Exodus 5:9 “Let there more work be laid upon the men, that they may labour therein; and let them not regard vain words.”

This verse is quoted from a larger sentence that a guy called Pharaoh is saying.

He’s in the middle of telling his officers to make Egypt’s Jewish slaves work harder, so that their lives are so occupied with their work that they won’t have time to think about what Moses has come to tell them… that God has sent word to deliver them!

… The greater context is that in the book of Exodus, the second book of the Bible, we are introduced to Israel, the Jews, in slavery in Egypt. They had it bad, and for a long time.

And we are also introduced to Moses, a Hebrew boy, who is saved from the slaughter of Jewish boys in Egypt when his parents put him in an ark floating it on the Nile river hoping for a miracle… and it just so happens that Pharaoh’s daughter finds the baby in the basket by the river bank and decides to raise Moses as her own child.

But after growing up as an Egyptian, Moses has never lost his identity, and at forty years old he tries delivering Israel from slavery his way, but he spectacularly fails and ends up fleeing to a far country…

… Where he is a nobody, and he lives as a shepherd keeping sheep for his father in law in the land of Midian.

But after forty years of that… God calls Moses out of a burning bush and sends him back to Egypt, this time in the power of God’s word rather than his own power, to deliver Israel out of slavery in Egypt.

And it’s quite a scene, because Moses doesn’t return to Egypt with a name or an army, just him and his bro, and they go into Pharaoh, king of the known world, and they tell him God has said to let his people go.

Pretty brave, Moses is trusting in what God has said.

When they speak to Pharaoh, Pharaoh says, who said? They say, God said. And that’s all life is like as a Christian, just tell people what God’s word says, and most have a reaction like Pharaoh “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go?”

Anyway the verse above is taken from this opening dialogue between Moses and Pharaoh, because when Moses tells Pharaoh to let Israel go… the Israelites in slavery have heard about it and are getting a little bit excited about the prospect of a life free from slavery to serve their God…

Which is upsetting to Pharaoh. He’s getting good value out of his slaves, they’re building treasure cities for him. They’re his workforce, free labour, the backbone of their economy. Pharaoh has no plans to free his slaves.

And the seed of the word of God is dangerous to Pharaoh. Because once Israel hears about a life beyond slavery, their output is going to diminish and it’s going to cost Pharaoh and Egypt. So Pharaoh has a solution.

… Pharaoh orders the slave masters to increase the burdens of the slaves even more. He is going to occupy their life so much they won’t even have time to think about leaving and a better life out there free from Egypt and his control.

… And all this is the same way it is with Satan, this world and sin today.

We are all born in slavery to sin, and Jesus has come to set us free from sin and break Pharaoh’s (Satan’s) control over our lives.

But Satan and this world, his kingdom, doesn’t want you to leave. He and this world wants you to keep serving and benefiting them.

And one of the main ways he will keep you in his service is by doing what Pharaoh did… filling your life up with so much stuff that you never have time to think about salvation through Jesus Christ.

For most people, it’s not they haven’t heard the gospel, it’s they don’t have time to process it. Their life is literally choked out by how busy and occupied their mind is with issues, problems, things, stuff, pleasures, obsessions, past times, interests etc all that ultimately don’t matter.

… So don’t let Satan choke the word of God out in your life. The gospel will set you free, salvation starts with a seed, the seed of the word of God… that Jesus Christ came to save you from your sins. And he will do that. He will set you free.

But be aware that Satan and this world does not want you to be set free… and one of the most effective ways that Satan will ensure that happens is to prevent you from ever thinking about freedom through Christ to begin with.

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