You have brought us into bad odor with Pharaoh.
The Israelites are slaves under Pharaoh. They’re multiplying, despite Pharaoh’s best attempts to cull the herd. Now, they want to be set free so they can worship God. Pharaoh feels that they’re lazy and just trying to get out of work. Besides, they have the audacity to worship a God other than Pharaoh himself. So Pharaoh makes their work intentionally harder by refusing to give them the supplies needed to make the bricks. Instead, they have to gather the straw and then make the bricks – but no adjustment has been made to their quota. So they fail to meet their goals. They’ve appealed to Pharaoh to make this right, and he’s refused. On their return, they encounter Moses and Aaron and blame them for their mistreatment.
The reflection for the day revolves around God initiated setbacks, and how I respond. I think the biggest problem for me is that sometimes it seems like God isn’t involved in the setbacks, which, if I truly believe God is omni-present, is dumb. But did God really give me a flat tire when I needed to be somewhere? Did God really subject my loved one to a persistent significant mental illness?
If God is everywhere and can do everything, what is God’s hand in the setbacks? Sometimes, I genuinely believe the setbacks are from God. We were headed down a bad path, or had yet to learn some lesson, and God – yet again – has to create a roadblock in hopes that we turn back. And I guess I think that there are some setbacks that are of human origin, or nature. God created a world full of natural laws like gravity, and pathogens, like the coronavirus. God didn’t create coronavirus, but rather the world and systems within which its origin was possible. God didn’t create schizophrenia, but created humanity with free will, and brains that are an incredibly complex machine, that sometimes break.
I try to deal with these setbacks as if God’s present as I’m facing them. Maybe I can’t pray my way to my loved one’s health. Maybe I can’t pray for the perfect parking spot, or an unanticipated financial windfall. But as I’m dealing with the bad parking spot, the illness, and the resources I have, God is present. As I’m dealing with the world as were heading into the second Lenten season with covid, God is with me, and with those around me.
I can’t say I’m gleeful for roadblocks, or that I thank God for the setbacks. But I do try to remember that as of today, I’ve lived through them all, with God’s help. Nothing has been insurmountable, and that I believe is due to God’s presence.
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