Exodus 5:19-23 "And the officers of the children of Israel did see that they were in evil case, after it was said, Ye shall not minish ought from your bricks of your daily task. And they met Moses and Aaron, who stood in the way, as they came forth from Pharaoh: And they said unto them, The LORD look upon you, and judge; because ye have made our savour to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to slay us. And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Lord, wherefore hast thou so evil entreated this people? why is it that thou hast sent me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he hath done evil to this people; neither hast thou delivered thy people at all."
The king of Egypt had set an impossible task before the children of Israel. Pharaoh would no longer supply the straw for the bricks that the children of Israel were making for him. They now had to go far and wide trying to gather enough straw to make the brick. However, Pharaoh would not accept one less brick from them than they were making before he cut off the supply of straw.
This turn of events mattered little to the Egyptian taskmasters, but to the Hebrew officers that were under them it mattered a great deal. The officers were held accountable for the tally of bricks, and they were beaten by the taskmasters if the laborers could not produce the required amount. These officers, who had prior to this enjoyed a life of ease compared to the rest of the children of Israel, came to Pharaoh trying to make the case that he was treating them unfairly. Although they tried to point out to Pharaoh that the lack of bricks was the fault of the Egyptians, Pharaoh did not hear them.
These officers figured out pretty quickly that they were in a bad spot. As is often the case with those who enjoyed preferential treatment in the past, they looked for somebody to blame rather than looking to God. As the officers were returning from Pharaoh’s court, they met Moses and Aaron “who stood in the way.” They accused Moses and Aaron of being the reason their life had suddenly become too hard to bear. They even expected God to punish Moses and Aaron for bringing this trouble to their door.
Even though God had told Moses before he went that Pharaoh would not heed him, Moses was still made to doubt. Things had happened just like God told him they would, but Moses questioned God yet again concerning His purpose in sending Aaron and himself to Pharaoh. Moses thought he was being sent to make things better for the children of Israel. Instead, it appeared that the matter was only getting worse. Moses could see no deliverance for God’s people.
Dear ones, doing what the LORD has told us to do will not always make things immediately better. In fact, it may seem that things are getting worse. To complicate the situation, it often seems that nobody cares or is capable of doing anything. It may even cause us to doubt what we are doing. In those times, remember what God has told you. Keep His promises in your heart and trust Him to do all that He has said. It may not always happen in the timeline that we supposed in our minds, but it will always happen just as God has promised!