Have you ever had someone give you a lot of trouble because you believed in God? Maybe a friend at school makes fun of you because of your belief. Or perhaps a co-worker at your job is always poking fun at your faith. What do you do when it feels like the people around you don’t take God seriously, and give you trouble because you do?
Let’s look at what Moses had to deal with in Exodus 5:2.
Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go.” – Exodus 5:2 (NIV)
Moses asked Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go. And Pharaoh was like, who is God? Why should I obey what He says? Because Pharaoh didn’t believe in God, it made it hard for him to believe what Moses said about God.
The same is true for the people in our lives. Many of them don’t believe in God, or know God, so they have difficulty believing and obeying what He says. So what happened next? Well things actually got a lot worse for the Israelites. Pharaoh made their lives more difficult and gave them harder work to do.
And that happens to us too, doesn’t it? When someone knows we believe in God, they often try to target us. They seem to make more fun of us or give us a rougher time. But here’s the truth, like Moses, we have to trust that the end will turn out okay.
Eventually, the nation of Israel was able to leave slavery in Egypt. And you can expect the same too. Usually, if you give people enough time, and enough grace, they will respect you for your stand of faith. And even if they don’t, know that God sees your stand and will reward you in the end.
So today, take some time to pray for those who give you difficulty for your faith. Know that in the end, you will be rewarded for your stand, and stand firm in the midst of it all.
Pray: God help me to love those that give me trouble for my faith. Help me to stand firm in the midst of it all and be a witness for you! Amen.
