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We have a fitting example of our current problems when we look back at Moses and his struggles. He left Egypt after he killed the Egyptian slave driver and lived in Midian. Out of the blue, Moses met God through the burning bush. God told him he needed to go tell Pharaoh. The Israelite leaders and the people had no idea that any of this had happened. Despite this, Moses did what God asked. Moses had told the elders who believed him initially when he did 'great signs' but that was short-lived as Pharaoh made their work harder. The following verses speak of us as well. Exodus 5:18 Now get to work. You will not be given any straw, yet you must produce your full quota of bricks." 19 The Israelite foremen realized they were in trouble when they were told, "You are not to reduce the number of bricks required of you for each day." 20 When they left Pharaoh, they found Moses and Aaron waiting to meet them, 21 and they said, "May the LORD look upon you and judge you! You have made us a stench to Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword in their hand to kill us." 22 Moses returned to the LORD and said, "O Lord, why have you brought trouble upon this people? Is this why you sent me? 23 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." 6:1 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country." 2 God also said to Moses, "I am the LORD. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD I did not make myself known to them. 4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they lived as aliens. 5 Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant. 6 "Therefore, say to the Israelites: `I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. 7 I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. 8 And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the LORD.'" 9 Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and cruel bondage . We have interesting parallels to this scripture today. People such as Alan Keyes and Howard Phillips have been largely ignored by exactly those who should have welcomed their message with opened arms. It is not coincidental that the "Israelite foremen" are good examples of the Christian 'leadership' today. Both try to please both God and man. They both want a seat in the governmental offices and to have an ear with the politicians. They particularly cut out the Keyes and Phillips campaigns. They choose the candidate already chosen by the Republican leadership who has willingly placed God's issues lower in the list. They fail our God. The next highlighted parallel indicates the people's problem. Why is it the rest of us don't embrace Keyes or Phillips? We are discouraged. We see our previous attempts at winning in politics fail. Yes, we have elected Republicans. The only problem is that the people we have put in would not stay the course after the victory. Our country cries for an end to the tyranny of evil laws but we are rewarded by a love of 'bipartisanship' that allows other oppressive laws to be passed. Doing 'the people's work' has allowed many onerous regulations to be thrust upon us. The people actually lose when the politicians compromise. It seems there is no hope since the Christian 'leaders' have given up as well. The cruel bondage is easily explained by the bondage to our banks and their interest rates as we try to keep up with our neighbor's materialism. In addition, the oppressive tax rates are tremendous. It is interesting that when Joseph was providing for the Egyptians during the years of famine, the people willingly sold themselves into slavery for only 20%, less than most of us pay to our government for various taxes (Genesis 47:24-25). If only they had a few plagues with which to awaken us. No, please not. Maybe we won't need it? |
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