January 22, 2026 - Exodus 5-8

Making bricks without straw (a much bigger deal than we will ever experience).  Heavier workloads (as if the Israelites were not already maxed out).  The foremen/leaders of Israel beaten unmercifully.  And don’t forget the killing of their babies!  It was bad, and the people cried against Moses, “You have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants” (5:21).  To top it all off, even Moses accused God:  “O Lord, 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” (5:22-23).  Have you ever seen things just seem to go from bad to worse, thinking, “Surely, it can’t get any worse!”  That was Israel’s experience.  The believed that even their God had forgotten them.  And then, we read, “But the LORD said to Moses, ‘Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh’” (6:1).  And, boy, did Moses see!  Wow, did all Israel see!  Pharaoh saw, and all of Egypt saw!  And we see and are just amazed at what God does!  He says, “I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant” (6:5-6).  How many times have we rehearsed this truth?  God makes good on his covenant promises, all of them!  And so, the plagues, #s1-4 in these chapters, begin.  Often, we are wise to doubt the promises made by politicians, by friends, by neighbors; we ourselves are sometimes not trustworthy.  But God!  Believe him!

From Abraham and Sarah

arose a pilgrim race,

dependent for their journey

on God’s abundant grace;

and in their heart was written

by God this saving word,

“That you shall be my people

and I will be your God.”

We of the generation

on whom God’s hand is laid

can journey to the future

secure and unafraid,

rejoicing in God’s goodness

and trusting in his word,

“That you shall be my people

and I will be your God.”   --Judith A. Fetter (1994)