Why does God work so hard to deliver us?

The Exodus of the Israelites was a pretty amazing feat.  First, God had to convince Moses that he was God's spokesman, uniquely suited to the task of delivering His people.  Moses was an Israelite by birth, a man educated by the royalty of Egypt, and a man who knew the land, because he had fled Egypt after murdering the Egyptian taskmaster.

Next, God had to convince Pharoah, the oppressor, to release the nation of Israel, who had over time become the slaves of the Egyptian nation.  God actually hardened Pharoah's heart, so that the superiority of Israel's God over the gods of the Egyptians could be shown and documented for posterity.  Smarter men than me would have to show the correlation of all ten plagues to gods of Egypt, but I do know that the plague on livestock attacked the sacred cows of the Egyptians. (Remember later when Aaron made a golden calf? This was something he had learned in Egypt, as the Egyptians had a god in the shape of a bull.)  The plague of darkness was an attack on Ra, the Egyptian sun god.  The plague of the death of the firstborn attacked the practice of human sacrifice.  So by the time the Israelites were ready to leave, the people of Egypt were glad to see them go--so glad, in fact, that they gave them gifts of gold to take with them.

Finally, God had to convince the Israelites that leaving Egypt was the best thing to do.  The first time that Moses stood before Israel and told them that God wanted them to leave, they all gave a collective shrug.  Ex 6:9 says "Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and cruel bondage."  The bondage that they had grown accustomed to actually became worse after Moses started negotiating with Pharoah.  Some blamed Moses for the extra work--making the same quota of bricks, but without the Egyptians supplying the straw, as they had done before.  But God knew that things had to get worse before His people would move.

So why would God's people refuse to leave without God's prompting?  Why do we fear following God when He asks us to change.  I think there are three reasons:

First, there is the Confidence of the Oppressors.  Pharoah led an army of trained fighters, armed with chariots and swords.  The Israelites had nothing, not even sticks or stones.  How often to we feel helpless in the face of adversity?  If we listen to our fear, God will never be able to deliver us.  But wouldn't He who would deliver us also provide us with a way of escape?  This is what He did for Israel against Pharoah, and it is what He can do for us.

Second, there is the Complacency of the Oppressed.  Somehow, in the space of two generations, Israel had gone from honored guest of Pharoah to a slave nation.  I am sure this happened a little at a time, not all at once.  Otherwise the people would have revolted.  It is like the example of boiling a frog: if you put a live frog in a pot of boiling water, he will immediately jump out; but if you put him in lukewarm water, and gradually increase the temperature, the frog will cook without knowing he is dinner.  Remember later in the story of Moses, when food or water was scarce, the people muttered against Moses and Aaron, saying "didn't we have leeks and onions to eat, and plenty, in Egypt? Why, then, did we leave there?"  But God wanted to give them something better than job security in a foreign land.  He wanted to give them their own homeland, their own land of promise.  I think He wants to do the same for us.

Finally, there is the Coordination of the Observable.  By the time Moses came along, no man alive could see any way possible for him to lead his people out.  Not Moses, not Aaron, not the priests--nobody.  How often do we get discouraged because we can't see any possible way to affect a change?  Thank God nothing is impossible for Him.  In the movie Apollo 13, the character played by Tom Hanks was encouraging a fellow astronaught, who had become despondent.  "What if we have an engine failure? What if we don't make it home?"  Tom Hanks took the other actor by the collar and shook him.  He said, "Like a thousand things have to happen, in order, for us not to make it home.  What you're talking about is number 857." That was a situation in which everyone had a vision, and they had planned out the details to the nth degree.  In Exodus, only God had the vision, and only He knew His plan.  God made it worse before it got better--He hardened Pharoah's heart, he gave the slave nation of Israel more work with less resources, and Moses himself doubted God, even after meeting with Him repeatedly face to face. 

God knows how to work things out for the good of those who love Him.  Somebody once said "without a vision, the people perish."  But the story of Moses is that God can work His will in our lives even when we don't see His vision.

God, please help me seek Your face.  And when I can't see Your face, let me catch Your vision.  And when I can't even envision Your plan, please let me trust Your heart.