From His Heart

Speaker 1

Lord, why me? Do you ever ask God that question? Here's Pastor Jeff Shreve.

Speaker 2

Well, all of us know that in the Christian life we can run into situations where, man, we have made a commitment to the Lord and we're all in and we're obeying him.

And the bottom seems to drop out and we say, I don't understand this God. I'm all in. And now all these things are coming up and my life is more chaotic than ever.

Hey, what do you do when the work doesn't seem to be working?

Speaker 1

In the Christian life, we can run into situations where we are committed and we're obeying God, and everything seems to fall apart. The bad situation gets so much worse, and we don't understand why. When the work doesn't seem to be working, what do you do?

This is From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve. Thank you for joining us today as he shares some important truths to remember when we're being faithful to serve Him. And yet, what we do seems futile. The message today is from Pastor Jeff's eight-message series, Faithful and A Study of the Book of Exodus. That's a book that is all about rescue.

Today, we'll learn that Jesus has a rescue plan for you that works every time in His perfect timing. Be sure to check out the series when you go to fromhisheart.org if you miss any of the broadcasts. Right now, open your Bible to the fifth chapter of the Book of Exodus as Pastor Jeff begins explaining what the Bible says about what we should do when the work doesn't seem to be working.

Speaker 2

Well, all of us know that in the Christian life we can run into situations where, man, we have made a commitment to the Lord and we're all in. And Lord, I'm going to follow you and I'm going to get baptized and I'm going to give and I'm going to do what you say. And we are all in and we're obeying him, and the bottom seems to drop out. We say, I don't understand this, God. I'm all in. And now it seems like all hell has come up against me and everything is going wrong. I told you that I was going to start honoring you with my wealth, and then I lost my job. I told you as a man that I was going to start taking the leadership in my home, in my marriage, and my family. And now my wife and I are having more marital problems than ever. I told you that I was going to seek help with the wounds from the past, and I've gone to a counselor. And now all these things that I had locked down in a closet in my heart, now all these things are coming up, and my life is more chaotic than ever.

Hey, what do you do when the work doesn't seem to be working? This series is called Faithful and introducing the one and only God. It's kind of built on the question that Pharaoh said to Moses, who is the Lord? Who is Yahweh? That I should obey his voice. I do not know the Lord. And so God introduces himself in the book of Exodus to the Egyptians and to the Hebrews, to the children of Israel. And they are going to know who he is. God's people have been enslaved for 400 plus years. And then God calls Moses at the burning bush, Exodus, chapter three, and says, Moses, I've heard the cries of my people. I've seen their cruel bondage. I'm going to deliver them. And Moses is like, that's awesome. And then he says, and I'm going to use you. So you go, and I will use you to deliver my people. And he's like, God, I like it when you do it, but I don't want to be a part of that. I would just like you to just do it. And God says, no, I'll do it through you.

Moses comes up with five objections. The first one is, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh? And God says, what difference does that make? What does it matter who you are? It doesn't matter who you are. It matters who I am. And then Moses asks the second question. Well, who are you? I go to the sons of Israel, and they say, who sent you? What is his name, this God that sent you to us? And then God gives the name, the great name, the great and terrible name, the unutterable name, the name Yahweh. I am who I am. You tell the sons of Israel I am has sent you to them.

And so Moses said, well, Lord, what if they don't believe me? And then God gives them signs. He said, hey, what's that in your hand? He says, my staff. He said, throw it down. He throws it down and it becomes a serpent. He says, now pick it back up again by the tail. Which you don't do that if you've ever handled snakes. But Moses does, with fear and trepidation, picks it up by the tail, and all of a sudden it becomes a staff again. He says, Moses, take your hand and put it in your breast. And Moses does. And he pulls it out, and it's white, leprous, white like snow. And he says, now put it back in. And he puts it back in, and it's restored to health. And he said, you show them those signs, and they'll believe in you.

And Moses said, yeah, but God, I'm not a good speaker. I've never been eloquent. I don't know how to do this. And God says, Moses, who made man's mouth? I did. And I'll be with your mouth. I'll show you what to say. And then Moses, objection number five, just says, I can't do it, Lord, send someone else. And the anger of the Lord burns against Moses. And God says to him, is not your older brother Aaron? He can help you. He can speak. I know he can speak. And so we'll get him involved. And so Aaron becomes involved, and Moses relents. Moses goes to Aaron, and then he goes to the people. He shows them the signs, and the Bible says in Exodus chapter four, so the people believed when they heard that the Lord was concerned about the sons of Israel and that he had seen their affliction. Then they bowed low and worshipped.

So everything is set, and he goes in chapter 5 to Pharaoh, Exodus 5:1. And afterward, Moses and Aaron came and said to Pharaoh, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, let my people go, that they may celebrate a feast to me in the wilderness. But Pharaoh said, who is the Lord that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord. And besides, I will not let Israel go. Now remember, Lord, all in caps. That's Yahweh. That's the four letters, the Tetragrammaton: Y H W H, YOD hey VAV hey in the Hebrew. I do not know this Yahweh. Besides, I will not let Israel go.

Then they said, the God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three days' journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with sword. But the king of Egypt said to them, Moses and Aaron, why do you draw the people away from their work? Get back to your labors again. Pharaoh said, look, the people of the land are now many, and you would have them cease from their labors. So the same day, Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters, these were Egyptians over the people, and their foremen, the foremen were Jews, saying, you are no longer to give the people straw to make brick as previously. Let them go and gather straw for themselves. But the quota of bricks which they were making previously, you shall impose on them. You are not to reduce any of it because they are lazy. Therefore they cry out, let us go and sacrifice to our God. Let the labor be heavier on the men, and let them work at it, that they may pay no attention to false words. False words. Those are the words from God.

Verse 12. So the people scattered throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. And the taskmasters pressed them, saying, complete your work, quota your daily amount, just as when you had straw. Moreover, the foremen of the sons of Israel, whom Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them, were beaten and were asked, why have you not completed your required amount either yesterday or today in making brick as previously? Then the foremen of the sons of Israel came and cried out to the Lord. No. They cried out to Pharaoh, saying, why do you deal this way with your servants? There is no straw given to your servants, yet you keep saying to us, make bricks. And behold, your servants are being beaten. But it is the fault of your own people. But he, Pharaoh, said, you are lazy, very lazy. Therefore you say, let us go and sacrifice to the Lord. So go now and work, for you shall be given no straw, yet you must deliver the quota of bricks.

And the foremen of the sons of Israel saw that they were in trouble, serious trouble, a world of hurt. They were in distress and misery and harm and calamity. That's what that word means, because they were told, you must not reduce your daily amount of bricks. When they left Pharaoh's presence, they met Moses and Aaron as they were waiting for them. And they said to them, may the Lord look upon you and judge you, for you have made us odious in Pharaoh's sight. We stink in Pharaoh's sight. We're an abomination to him. And in the sight of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us.

Then Moses returned to the Lord, returned to Yahweh, and said, O Lord, O Adonai, why have you brought harm to this people? Why did you ever send me? Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done harm to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all. Hey, when the work doesn't seem to be working, what do you do? And what do I do? And what do we do?

Three discoveries from this text. Number one. We go to the Lord in prayer when the work doesn't seem to be working. When you say, hey, I'm obeying God and everything is falling apart, and the situation you were in, which was bad, now is so much worse, and you don't understand, what do you do? You go to the Lord. The children of Israel, they went to Pharaoh and cried out. But Moses went to the Lord to cry out. And it says that he returned to the Lord. Verse 22. And said he returned to the Lord. The practice of Moses' life. As you study his life, you'll find out that Moses was a man of prayer. And Moses, when difficulties came his way, he would turn to the Lord. He would fall on his face.

So much of the time in the Book of Numbers, especially when he was trying to lead the people, because they were difficult to lead. And they would come against him. Would that we had died in Egypt. Were there no graves in Egypt? Moses said, you take us out into the wilderness to kill us. They always blame Moses. They would grumble, they'd gripe and complain. And Moses would respond by praying. He would cry out to the Lord. He'd fall on his face before the Lord. And so Moses goes to the Lord in prayer. And he goes to the Lord with a broken heart and with questions. That's what you and I can do. We can go to him with our broken heart and our questions.

Look at it again. Then Moses returned to the Lord, returned to Yahweh and said, O Lord. O Adonai. Adonai's sovereign master. Why have you brought harm to this people? Why have you brought such evil and such distress to this people? Why did you ever send me? Two why questions. You know, that is normal, natural. When bad things happen to us. When the bottom drops out, especially here we are trying to live for the Lord and the bottom drops out. We don't understand why. I was talking to a couple just this week, and they had a tragedy come into their lives. And they said, we don't understand why. Why? And you know, when tragedy strikes and you lose a child, you're probably not going to understand why. Why is a normal, natural question.

Job, who lost 10 children just like that in Job chapter one, he lost all his children and all his wealth in one day. When he heard the news, he shaved his head and he worshiped. And he said, naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I shall return there. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Man, such tremendous faith to do that. And then in chapter two, when he lost his health, and he's sitting in the ashes, scraping himself with a piece of broken pottery, and his wife says to him, Job, just curse God and die. And he said, you speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we not accept good from God and adversity? And with all this, Job didn't sin with his mouth. But then you read in chapter three, and what does he do? He asks God, why. Five whys in Job, chapter three. Why is a normal question.

But why is a question that God rarely ever answers. You know what God's answer is to the question why? Almost always it comes back when we ask why. God's answer is, my child, just trust me. Just trust me. Those two words, trust me, trust me. You don't need to know why. Why is on a need-to-know basis. And you don't need to know it. You just need to trust me. You don't need to know why. You just need to know who, and who is me, and you can trust. So we go to the Lord with our broken heart and our questions. Psalm 62, verse 8. Trust in him at all times, O people. Pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us. And we get completely honest with the Lord. We don't tell him what we think he wants to hear. We tell him what's really going on.

So you tell him what's really in your heart. Trust in him at all times, O people. Pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge. He's a safe place for us. And what does Moses do in verse 23? Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done harm, evil to this people. And you have not delivered your people at all. Can you imagine saying that to God in prayer? You have not done what you said you were going to do, God. You have not delivered your people at all. You have not rescued them at all. I mean, God, where is this mighty hand that you told me about? Because I don't see it. You're not doing what you said you were going to do. You ever been there? I've been there before.

Jeremiah got there. Jeremiah 20, verse 7. He said, Lord, you have deceived me, and I was deceived. When you called me into the ministry, Lord, I thought it was going to be this way, and it's this other way. And I don't like this other way. And people don't like to hear me preach. And every time I get up to open my mouth and preach about violence and destruction, and I don't want to preach that anymore. Nobody buys that CD. Nobody likes that sermon. Lord, you've deceived me, and I was deceived. And then Jeremiah says, when I say that I'm not going to preach that anymore, then your word becomes in my bones like a fire, and I have to let it out. And when I let it out, I begin to shout again about destruction that is coming. Jeremiah was honest with the Lord. Moses was honest with the Lord. Are you honest with the Lord when you're hurting?

You know, honesty is so critical because when you're honest, then you get vulnerable. And you're just saying, Lord, this is really what's going on inside here. And when you're vulnerable, then you can get intimate with the Lord because you'll never get intimate with the Lord until you get honest and vulnerable before the Lord. Lord, I'm just. I'm before you. I'm just laid out before you. Naked, so to speak, before you. God have mercy on me. This is what's going on inside. So we go to the Lord in prayer, and we lay our needs and our questions and our complaints. We put all of that on the altar.

Second discovery. We remind ourselves that God has a wonderful plan. God has a wonderful plan. Chapter 6, verse 1. Then the Lord, Yahweh said to Moses, now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh. For under compulsion, he shall let them go, and under compulsion, he shall drive them out of his land. God doesn't answer his why questions. God just says, now you're going to see it. Now it is coming. You're going to see what I'm going to do with Pharaoh. Now, here's the thing. God had told Moses at the burning bush this was what he was gonna do. And he had told him at the burning bush that Pharaoh's not gonna go along with this.

See, Pharaoh thinks he is a God. He thinks all the Pharaohs thought they were the son of Ra, the sun God. And the Pharaoh was a god among the people. This is the most powerful man in the world at that time because Egypt is the most powerful nation. And it is well within Yahweh's power to just go after Pharaoh and just say, thus says the Lord, let my people go. And if you don't, you're toast. And boom, right then he could have been toast. He could have just incinerated him. He could have just been sitting on his throne and just been a pile of ashes right then, right there. But that's not the way God did it. And Moses probably thought, that's a great plan, Lord. Let's do that plan. I mean, that's what we want, right? It's just like. Yeah, just like that. Just do it.

God doesn't do it like that. And God sets the stage for his glory to be displayed. So look at chapter five, verses one and two again. And afterward, Moses and Aaron came and said to Pharaoh, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, let my people go, that they may celebrate a feast to me in the wilderness. Now he's not saying let my people go forever, just that they can celebrate a feast in the wilderness just so that they can go three days away and sacrifice to the Lord our God. But Pharaoh said, who is the Lord? That I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord. And besides, I will not let Israel go.

Who is. I've never heard of this Yahweh. We have lots of gods here in Egypt, but I've never heard of this Yahweh. Who is the Lord that I, Pharaoh, the son of Ra, the sun God, that I should listen to his voice? He is the God of the Hebrews. Well, let me tell you something. I enslave all the Hebrews. So the God of the Hebrews is subservient to me because I'm over all the Hebrews. And the arrogance and the pride just dripping off of his statement is just amazing, just mind-boggling. And then what does Pharaoh do? Pharaoh says, hey, I'm gonna show you something. I'm gonna show you who's in charge here. I'm gonna make it tougher on the slaves. I'm taking away the straw. They're not going to be given straw anymore. And it's going to be hard. I'm going to keep the quota where it needs to be. An ancient record said the quota was 2,000 bricks a day.

So Pharaoh turned up the heat on God's people. And God, he, this is all in the master plan of God. He's setting the stage to showcase his glory.

Speaker 1

Well, you're listening to From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve. And today's message is titled "When the Work Doesn't Seem to Be Working." We've heard part one of this message today. Do you feel like a slave to the problems you face all the time? And God seems to be just turning up the heat to see what will break. The reality is, as Pastor Jeff has just said, he's setting the stage to display his own glory.

This lesson is one of eight in the series "Faithful and True: Introducing the One and Only God." We are in this series this month, and we want you to hear what the book of Exodus has to say about how God rescues His people, delivering them from slavery in Egypt for centuries. In this great and miraculous deliverance, God reveals Himself as faithful and true, the one and only true God.

God has surely been faithful from His heart over the last 20 years of sharing the good news on radio and television. He has used Pastor Jeff to help penetrate the hearts of countless people to the point that they wanted to share that blessing with others who will hear these broadcasts each day. They realize that when they support this ministry, it's an extension of their ministry to the world when they help us financially so we can produce and distribute these messages around your hometown and around the world.

If From His Heart has been a blessing to you, would you consider coming alongside us with a financial gift? Pastor Jeff is a volunteer for this ministry and receives no income from it. For your gift today, we'd like to send you this month's eight-message series "Faithful and True: Introducing the One and Only God."

Call 866-40-BIBLE (866-40-BIBLE) or go online to fromhisheart.org to make that gift and request it on a USB flash drive, digital downloads, CDs, or DVDs—your choice. God bless you for wanting to help others grow in their walk with the Lord.

Time's gone for today's broadcast. I'm Larry Nobles. Thank you for being here, and we trust that you'll be here tomorrow for part two of this practical and encouraging lesson called "When the Work Doesn't Seem to Be Working." That's on Thursday when we'll open up God's Word and share real truth, real love, and real hope from His heart.

Speaker 2

There is treasure, there is love, there is hope that you always dream of. He can heal every scars.

Speaker 1

From his heart. Is the listener supported Broadcast Ministry of Dr. Jeff Shreve speaking the truth in love to a lost and a hurting world. Remember, no matter what, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Find out more@fromisheart.org.