What comes to mind when you remember the Israelite’s deliverance from Egypt? I admit I usually think of their repeated doubt and unbelief. I had completely forgotten their initial reaction to God’s promise of deliverance in Exodus 4:29-31.

Moses and Aaron brought together all the elders of the Israelites and Aaron told them everything the LORD had said to Moses. He also performed the signs before the people, and they believed. And when they heard that the LORD was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.

So in the beginning, the Israelites believed! Georgia Burton in The Upper Room says:

How excited the Israelites must have been, knowing that God would deliver them! Perhaps they imagined a quick, easy exodus. Instead, their predicament got worse. Pharaoh wasn’t about to release them simply because Moses told him to; in fact, he imposed tougher demands on them. So rather than bowing down and worshiping God, they complained.

Do you remember the story? In Exodus 5 we find that after Moses and Aaron made their request of Pharaoh, Pharaoh stopped providing the Israelites with straw to make their bricks. They were required to make the same number of bricks, but they would also have to find their own straw. When the Israelites didn’t make their quotas, Pharaoh’s overseers beat them. The Israelites were angry with Moses and Aaron, and in turn, Moses was angry with God!

In spite of God’s promise to deliver them, the Israelite’s deliverance was not going to be quick and easy and often ours isn’t either. Receiving what God has promised may require that we go on believing even when it looks like He has failed us and isn’t keeping His Word.

Many times in the Bible, circumstances got worse before God’s promises became reality: Joseph was imprisoned before becoming a leader; Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son before becoming the father of nations; Paul was blinded before becoming an apostle to the Gentiles… (Georgia Burton)

Sometimes we have to go through hard things to prepare us to receive what God has promised. I get the impression Joseph was a proud young man when God gave him the promise in a dream of others bowing down to him, but after going through a devastating series of events, he was ready to fulfill the huge task God gave him. Abraham had to be willing to sacrifice his beloved son so Isaac wouldn’t become an idol to him. Proud, self-sufficient Paul had to be blinded and led by the hand to begin the process of becoming whom God had promised Ananias he would be, God’s chosen instrument to proclaim His name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. (Acts 9:15)

So if God has made and confirmed a promise to you, don’t be surprised if things happen that make you doubt His Word, if things get worse instead of better. I Peter 1:6-7 says, In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

 Our faith is more precious than gold to God and we can expect it to be tested, even when it comes to receiving what He’s promised.

Father, keep us steadfast in our faith in you even when things seem to get worse instead of better and even when your promises aren’t fulfilled according to our timetable. Amen