Just As The Lord Commanded Them

Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord commanded them

Exodus 7:6

Moses’s first encounter with Pharaoh didn’t go as expected. He likely imagined God doing the groundwork: saying “Let my people go”, Pharaoh trembling in obedience and the Israelites being released, with all Israel praising the Lord. Instead, “Pharaoh said, “Who [is] the LORD, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, nor will I let Israel go.” (Exodus 5:2)

This became the heart of Moses’ problem. Though God had spoken, Pharaoh remained deaf to his words. Worse still, Pharaoh’s wrath at Moses’ audacity fell upon the Israelites, who in turn grew to resent Moses for the new hardships. Caught between Pharaoh’s contempt and the Israelites’ resentment, God sent him back to Pharaoh, this time with a warning: “You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country.” (Exodus 7:2)

At this point, anyone should be frustrated. But layered upon that frustration is the next statement from God: “…But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in Egypt, he will not listen to you…” (Exodus 7:3-4).  So, what’s the point of all of these? Why is God sending Moses on a seemingly impossible mission? I really don’t want to imagine how Moses must have felt as he went to the palace with his brother Aaron, knowing that this was a pure waste of time (to them, not to God anyway). Yet, the bible says “Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord commanded them” (Exodus 7:6)

What has the Lord commanded you? There is always the temptation to think that our brothers in the Lord will embrace us with the right hand of fellowship as we unveil what God has told us. Or that the pharaohs of this world, men who do not know God, will simply come to embrace our God simply because we live a good and godly life or because we preached with evidence of God’s power manifested. In reality, this is sometimes not the case; in fact, it could be the exact opposite. Yet, God still wants us to continue what he has commanded us.

This process builds the kind of resolve that makes us more useful to God as we progress in our walk with him. So, like Moses and Aaron, we must do everything just as the Lord commands us.

PRAYER