A cruel heart

DEVOTION

EXODUS

A CRUEL HEART

Ex 5:6-14

6 That same day Pharaoh gave this order to the slave drivers and foremen in charge of the people: 7 "You are no longer to supply the people with straw for making bricks; let them go and gather their own straw. 8 But require them to make the same number of bricks as before; don't reduce the quota. They are lazy; that is why they are crying out, 'Let us go and sacrifice to our God.' 9 Make the work harder for the men so that they keep working and pay no attention to lies." 10 Then the slave drivers and the foremen went out and said to the people, "This is what Pharaoh says: 'I will not give you any more straw. 11 Go and get your own straw wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced at all.'" 12 So the people scattered all over Egypt to gather stubble to use for straw. 13 The slave drivers kept pressing them, saying, "Complete the work required of you for each day, just as when you had straw." 14 The Israelite foremen appointed by Pharaoh's slave drivers were beaten and were asked, "Why didn't you meet your quota of bricks yesterday or today, as before?"

NIV

This has nothing to do with the strengthening the resolve of Pharaohs heart regarding letting the people go. This has everything to do with the cruelty man is capable of and openly willing to execute when he has no regard for God. We have to believe all men are capable of this type of attitude and behavior. Those of us who have confessed our sin, repented and accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior have given or surrendered those capabilities under his authority. Pharaoh, having no regard for God, thinking himself a god, is able to unleash any cruelty he so desires. This attitude about the Israelites, this cruel command regarding them having to now gather their own straw without any lessening of the quota of bricks might well be motivated by fear. However, whenever men are beaten into submission, or for failure to achieve the desired result, it is nothing more than the evil heart of man rearing its ugly head. But what can we learn from this to strengthen our walk with the Lord? Although we may not encounter such harsh cruelty from our employers, we can be certain the heart of the unsaved may only be kept in check by either the rule of law or by fear. Surely there are very good people, who are not believers, that would never exhibit this kind of behavior. But we may well encounter some who would act in this manner toward us simply because they hate God and his standards. Their cruelty may not be in the form of physically beating us, although members of ISIS do behead Christians, or those who oppose their god, whomever that is. Their god is not Yahweh Elohiym, the LORD God. We might encounter other forms of cruelty at the hands of those who oppose God. Whatever or however that might look, we affirm that nothing can or will bring us to bow down to their will, for we serve the Lord God Almighty. We cannot compromise our beliefs under the pressure of the world. It seems they are moving toward more and more restrictions upon Christianity. Much discussion is about regarding whether any government has the right to force any church to perform same sex marriage. There are local municipalities which have done just that, but their actions have not yet reached the Supreme Court. The point here is that the world would, if it could, execute cruelty toward Christianity. We have the freedom to worship as we desire. The Israelites were being kept from that freedom and treated with cruel punishment when asked if they could go worship their God. Will that ever happen to us in this country? Most likely not. Yet we should praise God that we live in this great land of freedom, while understanding some Christians are being treated with extreme cruelty. Let us enjoy our freedom and live our faith out loud, expressing our worship toward our Lord and Savior. At the same time let us work diligently at our worldly tasks to be that witness for Christ. Let not the world call us lazy while professing we want to worship God. Although most people seem nice, we have to understand if a heart is not bent toward God, it is bent toward evil all the time, it is a cruel heart.