Today's Devotional

 

 April 9, 2009

                                                                                                             

Subject:  Is Life Really That Hard? 

Exodus 5:10-14 "Then the slave drivers and the foremen went out and said to the people, "This is what Pharaoh says: 'I will not give you any more straw. Go and get your own straw wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced at all.' " So the people scattered all over Egypt to gather stubble to use for straw.  The slave drivers kept pressing them, saying, "Complete the work required of you for each day, just as when you had straw."  The Israelite foremen appointed by Pharaoh's slave drivers were beaten and were asked, "Why didn't you meet your quota of bricks yesterday or today, as before?"

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A Newsweek article published two days ago began with these words, "A nation facing problems of biblical proportions appears to be looking less and less to religion for answers."  Can we please stop the drama?  Biblical proportions?  Is it really that bad for us?  

Lets see, biblical proportions...are we talking about something like the plagues that came upon Egypt; the entire Nile river turning into blood or perhaps biblical proportions would be the whole country of Egypt being plagued by frogs in every house.   Biblical proportions should be really huge.

I mean what do we have of biblical proportions?  Surely there are many affected by unemployment (and many are not) but it is not nearly as bad as it has been in more recent history.  In 1979 it was 12% nationally and it is currently 8.5%.  I don't think many thought of the hardship at that time as being of "biblical proportions."  So why is now so much tougher?  

Our nation is like one former Senator said, "a Nation of whiners."  Many think our lives are so hard now because we are simply so soft.  If we have the slightest disruption and convenience to our lives of television, electronic gadgets, and a Laz-e-boy in a nice house, it becomes catastrophic. 

The Israelites enslaved in Egypt had it hard.  By any measure, the task of making brick without straw is tougher than most anything we're doing today and they were cruelly treated in addition to having that task to accomplish. In the end I guess it's all subjective  or could it be that we don't know what biblical proportions are?  

If we think our lives are hard now, wait until God shows us what biblical proportions really are.  For sure He said that "every knee shall bow and every tongue confess..."  Every?  Now that's biblical proportions. 

Carlen