Seeing Through Anguish of Spirit

by Autumn Dickson

In our last post, we talked about how Moses turned to the Lord in despair. He had done what the Lord asked and told Pharaoh to free the Israelites. In response, Pharaoh gave them more work. Moses blamed himself and asked the Lord why He had been so cruel to His own people. In chapter 6, we get to read the Lord’s response to Moses.

He comforts Moses with assurances. He tells Moses that it’s not over; Pharaoh will relent, and the Israelites will yet be free.

The Lord then tells Moses to go and share this with the Israelites. Moses does so, and this is how the Israelites respond.

Exodus 6:9 And Moses spake so unto the children of Israel: but they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage.

The Israelites were suffering so much that they had a difficult time believing that Moses would deliver them. There is a lot of depth here.

Let’s cover the first beautiful principle: The Lord saved them anyway. The Lord still kept sending Moses back. He kept sending miracles. He kept reaching out to those in bondage. He kept shining a light on them. Despite their lack of belief (which disbelief continues on even after the miracle of parting the Red Sea), the Lord kept reaching. He kept moving forward in saving them.

There are two parallels here.

Parallel one: The Savior suffered for all of us, not just the people He knew would accept His atonement. He didn’t look at each of us ahead of time and decide to only suffer for the people who were going to accept the saving. He suffered for everyone. Even those who did not or would not believe.

Parallel two: The Lord doesn’t wash His hands of us. Even when we wash our hands of Him (which is rather ironic), He doesn’t throw us over. When He steps back, it’s not due to annoyance or giving up. Stepping back is also one of the ways He reaches for us and tries to get us to see the truth of things.

The Israelites get a pretty bad rap throughout the Old Testament. They turn from the Lord frequently. They get distracted. They get the doctrine wrong and miss the mark.

They were also slaves. Their “cruel bondage” led to “anguish of spirit.” I’m not sure I would have fared much better had I been placed in their shoes. I think that’s partially why the Lord didn’t throw them off with the golden calf incident after showing them an incredible miracle with the Red Sea. The Lord knew what they were facing and what they were truly capable of. As a society, the Israelites didn’t know who they were anymore. They didn’t know the Lord or His goodness. Because of what they had been through, they didn’t have any sense that there was an all-powerful Being who might care for them and care about where they ended up.

They had a long way to go, and it started right here. They couldn’t find it within themselves to hope for deliverance through Moses, and so it started with the Lord sending miracles anyway.

Here is the second beautiful principle.

Their salvation was standing right in front of them even if they couldn’t see it. They were so broken that they couldn’t see their salvatio