So, the same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their officers, saying, "You shall no longer give the people straw to make brick as before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves. And you shall lay on them the quota of bricks which they made before. You shall not reduce it. For they are idle; therefore, they cry out, saying, 'Let us go and sacrifice to our God.' Let more work be laid on the men, that they may labor in it, and let them not regard false words." (Exodus 5:6-9)
The people of Israel were slaves in Egypt for some 400 years. After 400 years the people became accustomed to their slave condition.
Then, at God's appointed time, came a man named Moses. At one time he was a prince in Egypt; perhaps even heir to the throne. But that was 40 years before when Moses fled Egypt because he murdered a man. Now coming back to Egypt, he brought a message to the millions of Israelite slaves in Egypt: "God has sent me to be your deliverer. I'm going to free you from this slavery and take you out of Egypt, and to your land where you will never be slaves again."
Most Israelites were probably happy to hear about their coming deliverance. Yet things did not get better for them immediately; instead, things became worse.
Speaking in God's name, Moses told Pharaoh to let God's people go to freedom. First Moses only asked for three days off, so they could go and worship God in the wilderness. But Pharaoh not only rejected the idea of giving the Israelites three days off; he thought they were wasting time just to ask.
So, Pharaoh punished Israel because Moses made the request. He must have said, "Well Moses, you Israelites seem to have enough time to make these crazy requests - then you must have enough time to work more." So, Pharaoh commanded that the Israelites must gather their own straw to make bricks. In that day, straw was an important ingredient in brick, because the acidic content of
the straw made the bricks stronger.
After Moses' first effort as the deliverer of Israel, the children of Israel were in a worse place than before. At that point, Moses' leadership didn't make anything better. This was very disappointing to people who were promised big things.
Don't be surprised when you get right with God and look to His Deliverer (Jesus), that things seem to get worse right away. When God begins to work the big danger is giving up because of discouragement. Don't let it happen. God wanted to do something greater than transporting people from Egypt to Canaan; He wanted to take people with the hearts and minds of slaves and transform them into His holy, chosen people.
In God's work of transforming our lives, sometimes it has to get a little worse before it gets better. Don't give up.
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