Exodus 5:7-12 You shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go and gather straw for themselves.… The intervention of Moses in behalf of his people was not, at first, attended with happy results. The people themselves were abject and spiritless, and Pharaoh was stubborn and unyielding. The condition of the Hebrews grew worse instead of better. And yet, it was but passing through a stage as helpful to its ultimate success as any other. Great enterprises are wont to encounter such cheeks in their initial stages. The worm that is to be a butterfly must go into the condition of a chrysalis, and lie motionless, and seemingly dead. The seed that is to be a plant must "fall into the ground and die." Men want the rapid, the grand, and noticeable; and the "kingdom of heaven cometh not with observation." Men desire deliverance, but they do not like the process of deliverance. Yet such checks are tests of character, trials of men's faith and earnestness. Moses did not despair of a cause because it had met with a reverse. He believed that the cause was God's. He believed in himself as God's instrument to make it victorious. Now I have said that this sort of discipline is common; and doubtless it is needful and salutary. A defeat at the outset, duly used, is the security of an augmented success. Yet, at no age is the trial that is ever repeating itself, though it be with diminished force, an unprofitable subject of contemplation — the trial of an over-sanguine expectation followed by painful and disheartening failure. Such an one, starting with a full, strong confidence in his own sincerity and earnestness, looks for large and speedy results. "The strong man armed keepeth his house, and his goods are in safety." He looks at him over the ramparts with placid contempt. And now comes the hour of despondency. His ministry is a failure. He is nothing; he can do nothing. Men will not heed his message. "The trial of your faith is more precious than of gold that perisheth." Try it again. "Thou shalt see greater things than these." "God will help thee, and that right early." "And thou shalt come again with joy, and bring thy sheaves with thee." (R. A. Hallam, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go and gather straw for themselves. |
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