Feelings Aren't Facts

While reading about the Israelites’ suffering and Moses’ interactions with Pharaoh (Exodus 7-12), one could easily wonder what in the world God was thinking. He IS God after all…Creator of the Universe…Sovereign over all…so why allow His people, bound by evil, to face more suffering with a myriad of insane plagues?! Why send HIS chosen one to rescue them only to harden their captor’s heart over and over again?!! The Israelites would have been more than justified in feeling punished by the God Who purports to love them...to feel hopeless and angry and maybe even foolish for believing there actually is a God Who cares for them. It would have been more than fair for Moses to feel betrayed by the God Who sent him…to feel overwhelmed and frustrated and insecure about the instruction he heard—Was this, indeed, the Lord’s plan? Or was it just my own will and flesh speaking?

Unlike us readers, none of the players involved had the whole picture at the time of their experience. They couldn’t read the why. But that didn’t mean there wasn’t a greater purpose for their pain. Their feelings didn’t negate the fact that God was enacting a plan not only to fiercely protect them and rescue them from the evil that was crushing them; a plan to provide a testimony that would serve to encourage future generations and entire nations in their journeys with Him. Exodus 10:1-2 (GWT) tells us that God made Pharaoh and his officials’ hearts “stubborn so that [the Lord] can do these miraculous signs among them. [That Moses and the Israelites] will be able to tell [their] children and grandchildren exactly how [He] treated [their enemies] and what miraculous signs [God] did among them…[so that they] will all know that [He is] Lord.” Their momentary distress (that lasted a lifetime for some) was actually a part of God’s plan for their good and His glory. And because of their trials and tribulations, we…thousands of years later…have this reminder that God is a mighty God of miracles and mighty to save.

How could He be using your pain and suffering? What might He be leading you to do that may not make sense right now but could be used to prompt a much bigger and greater picture to unfold? How could your story and its ripples impact your children, your grandchildren, or even nations?

Your feelings right now might be valid. But they’re not necessarily informative of the great plans in store for you. You are loved. You are protected. And you are writing a story with The Maker of Heaven and Earth that is not meant to end before His great rescue.