Last month, I highlighted my first 30-Day Devotional “Do You Believe?” as part of celebrating 10 years of For the Journey Literature. I followed that devotional up with “Standing Strong.” I don’t have very many vivid memories from writing it like I do from writing the first one. I originally released it in August of 2020, so COVID was changing the world. (Yuck!) I do remember managing to squeeze in an illustration using one of my all-time favorite figure skaters. That was fun for me. And, one of the devotionals in “Standing Strong” is definitely among the most memorable of all the devotionals I’ve written. It challenged and convicted me so much that it still haunts me in a good way to this day. However, that is not the one I’m sharing in this highlight because I’m pretty sure I’ve shared it before. I went with a different one, which I hope you enjoy reading for the first time or rereading it if you purchased and read “Standing Strong” back in 2020.
Success Will Come
“And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand. And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go.” -Exodus 3:19-20
Exodus 3:16-22
In today’s passage, God gives Moses the task of gathering up the elders of Israel and going before Pharaoh with them to ask Pharaoh’s permission for them to journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord. Then, God tells the already very reluctant Moses that Pharaoh’s going to say no. Yep, He tells Moses his first mission before Pharaoh will fail, adding that Pharaoh will not let the Children of Israel go until after He stretches out His hand and smites Egypt with all His wonders. God promises that then, and only then, will Pharaoh let the Israelites go and that they will even spoil the Egyptians as they leave. Thus, God promises Moses success, but He also promises it won’t be immediate. It won’t come easy.
Though we didn’t read that far into the narrative, if you’re familiar with the story of the Exodus, you know things get much worse for the Children of Israel after Moses’ first interaction with Pharaoh, and you know they don’t like Moses very much because of it. However, Moses continues to seek God and follow His instructions, and eventually, success does come just as God promised it would. Moses and the Children of Israel leave Egypt in victory. But, to get there, Moses had to stand strong even when that was hard, even while watching his people suffer and quite possibly feeling like he caused it.
In life and in ministry, immediate success is nice, but it’s also pretty rare. Most of the time success comes only after hard work and after suffering a few bumps and bruises and going through some rough patches. Therefore, we can’t expect everything to be easy, and we can’t give up after one failed mission. We have to stand strong and keep putting one foot in front of the other even when that’s hard. Just think of all the blessings Moses would have missed if he had run back to his life of keeping his father-in-law’s flock when Pharaoh said no that first time. We’ll miss out on a lot of our own blessings if we’re too quick to give up and quit when it comes to the work God has for us to do. Even when success is slow in coming, stand strong and keep working.
Stand strong even when that’s hard.
For the Journey Literature 