discouraged

In Exodus chapters 5 and 6, God’s people are in worse trouble than before. Pharaoh reacts badly to Moses and Aaron; he cracks down on the people by making them scavenge brick-making materials while keeping them accountable for the same number of bricks each day.

So Moses goes back to the Lord, in Exodus 5:22-23, and says this: "Why, Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Is this why you sent me? Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people, and you have not rescued your people at all."

God responds to Moses by reminding him of the covenant and also of God’s commitment to bring his people out of Egypt into a promised land. And then, these sad words from Exodus 6:9: Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and harsh labor.

Life can be hard. It can be hard because of harsh conditions and long working hours. It can be hard because of dysfunctional relationships. It can be hard because of low incomes and high expenses. It can be hard because of worries about the future. It can be hard because of sin, mine and the ones others commit that affect me.

I know many discouraged Christians, and sometimes I’m one of them. This reading from Exodus this morning suggests that often, when life seems hard to me, God is trying to tell me that he knows, and he’s with me. God wants me to see not my momentary troubles but his eternal glory, which is my own Promised Land. God often sends me brothers and sisters to remind me of these things.

Like the Israelites, do I not listen because I’m too discouraged? I think often that’s true, and the thought shames me. Isn’t discouragement just a lack of faith? Am I so fragile that I let what I consider hardship – which is nothing like what others go through – defeat me when I know I’m loved by the God who controls all things?

God says to me what he said to Moses: I remember my covenant with my people. But sometimes I forget. God made a deal with us – that’s what a covenant comes down to – that he would be our God and provide for us, if we would just follow him. And then, in finalizing the contract (remember that walk between the halves of the animal carcasses?) he took accountability for both sides of the bargain.

Remember the covenant, God says to Moses when things looked bleak. But the people were too discouraged to care. Today, I’m ashamed of my discouragement. I want to help other discouraged people see that these troubles are momentary, and we know how the story ends.