“And the taskmaster of the people went out, and their officers, and they spake to the people, saying, Thus saith Pharaoh, I will not give you straw.
Go ye, get you straw where ye can find it: yet not aught of your work shall be diminished.”
Exodus 5:10-11
Before the first supernatural plague that signaled the miraculous intervention of God to deliver the Hebrews from Egypt, there came this sinister persecution of Pharaoh to keep them enslaved. Moses delivered his first message as the spokesman of Jehovah: “Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness,” (Ex. 5:1b) bringing the Hebrews their first good news in over 300 years. That first hope was instantly shrouded by the enflamed contempt of Pharaoh.
This new word was like the Gospel to them. God had remembered them and sent Moses to deliver them. God offered his people rest in worship. Pharaoh knew this would be the end of his Egyptian economy. (“The love of money is the root of all evil.” [1 Tim. 6:10]) He was less-than thrilled about the news. So he devised a way to make his workforce more efficient, by defunding a necessary raw material to clay brick-making. If they were going to talk about God, they were going to gather straw, too.
As you read Exodus 5, you will see this persecution trickle down to each and every Israelite laborer. The impact on each family is felt by their woeful crying as they are beaten and driven to despair. The people lash out against Moses and he doubles over in doubt. But in the midst of their exhausting labor- they still listen, and God speaks once again.
Egypt is an archetype of the “present evil world” (Gal. 1:4) around us. The exodus of Israel successively out of Egypt, through the wilderness, and into the Promised Land portrays the struggles of a Christian striving to follow God throughout his life. The Hebrews in bondage in Egypt shows life before salvation, when the soul who has been his whole life enslaved to the fashions of the world is given his first option: believe God’s word in spite of Pharaoh’s mandate.
Although there is more in this chapter to learn from, the bottom line for you today is this: it will cost you to listen to God. The moment you think that you will get away with some quiet time in prayer will be instantly challenged by a ringing phone. The peaceful place you take your lunch break to read your Bible will be overrun with noisy traffic. Your Sundays will lose their special status when the new schedule comes out.
It will cost you to listen to God. Circumstances like these will guarantee that. But is God worth it? Or to be more specific- do you believe the word of God enough to let it cost you something?
“Thus saith Pharaoh, I will not give you straw.”
“Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go.”
Which of those can you live without? It may be slavish work, but you and I can find “straw” to appease the world. We’ve all hustled to get what we want before. But there is nothing we can do– working fingers to the bone around the clock–to get God’s presence and peace in this world if we ignore His Word. If it is one or the other, it is high time we made up our minds.
It’s time we told Pharaoh: I’ll take “Thus saith the LORD,” and find my own straw. For now. Because it won’t be long until our brick-making days are over.
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