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When Things Don’t Go As Planned

Sunday, March 21, 2021
Pastor Jojo Ma

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Exodus 5:21-6:5

22 Then Moses turned to the LORD and said, "O Lord, why have You done evil to this people? Why did You ever send me? 23 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." 1 But the LORD said to Moses, "Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for with a strong hand he will send them out, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land." 2 God spoke to Moses and said to him, "I am the LORD. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name the LORD I did not make myself known to them. 4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. 5 Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered My covenant."

Can you think of a time when you did the right thing but it didn’t work out the way you wanted? Or maybe you did the right thing but you ended up getting punished or hurt for doing it? I think we all have stories like this. Sometimes life doesn’t go as we had hoped or had planned.

Moses would soon find out that obeying God doesn’t automatically translate to obvious blessings and great circumstances.

Narratives like this in Scripture cause us to wonder: Is it worth being a Christian? Is it worth following the Lord? Is it worth doing good when only bad things seem to come out of it?

I.          The complaints of Moses [vv22-23]
II.        The honesty of Moses [v22a]
III.       The sovereignty of God [v1]
IV.       The faithfulness of God [vv2-5] 

I.         The complaints of Moses [vv22-23]
22 Then Moses turned to the LORD and said, "O Lord, why have You done evil to this people? Why did You ever send me? 23 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."

The blame-game is as old as time itself, going back to our first parents, Adam and Eve.

II.        The honesty of Moses [v22a]
22 Then Moses turned to the LORD…

He took his heart, his pains, his struggles, his troubles, he took them all straight to the Lord. He “turned to” the Lord. Church, is this true of you in your time of trouble? When you are hurt, angry, frustrated, do you turn to the Lord? Do you have this same impulse?

This is the key in our struggles and trials: We must learn to go to God. We have to be careful to not be angry at God, but we should quickly turn to Him and be honest with Him and humbly share our hurts and griefs with our Father in heaven.

III.      The sovereignty of God [v1]
1 But the LORD said to Moses, "Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for with a strong hand he will send them out, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land."

For Moses, everything was in chaos. For God, He was still in control. What comes apart from His command? Everything was going according to plan.

The Westminster Confession of Faith [3.1]: “God from all eternity did, by the most wise (Rom. 11:33) and holy counsel of His own will, freely (Rom. 9:15, 18), and unchangeably (Heb. 6:17) ordain whatsoever comes to pass (Eph. 1:11).”

God allows troubles in our lives to continue for the express purpose of showing that He alone can deliver us.

When trials come, wait on the Lord. He hears your cries, He is working in your pains, He will not forsake you.

IV.       The faithfulness of God [vv2-5]
2 God spoke to Moses and said to him, "I am the LORD. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name the LORD I did not make myself known to them. 4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. 5 Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered My covenant."

Heb 13:20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant.

That is the great pattern and rhythm of the Christian life. What the exodus was a shadow of, we in the new covenant experience the substance of --- week after week, gathering as God’s people, until Jesus comes or until we go --- this great and gracious gospel of our salvation.