As humans, it is normal to be disheartened when the harvest is weak. We feel such when we've already invested a
lot in the sowing and the cultivation stages. When storm and plague suddenly ruined
the crop, we tend to blame ourselves, others, or sometimes, God.
We love mapping our way, planning our future, or preparing too soon.
There are no problems in doing these because we want to invest more on
something we value. This is the reason why we expect big. Big in a sense
that often, we want an easy way, an instant result, or an excellent outcome.
However, expecting big sometimes results to big disappointments.
I am reading Moses’ journey of freeing Israelites from Pharaoh’s
regime in Egypt, as he obediently followed God’s commands with Aaron’s help. There
were several attempts which all first resulted to Israelites’ still being in
captive. But Moses did not run out of courage and strength. Though at first
hesitant to follow the Lord’s purpose for him, Moses’ faith brought him to the
fulfillment of his goal of pursuing his people.
But what really kept Moses from trying when he already failed numerous
times? And what might be the things that drove him to hang on?
While reading his journey, I realized that aside
from Moses’ faith, it is his OBEDIENCE
that brought him to success. At first it is easy to obey, but real obedience demands
accomplishing the whole cycle of obeying (just obey, obey, obey, and obey). Many times, it is quite easy to obey,
yet often, we also simply give up in the middle of completing the reason why we
followed.
We tend to leave everything when none’s going well. When we feel like
running from the mess, let us always remember that God is the One who commanded
us to do what we are doing (I hope He really is). That should keep us from
going.
Moses failed numerous times but he did not stop because he knew the
commands were from God. When we know that a certain instruction is from the
Lord, we will believe it will come to pass, no matter how hard or how far. And
just like Moses, we need to worship the Lord even after every failure. Worship in
times of trouble lets people know that ‘there’s no one like the Lord our God’
(Exodus 8:10).
As I continued reading Moses’ story, I got puzzled with the phrase
“the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart” mentioned several times. Then I started to
realize that God really allows bad things to happen for a purpose. And this I
think was the thing that drove Moses from hanging on. He knew that his journey
will be hard as the Lord allowed it. But he also knew he will finish it so he kept
trying until the time he made it.
