Getting used to the Daily Grind

     Back when my wife and I were first married, Dunkin' Doughnuts had an advertisement that showed one of their employees getting up in the early hours of the morning--every morning.  He would be half asleep, but he would repeat, "Time to make the doughnuts," every time.  It was very humorous and got my wife and I to repeat that slogan as we would wander out of bed to start our day.  It was those morning blahs of a daily grind that we were referring to when we said, "time to make the doughnuts."  But haven't you ever felt like you are stuck in a rut?  Maybe it's your job or your relationships or you church or your life that have you feeling like you are caught in routine.  Possibly it is something that really has you enslaved that you really don't want anyone knowing about.

Don't get used to slavery!

     The Israelites had this problem.  They had grown accustomed to being slaves in Egypt.  Joseph had saved them and the known world from extinction by his prudent management of resources for Pharaoh.  But as time moved on, Joseph grew old and passed away and so did the Pharaoh he served.  A new Pharaoh who didn't know Joseph came to power and things got rough for the Israelites.  The Egyptians put the Hebrews into slavery and made them work.  That's when Moses came on the scene.  He would be the leader God would use to deliver the nation of Israel from Egypt. 

     The very first meeting  Moses had with Pharaoh didn't go well.  Moses told Pharaoh that God wanted him to let the Israelites go, but Pharaoh had other plans.  In fact, Pharaoh spoke to the slave drivers and told them to make life harder on the Israelites.  He commanded them to make the Israelites get their own straw to make the bricks instead of it being supplied to them.  They would have to make the same amount of bricks in the same amount of time but get their own supplies to do this.

     You can imagine the reaction of the Hebrews to this news.  As soon as they heard the news, they found Moses and said, "May the Lord look on you and judge you!  You have made us obnoxious to Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword in their hand to kill us" (Exodus 5:21).  They went right to God's man and complained about disturbing their system of life.  They didn't like that now everything would be different.  It was not what they were used to in their day-to-day routines, as if being a slave in Egypt could get worse.

     What is most disturbing about their reaction is that we often react in similar ways.  There are three things that I noticed about the Children of Israel's reaction to this change in their lives.  

     First, the Israelites were more concerned with offending their task masters and Pharaoh than they were concerned with offending God.  These Egyptian slave drivers were not nice to the Israelites.  The whole culture of Egypt under this Pharaoh was anti-Hebrew.  Pharaoh was making the Israelites toss their male babies into the Nile River as a way of reducing their population.  It was no big deal for Egyptians to beat a Hebrew to death on the work site.  These were the people that the Israelites didn't want to offend.  Thus you find a group of angry slaves shaking their fists at God's man, Moses.

     Second, the Israelites were more fearful of Pharaoh's punishment than God's reputation.  I have to believe that the Jewish people has lost a connection with the spiritual side of life.  They were more interested in what their present situation was than what God could do for them if they would just go all in with Him.  We often talk about the message that God was sending to Pharaoh and the Egyptians through the ten plagues, but God was probably letting the nation of Israel know that He has way more power than any ruler on Earth.

     Third, the Israelites were so accustomed to their slavery that they didn't want their lives disrupted by approaching freedom.  Leaving the routine, that was unheard of.  Don't rock the boat.  In fact, this mentality was so ingrained in their thinking that while they are wandering around in the desert awaiting the Promised Land life, they would complain and ask to go back to the slave pits of Egypt.  But didn't they see God's power in the plagues and the crossing of the Red Sea?  Sure they did, but the life of slavery was hard to shake.

     So, how can we break from from a life that has us enslaved?  The only hope of breaking through, breaking away or becoming free is following God's lead.  The Israelites eventually get their freedom from Egypt as the follow God's lead and leader (Moses).  When they had issues in their wilderness wanderings, it was simply because they didn't follow God's lead.  James gave us the good advice when he wrote, "Humbles yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up" (James 4:10).  Instead of being a slave to sin, our natures, this corrupt world system, or even Satan, bow before the King of Kings and become a servant of God.  He and only he can set us free.  Don't get used to slavery!