Bricks without straw

The fifth chapter of the book of Exodus from the Old Testament of the Bible is part of the story of the Israelites in captivity to the Egyptians. In this fifth chapter the prophet Moses, through his mouthpiece brother Aaron, has told the slaveholding Pharaoh to let the Israelites go into the desert so that they might worship God. God has proposed a three day journey and festival. Pharoah predictably is having none of it! No vacation days for his laborers!

Instead Pharaoh decides to make the Israelite slaves' work even more difficult. He takes away their supply of straw used in the making of bricks and insists that the slaves find the straw on their own, without reducing the output of bricks. Essentially Pharaoh has given them an impossible task: scrounge for your straw, but keep massive quantities of bricks flowing to my warehouses.

I don't intend to push the metaphor too far, but reading this passage pulled me up short and caused me to wonder about the way life and work is progressing these days, especially for those of us who count ourselves among the community of Christians.

Our resources seemingly diminish day by day, in spite of God's abundance. Our "supply chain" has huge gaps in it, and yet we insist on the same results we've enjoyed before. What we probably need most is a festival in the desert, but it's the last thing to climb to the top of our priority list. We beat each other up, but in reality we are our own source of angst. Like the Israelite foremen we look around and realize we are in trouble here!

The promise comes in the next chapter. "I am the Lord and will bring you out from under the yoke," says God. For the Israelites this promise was difficult to hear and trust. Under great duress they resisted Moses, Aaron and God. Even with signs, miracles, plagues and trials, God's message was slow to sink in for both the Israelites and the Egyptians. But as the story progresses, God continues to demonstrate faithfulness.

Two key thoughts for today: Stop insisting that others keep making bricks without an abundant supply of straw. And trust that when God speaks there is power and promise.