Exodus 5:9

New International Version (NIV)

Make the work harder for the people so that they keep working and pay no attention to lies.

 For meditation

Do you wonder why you do not have time to study God’s word or pray? Have you ever wondered why you come home so beat up that all you do is eat, shower, and hit the sack?

Consider Pharaoh’s order to the task drivers and overseers in charge of the Israelites to “Make the work harder for the people so that they keep working and pay no attention to lies” (Ex. 5: 9)? That is Pharaoh’s principle of enslavement here, my friend, and if you know who he represents spiritually, you will find it horrible what is going on in your Christian life.

“Keep people working harder and busy all the time, and they will have no time for God.”

Does it sound familiar? Maybe you have not taken the time to identify the enemy’s voice ordering his surrogates in today’s world system to make people strive harder and keep working until they pay no attention to spiritual things. However, it is precisely why the world is piling so much work on people with remuneration packages and incentives, making it almost impossible to pass up. The same principle lies behind companies’ and organizations’ strategies that make some people feel indispensable. And don’t they love it? They feel so good about themselves and the increased purchasing power that opens the world’s best for them.

To nail the coffin for those Israelites, Pharaoh said the call of God to leave Egypt to sacrifice to Him was a lie. 

Make the work harder for the people so that they keep working and pay no attention to lies (Exodus 5:8-9).

The world is saying the same thing today, and many people have bought into it and trashed everything that has the name of God on it. They have sacrificed righteousness, holiness, and purity on the altar of success and fame as a result of this satanic strategy. Push them to love so many things; they will do anything to satisfy their ambitions.

Let’s get real here and know who the enemy and liar are in our walk with the Lord. Satan and his world system! (Jn. 8:44). The pernicious lie he has worked into people’s hearts is excessive greed and self-exaltation at the expense of dedicated worship of God through Christ Jesus. You are wiser to tell the world that you will not bury yourself in its delicacies anymore but that you are determined to take a three-day journey away from it in the company of Jesus and learn true worship from Him.

Prayer

 Lord, please open our spiritual eyes to see what our busyness is doing to our relationship with you and unmask the one who has commanded and enforcing it, so that we may be wise. May you exert your mighty hand on the taskmaster who has overburdened us with work and compel him to let us go to worship the Father in Spirit and in truth. Amen.