Disillusioned with God

Introduction

I am not a handyman. I can do some things. But I am not a person who has confidence to tackle things that some do. For instance, I do not do plumbing. I can do some plumbing but when someone says to me, that’s an easy project I usually know that means I need to hire a plumber. Many a time I began a project thinking a couple of hours and I will be through only to discover that the hours turn into many hours and my frustration level increases dramatically because I couldn’t do what I thought I could do.

I admire others who have the ability to look at something, envision how to do it, and with expertise accomplish the task. For most of us, we have started something only to discover that it is much more difficult than we thought it would be. In other words, we have all started a task thinking it will not take long and it takes longer than we thought. Or we started a task and discovered that our own expectations about how things were supposed to turnout didn’t happen. But this is true not only of tasks but of relationships. We all have expectations about relationships and when those expectations are not met we become disillusioned.

To be disillusioned means that you thought one thing would happen and it didn’t. Your dream of how things were going to work did not meet reality and as a result there is disappointment even bitterness and anger. When a spouse thinks that the other spouse will be a certain way — the belief that household responsibilities will be shared — but one person ends up doing most of them, disillusionment sets in. When one envisioned a vacation to be fun and restful only to meet reality that it is stressful and demanding, disillusionment sets in.

Disappointment gives way to thoughts like — It shouldn’t be this way. This shouldn’t be so hard. I thought it would be better than this. I’m never going to do this again. Bitterness and anger leads to thoughts of — I am going to give that person a piece of my mind. I don’t like this person and not sure I want to stay. Disney is the fantasy; home is reality.

In our text, we are reminded once again that people since the garden of Eden have had expectations about God and how he is supposed to do things. And from the time of the garden forward, people have been disappointed with God. Moses and the people are disappointed with God in our text. Here is the point of our time together — Disappointment with God is not a sign of a lack of faith. It is a sign that faith is intact and we are seeking for it to deepen.

The Meeting Didn’t Go Well

Moses meets with Pharaoh in 5:1. In a direct but polite way, Moses and Aaron express God’s wishes. His people are to be released from their slavery and are to be allowed to leave the country. None of us really think this is going to work. There is no reason for Pharaoh to agree with this expectation. He has free labor. He is building cities. He is getting wealthy literally off the backs of others. God says let his people go or bad things will happen to you.

Pharaoh is unimpressed but to demonstrate that his power is intact, life gets harder for the Israelites. No straw is brought to them for brick making. Now they have to go find their own straw and they also have to make the same number of bricks. Additionally, the Egyptian slave drivers are going to beat the Israelite foreman for lack of compliance. Life is going to get more difficult. And Israel’s reaction is typical. Life was hard before Moses showed up and now it is harder still. Even a face to face between the Israelite foremen and Pharaoh changes nothing. Life just got harder because God sent Moses.

5:20-23 set the stage for us. The people are mad at Moses and Moses is mad at God. When Moses came and told the people what God was going to do for them, their expectations increased. They thought their deliverance would come quickly. They thought that life was getting ready to get easy. They thought that God being all powerful would now step in and make things right. And he didn’t and now they are mad at him for failing to do what he said he would do. They are disillusioned with God.

Even Moses’ response demonstrates his own unmet expectations. I did what you asked me to do. I spoke with Pharaoh and you didn’t rescue the people. Moses’ disappointment with God is evident. He thought God would begin the rescue process immediately. God didn’t live up to Moses’ expectations.

Do you see a little of yourself in this? Or maybe a lot? From the time of Adam and Eve, human beings have expected God to do something and when it didn’t happen the way human beings thought it would their disappointment with God came through. The temptation to Eve was based upon her false assumption that God was in some way keeping the best away from her. So she wanted to find a better life than she had. Cain thought his sacrifice was sufficient. He thought that God would be okay with a casual approach. His disillusionment resulted in anger against God carried out in murder against his rival. Abraham thought his following God to a new land would make life easier and that the promise would be fulfilled. When it wasn’t done the way he thought it would be done, he had a son outside of God’s will.

People of faith struggle to figure out God. People of faith have expectations of God. The hard part is revising expectations without demanding God conform to them. The hard part of faith is believing the promise even if you cannot see the means that the promise is going to be fulfilled. Moses thought going to talk with Pharaoh would result in a quick turnaround. His expectation met reality and he is disappointed with God.

Us, Too

Turn to Genesis 15:12-16. What was God’s promise to Abraham? The land will belong to your descendants. And in verse 18 of the same text, the promise is fulfilled. “I give this land to your descendants.” It is future but it is reality. By implication, the passage of time is necessary (four hundred years) before this will happen but it will happen. In fact, it is has already happened. It was settled in God’s mind. He was waiting for man’s calendar to catch up.

Even in the interim God told Abraham what was going to happen. 400 years in a country enslaved and mistreated. But then he will punish that country and the people will come out with great wealth. In Exodus 3:18-22, God tells Moses the same thing. What God left out, as if he needed to include it, was that the Egyptians are not going to go down without a fight, but that is implied. Moses and the people ignore the promise and have visions of ease before God does what he needs to do.

Moses and the people thought that the meeting would result in Pharaoh’s agreement to leave. But the signs haven’t happened or maybe Moses thought the signs were just the snake, and hand, and blood. Powerful enough but not powerfully convicting in God’s mind. In Exodus 12:12, God has greater things in mind. He is going to destroy the gods of Egypt.

And this is the lesson. Our expectations are too small. Our expectations are more about us than they are about God. We become disillusioned because we think things ought to go a certain way. This is the human condition. Everyone does this at one time or another. But it is important that we recognize that think too small. God does more than we can ask or imagine. But if we derail that through our disappointment, anger, and bitterness, then we may miss out on all that God wants to do. Moses like all human beings when expectations are not met becomes discouraged and disillusioned. And he accuses God of not doing what he ought to do.

And God already told Moses great signs have to be shown. The people of Egypt will be so favorably predisposed to you that they will give you anything you ask for just for you to leave. And neither of those things have been done but the people’s suffering results in them being willing to give up the fullness of God’s promise to have small expectations met now.

People of faith get disillusioned with God. People of faith struggle to understand what God is doing. People of faith get disappointed even angry with God. But people of faith also know that God can do greater things than we can imagine. People of faith know that learning to trust God doesn’t bring ease but it means we get to grow and develop to be like Jesus more and more. And for people of faith this is what we want more than our ease and comfort. Invitation.

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