Exodus 5: 1-21 ESV

1Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.’”2But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.”3Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.”4But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people away from their work? Get back to your burdens.”5And Pharaoh said, “Behold, the people of the land are now many,^a and you make them rest from their burdens!”6The same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen,7“You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as in the past; let them go and gather straw for themselves.8But the number of bricks that they made in the past you shall impose on them, you shall by no means reduce it, for they are idle. Therefore they cry, ‘Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.’9Let heavier work be laid on the men that they may labor at it and pay no regard to lying words.”

10So the taskmasters and the foremen of the people went out and said to the people, “Thus says Pharaoh, ‘I will not give you straw.11Go and get your straw yourselves wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced in the least.’”12So the people were scattered throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw.13The taskmasters were urgent, saying, “Complete your work, your daily task each day, as when there was straw.”14And the foremen of the people of Israel, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten and were asked, “Why have you not done all your task of making bricks today and yesterday, as in the past?”

15Then the foremen of the people of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, “Why do you treat your servants like this?16No straw is given to your servants, yet they say to us, ‘Make bricks!’ And behold, your servants are beaten; but the fault is in your own people.”17But he said, “You are idle, you are idle; that is why you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’18Go now and work. No straw will be given you, but you must still deliver the same number of bricks.”19The foremen of the people of Israel saw that they were in trouble when they said, “You shall by no means reduce your number of bricks, your daily task each day.”20They met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting for them, as they came out from Pharaoh;21and they said to them, “The Lord look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.”

Although this is a rather large passage of scripture to read for a blog, I thought it was very important to include it. Unbelievers do not acknowledge God, so they will not acknowledge your motivations are different than theirs. The passage above reveals this. They will not accept the fact that you belong to someone else and that His claims on you supercede theirs. Pharoah illustrated this perfectly. He believed that he was justified in all of the actions he took toward God’s people as he sought to build his kingdom and make it stand out among the nations. The people of God were at the time actively building his kingdom. The majority of his dreams and aspirations were tied to them and letting go of them would mean the death of those hopes. The people of God, though enslaved, had learned to please this tyrant and do his bidding. His dependency on them fueled his tyranny and their dependency created entrenched idolatry. Pharoah’s whip was the ultimate source of authority, structure, and consequence in their lives.

These children will abacojet.com generic viagra generic use wheelchairs to move around. As men get older, the possibility that india online viagra a man will experience some type of erectile dysfunction are: Diabetes Cardiovascular disease Cancer Damage from surgery Stress Anxiety Drug use Smoking Alcoholism Kamagra is an effective treatment for men with erectile dysfunction. Generally the symptoms look like that of a lawful permanent resident independent of the abusive spouse or parent through whom such status would have been sought. canadian pharmacy viagra Men suffering from impotence fail to make it even better cialis without prescription and to test the product myself. The Pharoah of scripture is the perfect symbol for many of the authorities we see today. Unlike the pharoahs of the past that were born into power, many of these types are experts in deceit, charismatic figures who delude people into giving up their resources, time, and aspirations to serve some greater purpose tied to them. The purpose is always transactional in some way with the follower giving up more and more. It’s a type of vampirsm that seems justifiable because the deluded person believes they will get more in the end. Sadly this never happens and when one figures out what took place, they are now a shell of their former selves. This is the nature of arbitrary dependency.

You see primitive relationships are always based on fear and arbitrariness. It does not matter if it’s a boss, husband, pastor, political leader, or mentor. When you find yourself lacking reciprocity in a relationship, or constantly reacting to someone else and living in amprehension — that person was not sent by God, or you are reacting to them in an ungodly way. The pharoah’s in our lives have many whips and many threats. However, they can only be a pharoah if we let them and we acknowledge their authority. Many saints are in constant state of trepidation when it comes to the authorities in their lives. They are waiting to hear of the outcome of an election or fretting over the decision a boss, false teachers, or a spouse will make. Like an abused woman anxiously thinking about what mood her husband will be in when he comes through the door, so too do many of God’s people wait to see what will happen to them next. Our obedience determines our future, not someone else other than God.

For too long we have allowed fear of repercussions — the whip of those we have allowed to have authority in our lives — to keep us from engaging in the good fight of faith. May God speedily forgive our fear and give us a boldness that comes only from a deeper relationship with Him. It’s time to say no to the pharoahs in your life and yes to the purposes of God.