2005-10-21

Do We Protest?

Moses had to learn an early lesson in the Exodus process. God had already warned Moses of Pharaoh's response before Moses ever took a step in the door. Even so, after Moses's first request to Pharaoh, Pharaoh only stepped up the work quotas for the enslaved Israelites (Ex 5).

When the Israelite foremen caught up with Moses to tell him to keep his mouth shut, Moses lost heart. They had said, "You have given them an excuse to kill us"(5:21)! And Moses immediately "protested" to the Lord, "You have not even begun to rescue them!" (5:23).

There are many parallels to any work of salvation. We know ahead of time that the Lord intends to reach the Dong people. We know he loves them and wants to see them come to him. In other words, we know the plan. When something bad happens, or more accurately, when nothing seems to happen at all, we protest that God has not even begun to rescue the Dong.

We also need to remember this is a matter of life and death for those still not rescued; the Israelites said, "You have given them an excuse to kill us!" All those living outside of Christ will indeed receive punishment, and there is a real chance that God's salvation plan itself will cause this phrase to become even more true.

God's reply to all these things? "I will redeem you with mighty power and greats acts of judgement."

Father, we will continue in prayer for the Dong people. When you accomplish your plan, we want to be able to say we gave you glory and were on the side of the faithful in prayer as you brought it about. We will not lose heart when we face trouble or see no progress, rather, we move forward with the foreknowledge that your plan will cause trouble with those spiritual forces who hold the Dong captive. Yet, in the end, you will succeed. We look forward and pray for the "mighty power and great acts of judgement" among the Dong.

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