The hand of Pharaoh gripped tight around Israel. An iron fist. But after ten plagues, God delivered Israel from slavery out of Pharaoh’s hand (Exodus 3-12). One wonders, though, why didn’t God send the last plague first? It was the worst or the biggest. Things would have moved much quicker. It would have been more efficient to do in one step what otherwise seems to have taken ten.

And so we also wonder why God doesn’t do more of the big things in our lives right now, to make an immediate impact and difference. Why does He delay to answer my prayers? Why take a lifetime to change my circumstances when “all things are possible” today?

We know that God’s ways are higher than ours. That His thoughts are not our thoughts. That one day is a thousand years and a thousand years is as one day with Him. We know it. But in the day to day living of life, we still wonder. We still ask. But we must consider:

Do I already know the final outcome?

Israel knows God has promised deliverance. But the outcome is not always the most important part nor the quickest. The process is also important. God has a plan. But how He works that plan out is as much for Israel’s good as the exodus itself will be. 

The truth and reality is that we don’t always know the final outcome, the end goal or purpose, that God has in mind. So we don’t and we can’t always know what He’s doing when we obey Him. We can’t see the bigger picture. Not only is His plan often hidden, but so also are the results of our obedience. The will of God is broken down into bite sized opportunities of obedience, and in those moments all we know is that He’s asking us to trust in Him.

When my wife and I were newly married, we thought we knew what we were doing and were ready to buy the first car we liked from the first dealership we visited. Thank God we didn’t buy that car. How many times in looking back are we thankful to God that we didn’t make a particular decision, though at the time it seemed like the best decision.

Is my heart ready to trust in God?

Israel didn’t believe all at once. It was one plague, one sign, at a time that brought Israel to a full belief and trust in God. It was by those same signs, one at a time, that Pharaoh came to harden His heart against God.

We drift short distances over long periods of time, not long distances over short periods of time. Likewise, we obey short distances over long periods of time, not long distances over short periods of time. Why? Because the work of God in our hearts takes longer than it does to work a miracle.

God’s power wasn’t enough to convince Moses that he was God’s chosen deliverer (Exodus 3-4). God performed signs and wonders for him and, still, Moses asked God to send someone else. There is something in each of our hearts that raw power cannot overcome. For Moses as for most of us, the “gold” of relationship is found in the face to face struggle and wrestling with God on a daily basis.