Beating on an Open Door
Beating on an Open Door
Exodus 5:20-21
They met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting for them, as they came out from Pharaoh; and they said to them, “The LORD look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.”
It’d be so easy to jump the gun here and start scolding these Hebrews for calling down judgment on Moses and Aaron, but that wouldn’t be very fair of me. Why? Because I didn’t wake up at the crack of dawn this morning, spend hours scavenging the fields for straw that’s nowhere to be found, only to turn around and get beaten by an Egyptian guard for my labor in the end. I get a paycheck at the end of the month for my work—not a scourging. So I won’t be casting any stones today.
But I do, however, see something of myself in these Hebrews. I do recognize deficiencies in my own spirit when it comes to the way I respond to times of exhaustion and depression and suffering that mirrors theirs. Firstly, I tend to take out my frustration on people rather than going directly to God alone. And secondly, to add insult to injury, I tend to take out my frustration on all the wrong people. My wife, my kids, the guy driving too slow in front of me, the friend who hasn’t responded to my email, the neighbor who honks as he drives by, the crowds who decided to come to this trailhead today when I just wanted to be alone—you know what I mean? Instead of getting on my knees in the quiet of my room, locking the door behind me, and pouring out my questions and grievances to the One who can carry them, I mumble to myself, and complain in my spirit, and huff and puff at those who find themselves in the crosshairs of my discouragement.
Friend, let’s go to God with our burdens today before we become a burden to others. If we don’t, we’ll end up hurting the people who are doing their best to help, and we won’t get the help our hearts need most.