"now You Will See" Series

“NOW YOU WILL SEE” Exodus 6:1-13

FBCF – 5/2/21

Jon Daniels

INTRO – Ever had your heart broken? All of us have experienced that at some point in our life:

- Your first boyfriend broke up w/ you & you cried all night

- Your best friend moved away

- Your favorite pet dies

- The QB of your favorite football team fumbles the ball as time runs out & your biggest rival wins the game

- Your child rebels against you & against the Lord & chooses a path, a lifestyle, or an addiction that goes against everything you believe & everything you taught him/her

- You had great plans for your retirement, but your health failed, or your spouse’s health failed, & your plans got derailed

- Your husband or wife decides that the marriage is over & leaves, or chooses to get involved in a relationship with someone else

There are lots of different ways that people respond to those moments of heartbreak:

- Jump into another relationship – possibly an illicit, sinful relationship

- Pull away from all relationships – friends, family, work associates

- Turn to a bottle – alcohol, pills

- Lash out at those around them – even at those who are trying to help

- Immerse themselves in their work

- Fall into an addictive behavior or activity

- Run TO God & find their faith strengthened

- Run AWAY from God

- Abandon their faith altogether – walk away from the Lord & from the Church

o Saw an ad on FB this week for a book written by a guy who abandoned the faith

o I would venture to say that there was some moment in his life that was a heartbreak moment where his faith was shaken & the enemy came in & pulled him away in his moment of vulnerability.

Maybe you’re in a place of heartbreak right now, a place of disappointment or disillusionment. You’re hurting so much that you don’t really think that you can be delivered. You’re wondering how God is going to deliver you from this. You may even feel like your hope & trust in God has been betrayed, that God has let you down, that all this stuff that you’ve heard all your life might not be as true as you’ve been taught – that God might not be as good as you’ve believed for so long – that God might not be as real as you’ve thought all these years.

- Like a lady whose husband was diagnosed w/ a brain tumor one year after they got married. And now she is a caregiver to a husband w/ profound disabilities that make it impossible for him to function on his own.

- Dreams of a fairytale marriage gone.

- Dreams of a normal, happy family demolished

- No hope of fixing this problem – at least not in this life.

- She may be angry w/ God – feel betrayed by God – losing trust in God

- Where do you turn w/ those feelings & thoughts? How do you function w/ those feelings & thoughts?

In our passage today, we will see an Israel who is so brokenhearted, crushed, & oppressed by Pharaoh that they don’t really believe that God is going to deliver them.

- They’re angry w/ Him

- Feel betrayed by Him

- Losing their trust in Him

Let’s continue this series in “The Life of Moses”, as we move into Moses’ first encounter w/ Pharaoh & see how God is going to begin working in this lives of His people.

EXPLANATION – Exodus 6:1-13

Walk through what has brought them to this point:

Israel’s hope & trust in God is crushed by Pharaoh. They had been so beaten up & beaten down by their oppressors that they were having a really hard time believing that God was going to come through for them. Remember what has transpired up to this point:

- Their male babies have been killed

- They’ve been enslaved

- They’re laboring under harsh conditions

- Their hay for making bricks has been taken away. Now they have to find their own.

- They can’t keep up w/ the required quota of bricks

- They’re punished w/ beatings for failing to meet the unfair quota

- They just couldn’t catch a break!

That’s a lot to have to deal with! A lot of reasons to grow despondent, discouraged, downtrodden, & depressed. A lot of reasons for the heartbreak that they are experiencing in their lives right now. Even Moses expressed his distress w/ the situation when he said, “O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.” (Exodus 5:22-23)