Sometimes I get mad at God. Usually my anger takes the form of a complaint of “For once why can’t things be easy or go well for me?!?!”
I remember thinking that about the birth of my firstborn. For a time I struggled with being angry that I wasn’t able to have a “normal” birth. Not that any form of giving birth is easy (it’s not) but I really wanted to have him naturally and I ended up having a c-section. Don’t get me wrong- I am beyond thankful that he was healthy and that really is what matters most but if I am being honest I did get a little angry with God over the fact that many women I know were able to have the births they wanted. I know, I was totally being a brat and I eventually came to see that but it took a little time.
You see, I was focused on the wrong things. Yes, I was disappointed and I think it is OK to be disappointed for a time. But I needed to view that disappointment as I should view all of life in the light of God’s truths. One of the recurring truths found in God’s word is this-
The story isn’t over.
We often see only part of our story- where we are now and where we have been. But God sees the whole story. When things go wrong or we struggle we sometimes despair and feel like our life is just ruined. I think this is what Moses was going through in this week’s Good Morning Girls reading. In Exodus chapter 5 Moses and Aaron go to Pharoah and ask him to let God’s people go out to worship. Even though God told Moses that Pharaoh would initially say “no” when it actually happens Moses thinks it’s all over.
We know that it’s not. More importantly, God knew that it wasn’t the end of the story either. And it wasn’t! God did deliver the Israelites out of Egypt- just not as quickly or easily as Moses had thought He should.
And I think that’s the bottom line, really. Life just doesn’t happen as easily or in the way that I think it should sometimes. But I need to remember that often times when I’m tempted to despair that the story of my life isn’t over and I can take comfort in the fact that God writes my story and He knows far better than I do exactly how it should go. He uses every experience, every struggle, every thing that doesn’t go my way for some purpose in my life or in the lives of others. Moses didn’t have this verse, but it’s one that I hold onto tightly when I feel like things are going wrong:
If you’re also reading along I’d love to hear what spoke to you about this week’s readings. If you’re not reading along please feel free to join in with us this month as we study the book of Exodus!