Each and every time I read the Old Testament I comment to myself on how these people are a hot mess and can not for the life of them get themselves together.  They are so wishy-washy.  One minute they are praising God and believing him for all his promises.  The next minute they are weepy and wondering why has their God forsaken them.

Exactly 30 seconds after I think these feelings about them, I feel the hotness in my cheeks and wonder if this story is really about me, because I'm the same exact way.  I see God's promises in his word and some days I'm praising him and believing.  Then life gets hard and something tragic happens and I find myself weepily wondering why God has left me to suffer so greatly.

In the beginning of Exodus this how the story is unfolding.  God's people are under much distress and suffering each and every day.  They feel hopeless and are probably wondering where is their God.

Then Moses shows up on the scene and God gives him great promises that I think he himself was struggling with relaying to his people and to Pharaoh.  Moses spoke these promises to God's people and Exodus 4:31 says that “the people believed; and when they heard that the LORD had visited the people of Israel and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed their heads and worshipped.”

What happens next is where I feel so relatable to the people.  They get this great message that God has heard their cries and that he has a plan to get them out of Egypt, and then it gets worse.  They are given more work.  Their tasks are almost unbearable and impossible to complete.  More suffering.  More slavery.   God's people were mad and they were mad at Moses.  They actually confronted him and said basically, this is your fault and we are going to die because of this.

Poor Moses.  He goes back to God and asks him in chapter 5:22-23 “why have you done evil to this people?  Why did you ever send me?  For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.”

God again spoke to Moses and told him the same promise.  “I am the LORD.”  “I have heard the groaning.”  “I have remembered my covenant.”  God told him to go back and remind the people what I have already told you.  So he did.  And the Hebrew people were not buying it.  God's word says in Exodus 6:9, “Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses, because their broken spirit and harsh slavery.”

I could burst into tears here, because I understand. I get it.  They are worn down and tired.  God is promising to get them out, but in this moment they are still there and it's hard to see past today.

Maybe you are here today?  I have sure been here, where I know God has promised me so much, but in the moment I feel so out of touch and lost.  Ladies we need to cling to his promises.  He has not left you, and he will not leave you.  You may be in the biggest struggle of your life.  Just as God told the Hebrew people that he heard their cries, he hears yours too, and he cares for you and about you.  Trust him in that.

Psalm 94:14 “For the LORD will not forsake his people; he will not abandon his heritage”