Ever feel like the world is against you? No matter how hard you work the odds are against you? That’s exactly how the Israelites felt under Pharaoh.
Exodus 5 says: Then Pharaoh said, “Look, the people of the land are now numerous, and you are stopping them from working.” That same day Pharaoh gave this order to the slave drivers and overseers in charge of the people: “You are no longer to supply the people with straw for making bricks; let them go and gather their own straw. But require them to make the same number of bricks as before; don’t reduce the quota. They are lazy; that is why they are crying out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ Make the work harder for the people so that they keep working and pay no attention to lies.”
When the Pharaoh first rose to power nothing changed. But once he got settled into his position, he started thinking. Looking out over Egypt he saw the Israelites and said, “Hmmm. There sure is a whole lot of them. There may be more of them than there is of us. Let’s deal wisely with them.” Pharaoh devises a strategy to control them. A strategy to attack them. A strategy to belittle them. A strategy to intimidate them.
Now most people in this kind of circumstance would begin to see themselves as the victim. But listen to me closely here. What is happening to God’s people here is not a test, but a compliment. The Pharaoh didn’t attack the children of Israel because they were worthless. He didn’t attack the children of Israel because they had no future. He didn’t attack the children of Israel because they didn’t have power. He attacked them because they were MIGHTY and STRONG and GROWING and had POTENTIAL.
The devil is not attacking you because you’re a nothing and a nobody. The devil is attacking you because he is AFRAID of you! He’s afraid of your power. He’s afraid of your influence! The devil even tries to take away your advantage: “Let’s have them make bricks, but give them no straw”.
But God’s power allows you to keep on making bricks anyway! Some of you grew up broke, but you made it anyway. You come from a broken home, but you made it anyway. You’re a single mom, but you made it anyway. You were lonely, but you made it anyway. You didn’t have a car to get to work, but you showed up anyway!
If you think that God was blessing you when things were going well, I’m telling you today that He’s blessing you more when you’re going through trials. And today you have to decide: Are you going to believe the blessing, or are you going to believe the bricks?
God’s ultimate plan for you is to help you find victory against all odds. So let’s go out and see how many bricks we can make today!
Wishing you faith for today,
Roy
