Have you been in this boat?

You’ve been faithfully following God. You’re in the Word every day, soaking in Who God is and learning to live as a follower of His Way. Prayer time is rich. You worship the Lord. You adore Him. You bring your sins into the light of His mercy. Your heart bursts with gratitude. You pray for your needs, and you pray for others – with full confidence that the Lord hears you and responds out of His wealth of love, wisdom, and power. Life with God is good.

Somewhere along the way, the Holy Spirit gives you a specific task – maybe through the Word, maybe through the ask of your church, maybe through friends wanting to serve together. However it comes to you, you’re delighted to respond in obedience. You give your “yes.” You prepare yourself. You educate yourself. You pray for perseverance and faithfulness to get the job done. You’re as ready as you’ll ever be.

With confidence in the Lord and His equipping, you take that giant leap.

And things go colossally wrong.

You reel from the shock of it, stunned by the force of the door slammed hard in your face. A panic you never anticipated suddenly rises up from your gut to your chest. There was never a “plan B.” You were certain that “plan A” was the plan, and from every visible angle, it has failed miserably.

You run to the Lord, wondering if you heard Him incorrectly or if you missed some critical step in His design. You lie awake at night questioning, reviewing in your mind all that you did to prepare, wondering how what you thought was a slam dunk assignment from Him could’ve gone so terribly awry.

Friend, you’re not in that boat alone. The star of the book of Exodus – second only to the great “I AM” – knows exactly how you feel, and he has something to say to you: just because things don’t turn out the way you thought they should have doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re not right in the big middle of the will of God. If you acted in humility and obedience, you can trust that His plan will prevail.

Moses was called into God’s service in a fantastical way. He met the Lord on a mountainside as he was tending sheep. In Exodus 3, you can read the details of the miraculous way God presented Himself to Moses, His name that He told Moses to share with the Israelites, and the grand plan He was calling Moses to participate in. Moses the shepherd was to lead the rescue of God’s people out from under 400 years of slavery to the Egyptians.

In Exodus 4, God gave Moses signs that he would need in his meetings with Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, because Pharaoh would need a lot of convincing in order to let God’s people go. Moses was hesitant to be God’s spokesperson, claiming to be “slow of speech and tongue.” In the end, God allowed Moses’ brother Aaron to partner with him in his dealings with Pharaoh. Moses and Aaron came before the Israelites and told them of God’s plan to rescue them. Moses performed the signs God had given him, and the Israelites dared to believe that God did indeed care about them.

So, chapter 5.

Moses and Aaron are ready. They’ve been prepared and equipped by God Himself. Their people believe in them and are supportive and hopeful. The two brothers go to Pharaoh. Aaron delivers God’s message.

And Pharaoh scoffs. “Who is the Lord, that I should obey Him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and I will not let Israel go.” The brothers restate their request, only to be dressed down and sent away.

Not only that, but Pharaoh doubles down on the harsh treatment of the Israelites, so that making their daily quotas of bricks is virtually impossible. Their overseers are beaten, and to say that the people are disheartened is a vast understatement. They seek out Moses and Aaron, turning on them with blame for this new strain of misery imposed on them.

So Moses does what we should do when the results of our hard, faithful, obedient work seem to backfire. He returns to the Lord with his consternation and frustration. And the Lord, in return, gives him hope and assurance. God has a plan far greater, a plan of eternal scope, a plan based on His timetable. Moses trusts and obeys. In due time, he witnesses the culmination of the power and promise of his God and the fruit of his faithful obedience.

Are you in the same boat that Moses found himself in? If so, do what he did. Follow his lead. Bring your confusion and questions about why “plan A” seems to have blown up. You heard Him. You obeyed Him. Now trust Him. You’re in the safe center of His will, and He’s at work to accomplish that will in His time and in His way. Maybe you’ll see it come to pass on this side of heaven. Maybe you won’t. But Moses would want you to remember that our promise-keeping God and His perfect plan will prevail. Keep on rowing.