he went to the cross

If I go prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself so you may be with me. ()

If I go, I will send the Helper [the Holy Spirit] to be with you forever. ()

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. ()

Because I live, you also will live. ()

The Spirit will guide you into all truth. ()

The Spirit will glorify me and take what is mine and declare it to you. ()

You won’t see me for a little while but you will see me again. ()

You will weep and be sorrowful but your sorrow will turn into joy. ()

When you see me again, no one will take your joy from you. ()

English Standard Version Chapter 16

33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

asdfas

Don’t Let Go of God’s Promises.

Just like Israel, God Sees - He cares about - your Suffering.

If you’ve trusted Jesus, He himself has sent the Helper to you.

Suffering Isn’t the Whole Story.

It’s easy to get tunnel vision when we’re immersed in suffering

Have you ever experienced that?

It colors everything else with fear and confusion and darkness

But when we zoom out and look back and ahead, the bigger picture holds more than that

Back in verse

This is a statement of truth, of reality

It’s not a statement of feeling

We just sang “You’re never gonna let me down”

We don’t sing that statement or choose not to sing it just because we don’t feel it

I can tell you as I’ve led that song many times, I’m not singing my feelings

I will confess: I’ve felt sometimes strongly that God has failed me

I have FELT abandoned and forsaken

But this is only a FEELING

The truth is that you and me HAVE NOT and WILL NOT BE forsaken because Jesus WAS

Remember Jesus on the cross BEFORE he utters that the work of the cross is finished, he cries out in what can only be an emotional revelation “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

God isn’t done writing your story

This might not be the most reassuring thing for you as you’re in the middle of suffering

But it doesn’t make it untrue

When we look at the story God is writing in Exodus and focus in on any one part, it can seem repeatedly hopeless and repeatedly impossible

Like the demand of producing bricks without straw or roofing a house without nails

But we know that God isn’t done with the Israelites

On the contrary, He is still the writer of the best stories because He wrote the story of the cross

It’s the most unexpected thing to ever happen

God himself, perfect and undeserving of any punishment or pain, lifting it all off of the shoulders of humanity and taking it on his own

God himself, completely justified to just let us perish in bondage to our sin and slavery, breaking every chain and giving us the promises that Jesus alone deserves to receive

This doesn’t mean your story will wrap up nice and perfect in circumstances

It might continue to be hard and I wish I could tell you something different

But I can remind you one more time that there’s something better

The precious presence of God, bought and given to you at the highest cost to God himself, His only Son

No difficult circumstance can take it because no circumstance other than suffering and enslavement necessitated it

Making Bricks Without Straw

Right here at the beginning, things are already not going according to expectation

Pharaoh responds immediately saying “Who is the Lord”

This isn’t an innocent naivety on his part

He’s making a statement that could be translated more like: “I don’t care what this so-called God of yours has to say”

One of the main ideas of Exodus is freedom from human bondage and the bondage of sin

Pharaoh is an earthly picture of both

Satan is the ultimate enemy of God

He is not His rival as he was formed by God and will be destroyed by him

But he is a formidable and wicked enemy always seeking to gain for himself what God alone deserves

He wants to control God’s people and force us to serve him

And his weapon, his design of choice is quite cunning: sin

The Israelites were born into slavery

These people had no choice in the matter because it was generations beyond their control

This is our story whether we admit it or not

Every one of us is born into bondage, our hearts already captured by sin

The hopelessness of the Israelites situation is the same as our own

We cannot save ourselves or simply request that we be let go

An outside force greater than the master that rules us must break us out

This is what God is setting up and what we know now that He did through the cross

When sin demanded sacrifice, demanded more than we could reasonably ever give, Jesus stepped in and offered himself

I don’t want us to move on without seeing this: the tyrannical rule of Pharaoh reveals the oppression of sin

Moses basically says “I don’t know if you heard us the first time” and then repeats himself

This is a hint at Moses own expectation for deliverance

He figured

He somehow thought that he would say his piece and Pharaoh would go “sure, thanks for all the hard work these last few years”

Even though God has explicitly told him what to expect

Aren’t we guilty of doing the same thing?

We have expectations of God sometimes based on things he just hasn’t said at all

But other times we have expectations of God based contrary to what he actually has said

In chapter 4 when God meets Moses and gives him the inside scoop on everything, He tells Moses that Pharaoh will not respond without a strong hand

He tells him that his heart will harden and be hardened as part of God’s plan to get them to freedom

It’s not clear if Moses passed this little piece of information on to the Elders when he returned or not

We edit God’s promises to make them work best for us

After Moses returned and met with the Elders, word probably spread

The expectations of the leaders for immediate salvation took hold with the people and there is a high likelihood that they had stopped working to see what would come of Moses’ and Aaron’s meeting

Pharaoh’s perception that all of this was between Pharaoh and Moses’ / the people

He shows that he doesn’t acknowledge God further is thinking that this is all just a deceptive tactic Moses is using

The reality is that it was between Pharaoh and God

This is a mudbrick [show photo]

The Israelites were cranking these things out often for us in building temples and dwelling for Egyptian false gods

In the service of any idol, any false god, it will eventually demand the impossible from us

To make a mudbrick, they’d dredge clay from the river, mix it with water, and then add straw

Also of note is that this wasn’t like making a cake where you just mixed everything and it was ready to go

They had to knead all of these ingredients together for up to 4 days with their feet before they were the right consistency for forming with their molds

Then they had to leave them out in the sun to dry for days at a time

What I want to highlight here is that the people were already suffering

This was not easy work

The straw was really important for a few reasons

Most people think they were using straw just for the strength that it adds to the brick (think rebar in concrete)

However, the straw was critical to making the brick dry faster because of how watery the clay was (from the river)

If you take out the straw, not only is the brick brittle and fragile, it also will take longer to be usable

So they people scatter to gather stubble

Very short remaining stalks of plants leftover after harvesting (between the root and where the scythe or sickle cut the plant

It was not a good substitute for quality straw

It was also more difficult to gather as it required pulling and separating it by hand

Let me help us try to understand this ROOFING ILLUSTRATION

Everyone here today and listening is a veteran roofer

Yes I don’t know if you knew that about yourself but surprise

We’ve all worked in this industry for some time

One thing that’s special about the company we work for is that we’ve actually been on contract with this company since before we were born

I know not typical

But what that means is that we have no real option to quit

We’ve all somehow moved past that and settled into the routine at this point

Now it’s September so you know what that means: we have a ton of work because like 10 hurricanes just came through Florida and everyone needs a roof

Monday morning and the sun hasn’t fully come up yet and we all show up to our respective job sites

It’s a normal temperature for 7:30am in Florida in September: say 83 degrees

You’re wearing your roofing gear - long pants, company shirt, you’ve got your toolbelt

As you show up, you hear the hammers and air compressors already going as the team kicks into gear with the old roof

Right as you get ready to get going, you get a text from the project manager [FIRE SOUND EFFECT] (pull out phone)

In fact, everything stops because it seems everyone got this message

Now we’ve all come to expect some things when we’re on a job

There’s always a guy who’s in charge: project manager let’s call him Doug

Our company is

Each of you have been enlisted to work for a brand new roofing company

Exciting surprise to start your day

One minor note is that you actually don’t have a choice and neither do I as to whether you accept this new position

We have enough people to have quite a few crews each with a crew leader

With all the hurricanes that pass through here we’ll always have work

Now let’s speed up a

Think about what it’s going to feel like: hot (there’s no way around this because it’s Florida and you’re on a roof with long pants and a long sleeved shirt in the middle of the day)

Hear the sounds: constant hammering, maybe the buzz of the occasional saw, the motor of a refilling air compressor, the repetitive “pft” of the nailguns

Let me read to what it says

“Hey team, project manager Doug here. Boss says effective immediately, we will no longer be supplying any nails. And we are instituting a new rule barring supply of nails from any known hardware store or supplier. Instead, all workers are expected to gather nails from current and previous sites where available.”

Um what?

Someone must be playing a prank on us [FIRE SOUND EFFECT AGAIN]

Oh but here’s another message that will probably make sense of this

“This is not a joke. Please share with all employees. Note: all project deadlines remain in affect in spite of this change. No excuses. All missed deadlines will result in strong punishment.”

What do we do?

How do you feel? Is your heartrate up? Do you feel the stress of this?

Imagine what the Israelites would have felt when their situation was worse than this

Their lives were at stake, their families, their brothers and sisters

They weren’t living under protective laws, they had no rights

Here’s what I want you to understand: this is an all but impossible task intended to crush whatever hope of freedom or as Pharaoh probably saw it an insurrection

Pharaoh is not just a bad boss; he’s an earthly picture of Satan and Sin

[NEED A STRONGER POINT HERE]

Satan is the ultimate enemy of God

He is not His rival as he was formed by God and will be destroyed by him

But he is a formidable and wicked enemy always seeking to gain for himself what God alone deserves

He wants to control God’s people and force us to serve him

And his weapon, his design of choice is quite cunning: sin

The Israelites were born into slavery

These people had no choice in the matter because it was generations beyond their control

This is our story whether we admit it or not

Every one of us is born into bondage, our hearts already captured by sin

The hopelessness of the Israelites situation is the same as our own

We cannot save ourselves or simply request that we be let go

An outside force greater than the master that rules us must break us out

This is what God is setting up and what we know now that He did through the cross

When sin demanded sacrifice, demanded more than we could reasonably ever give, Jesus stepped in and offered himself

13 The taskmasters were urgent, saying, “Complete your work, your daily task each day, as when there was straw.”

Do you ever feel the pressure of urgency?

Especially when it seems your margins, your resources, your sanity has depleted, the taskmaster (whomever or whatever that may be for you) makes more urgent demands

Maybe it’s a deadline, an expectation you’ve formed of yourself, maybe it’s another person literally driving you, or maybe it’s an image you’re trying to maintain

We do this in the church too

We justify busyness

As I read this part, it just resonates with me

"As when there was straw”

The pressure to maintain the same pace and same output no matter how you’re actually doing

Maybe you’re heard the phrase “the tyranny of the urgent”

This is the idea that urgency is a vicious, unforgiving ruler

Do you ever feel like you’re just completing daily tasks? It’s not enjoyable or fulfilling but you’re getting it done

Whatever voice is driving you, if it’s not God, will drive you into the ground.

Who is your taskmaster? Who or what is driving you? What is it saying?

14 And the foremen of the people of Israel, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten and were asked, “Why have you not done all your task of making bricks today and yesterday, as in the past?”

Here’s the second thing about Suffering is not always a result of our own sin.

This is sometimes where we get it hot water

We see someone suffering and like to believe it’s because of something they’ve done

And while that first point - suffering is a result of sin - may be true, it isn’t always directly connected to our own

We tend to underestimate the brokenness of the world around us

When sin entered into the garden, it fractured creation itself

Do we grasp that?

It isn’t just some harmless thing

There are always casualties far beyond the parties involved

Repetition of the phrase “your servants” is significant

These were the people of God appealing in loyalty to Pharaoh

If Pharaoh is a picture of the master of sin, don’t we attempt the same thing?

We try to reason with it and pledge further allegiance but it’s all in vain

This isn’t a reasonable master but a ruthless overlord

17 But he said, “You are idle, you are idle; that is why you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’ 18 Go now and work. No straw will be given you, but you must still deliver the same number of bricks.”

Pharaoh is unfazed

His heart is already hardening which is clear in how he doesn’t seem to be paying attention to what anyone is saying but himself

He repeats his reasoning - you are lazy people who need correction - and his command without hesitation

How will the foremen, the representatives of the people, respond?

19 The foremen of the people of Israel saw that they were in trouble when they said, “You shall by no means reduce your number of bricks, your daily task each day.” 20 They met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting for them, as they came out from Pharaoh; 21 and they said to them, “The Lord look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.”

Right after aligning themselves with Pharaoh and realizing that won’t work, they attempt to align themselves with God, calling judgement on Moses and Aaron

The “us”es that we see here are not “us” as in the whole people of God

This is a personal “us” indicating their own situation is all that concerns them

And just like they strategize in their approach to Pharaoh, they do the same with Moses

Isn’t their response to all of this human? I find it not shocking or unfamiliar to see people who expect deliverance but then everything gets harder and they have strong feelings about it

Don’t you?

I know in the story God is writing in my life this has been the case many times

Where do our expectations come from?

As we talked about before with Moses, sometimes we deceive ourselves or believe modified half truths of what God has said

But also build our expectations on how we KNOW it’s supposed to be

Something in us says that if God is involved in the story, THINGS SHOULD GET BETTER

Where God’s presence is there should be easier circumstances and easier situation and immediate freedom from hardship and pain

This is not an outright wrong thing

It’s part of the compass inside of us crying out for the brokenness in us and outside of us to be corrected

Using God as a pawn in their own

Common in both of their approaches is blame of other people

“The fault is in your own people” in Verse 16

“You have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and put a sword in their hand to kill us.”

“Kill us” reveals their expectation: finality

They believe this is the beginning of the end rather than the continuation of the journey to freedom

They also have drifted from what is true

They say to Moses “you have made us stink and put the sword in Pharaoh’s hand to kill us”

Reality is that the people already stunk and were on the path of death

This definitely didn’t come from Moses and also not from God which is who Moses blames in the next verse

We need to train ourselves to not let go of the promises of God so quickly.

Promises

I have seen your affliction and know your suffering and will deliver you and bring you to the promised land. ()

“Why have You done evil to this people”

I will bring you up out of slavery. ()

After Pharaoh refuses, and I strike Egypt, He will let you go. ()

- I will bring you up out

- After I strike Egypt, after that He will let you go

“Why have You done evil to this people”

“You have not delivered your people AT ALL”

Moses basically says “I don’t know if you heard us the first time” and then repeats himself

This is a hint at Moses own expectation for deliverance

He somehow thought that he would say his piece and Pharaoh would go “sure, thanks for all the hard work these last few years”

Even though God has explicitly told him what to expect

Aren’t we guilty of doing the same thing?

We have expectations of God sometimes based on things he just hasn’t said at all

But other times we have expectations of God based contrary to what he actually has said

In chapter 4 when God meets Moses and gives him the inside scoop on everything, He tells Moses that Pharaoh will not respond without a strong hand

He tells him that his heart will harden and be hardened as part of God’s plan to get them to freedom

It’s not clear if Moses passed this little piece of information on to the Elders when he returned or not

We edit God’s promises to make them work best for us

Wow that is bold

Deliverance was in Moses’ DNA

Not killed immediately at birth

Placed in a basket that DOESN’T get destroyed in the NILE

Allowed to live in the royal household

Sought out, met and communicated with by God personally in the wilderness

I want to commend Moses for bringing his feelings to God

Often we don’t do that and we do what the foremen did and bring our thoughts to people first

But what I fear and want to call out in Moses and confess to doing myself is speaking to God without reverance

The passion of our feelings doesn’t give us permission to disregard who God is

Pharaoh might have said “Who is God? I don’t care what he has to say” directly but sometimes we send the same message with how haphazard we are in how we approach him

Approach Him with our feelings in suffering but recognize who He is; and repent when we don’t

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

Takeaways

God is not a liar / broken His promise

This is why the daily discipline of reading and knowing God’s Word is so important

We can’t defend ourselves against lies unless we have truth to hold it up against

We need to know what God’s promises actually are

Jesus speaking to his brothers, his followers, his disciples, his friends at the meal they shared before he went to the cross

If I go prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself so you may be with me. ()

If I go prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself so you may be with me

If I go, I will send the Helper [the Holy Spirit] to you

He will guide you into all truth

If I go, I will send the Helper [the Holy Spirit] to be with you forever. ()

In this world YOU WILL HAVE TROUBLE

He will glorify me

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. ()

He will take what is mine and declare it to you

Because I live, you also will live. ()

You won’t see me for a little while but you will see me again

The Spirit will guide you into all truth. ()

The Spirit will glorify me and take what is mine and declare it to you. ()

You will weep and be sorrowful but your sorrow will turn into joy ()

You won’t see me for a little while but you will see me again. ()

You will weep and be sorrowful but your sorrow will turn into joy. ()

When you see me again, your hearts will rejoice and no one will take your joy from you

When you see me again, no one will take your joy from you. ()

English Standard Version Chapter 16

33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

- Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength, run and not grow weary

English Standard Version Chapter 4

Suffering as a Christian

12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. 15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. 16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.

- Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength, run and not grow weary

- When you pass through waters, rivers, fire I will be with you; you won’t be overwhelmed, burned, or consumed for I am your Savior

- the mountains may depart and the hills be removed but my steadfast love shall not depart from you and my covenant of peace shall not be removed

- The heritage of the Lord’s people is that no weapon formed against you shall prevail nor tongue that accuses you

- If we confess our sins, in His faithfulness He will forgive us

- I myself go before you; I will never leave you or forsake You

- If the Son sets you free, you will be free.

- The peace of God, which you won’t necessarily understand, WILL guard your hearts and minds in Jesus

English Standard Version Chapter 43

43 But now thus says the LORD,

he who created you, O Jacob,

he who formed you, O Israel:

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;

I have called you by name, you are mine.

2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;

when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,

and the flame shall not consume you.

3 For I am the LORD your God,

the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

God hasn’t fa

This is a statement of truth, of reality

It’s not a statement of feeling

We just sang “You’re never gonna let me down”

We don’t sing that statement or choose not to sing it just because we don’t feel it

I can tell you as I’ve led that song many times, I’m not singing my feelings

I will confess: I’ve felt sometimes strongly that God has failed me

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I have FELT abandoned and forsaken

But this is only a FEELING

The truth is that you and me HAVE NOT and WILL NOT BE forsaken because Jesus WAS

Remember Jesus on the cross BEFORE he utters that the work of the cross is finished, he cries out in what can only be an emotional revelation “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

God isn’t done writing your story

This might not be the most reassuring thing for you as you’re in the middle of suffering

But it doesn’t make it untrue

When we look at the story God is writing in Exodus and focus in on any one part, it can seem repeatedly hopeless and repeatedly impossible

Like the demand of producing bricks without straw or roofing a house without nails

But we know that God isn’t done with the Israelites

On the contrary, He is still the writer of the best stories because He wrote the story of the cross

It’s the most unexpected thing to ever happen

God himself, perfect and undeserving of any punishment or pain, lifting it all off of the shoulders of humanity and taking it on his own

God himself, completely justified to just let us perish in bondage to our sin and slavery, breaking every chain and giving us the promises that Jesus alone deserves to receive

This doesn’t mean your story will wrap up nice and perfect in circumstances

It might continue to be hard and I wish I could tell you something different

But I can remind you one more time that there’s something better

The precious presence of God, bought and given to you at the highest cost to God himself, His only Son

No difficult circumstance can take it because no circumstance other than suffering and enslavement necessitated it

Closing

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Earn an accredited degree from Redemption Seminary with Logos.

Suffering Isn't the Whole Story

Intro

Context

Text

Pray

Additional Context

Don’t Overlook Suffering’s Connection to Sin

Taskmasters Always Demand More Than You Can Give.

Don’t Let Go of God’s Promises.

Don’t Let Go of God’s Promises.

Suffering Isn’t the Whole Story.

Takeaways

God is not a liar / broken His promise

God hasn’t fa

​

God isn’t done writing your story

Closing