Exodus 5

In this chapter Moses and Aaron speak to Pharaoh.  Pharaoh mocks them and then punishes the Israelites stating that they must not be busy enough if they have time to complain.  He stops providing straw for them to make bricks, yet demands that their quota remain the same.  The Israelite foreman is beaten because the quota is not being met.  The foreman then confronts Moses and Aaron and says, "May the Lord judge and punish you for making us stink before Pharaoh and his officials.  You have put a sword into their hands, an excuse to kill us!"

The easy thing to say here is that things get worse before they get better and you have to stick it out.  That's the "obvious" lesson here.  From the Israelites perspective that is accurate as far as I can see.  Although God has been working behind the scenes for them, they haven't seen it.  They've been oppressed for a long long time.  They've been enslaved, their sons have been killed, they've been beaten, but to some extent they've gotten used to it.  They cry out to God, but they don't have the Holy Spirit.  They don't know how to intercede on their own.  They can't offer sacrifices.  They cry out to God, but they are really helpless to do much more. 

Moses' perspective is quite different.  I think that he needs to confront and conquer a fear from his past.  Years ago Moses confronted an Egyptian guard and tried to intercede in Israel's behalf.  Things didn't go the way he intended.  The Israelites turned on him and he ran away.  God can't have him lead the Israelites and run away when things get tough.  Moses needs to confront his past and stick it out.  He needs to trust God to bring the victory.  So once again he finds himself trying to help his people and feeling like the bad guy.  His best intentions are making things worse.  What is he going to do?  Run again?  This time he turns to God.  He's going to have to do this again and again, plague after plague, to reinforce this stance because God knows he is going to need it leading his people and turning them into a nation.  Moses needed his own wilderness experience and he needed to see it full circle before he could lead the Israelites through theirs. 

I think when we find ourselves in our own wilderness experience we need to look at what got us into it and ask God what He needs us to confront to get out of it.