The Best is Yet to Come

They had nothing to work with and couldn’t keep up with the demand. When they complained their overseers accused them of being lazy. If they had enough time to ask for time off to worship, then obviously they didn’t have enough to do!

That’s the scene in Exodus 5 as Moses meets with Pharaoh and asks that the Hebrews be allowed to leave Egypt to go and worship their God. Poor Moses got it from both sides: The Pharaoh complained that he was keeping the slaves from their work, and the Hebrews complained that Moses’ interference was making their lives a whole lot harder.

And Moses complained to God: “Moses returned to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord, why have you brought trouble upon this people? Is this why you sent me? Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble upon this people, and you have not rescued your people at all’” (Exodus 5:22, 23, NIV).

Have you ever noticed that sometimes, even when you are being obedient to God’s command, things don’t work out well and often even get worse? We ask God to act on our behalf and it seems like He is acting against us? We act in good faith and it appears that God is the One Who is not being faithful?

We can feel the frustration among the Hebrews. We can hear that same frustration in Moses’ prayer to God. We know how the story turns out, but still we wonder why it didn’t “turn out” faster, and without all this grief.

The great chapter on faith in Hebrews 11 is often preached on and taught about—at least the first 35 ½ verses. Few dare to speak about verses 35b to 40. Somehow it isn’t appealing to think about the possibilities of not being rescued.

The Hebrews were eventually brought out of slavery and delivered by God to the land He had promised to Abraham. But God’s faithfulness to them was not contingent on that rescue. Whether or not they were rescued was not a testimony to the strength of their faith. Hebrews 11:39, 40 reminds us that not even those who were rescued by God received the prize that God had waiting for them—a prize that is yet to come.

“These were all commended [those who were rescued and those who weren’t] for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.” (NIV).

Hang in there, the best is yet to come.