Sometimes it gets Worse...

I've heard the phrase: "It gets worse before it gets better" a few times. And it is a horrible concept, because at the point where you've sought help for something, you only want there to be upside potential.

But in some cases, it gets much worse. Downside potential.

It's like when doctors prescribe new acne medication. Sometimes it draws out every pimple you didn't know was lurking under the surface, at which point you look in the mirror and declare: worse. But with consistent use/application within 6 - 8 weeks you're much better.

I have a number of areas in my life that I have been praying for and waiting on to become better. And in some case, I've looked at my life and declared: this is decidedly...worse.

From a biblical standpoint, the king of "worse before better" is Brother Job. Brother Job has 42 chapters of "super rough," but he is not the hero of this particular blog.

Then Moses returned to the Lord and said, “O Lord, why have You brought harm to this people? Why did You ever send me? Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done harm to this people, and You have not delivered Your people at all.”

 - Exodus 5:22-23

This is the prayer of someone who didn't expect things to get worse before they got better.

Background

Moses has requested Pharaoh let the people go to the wilderness to "celebrate a feast to the Lord."

He's not requesting freedom. He's just asking for a religious holiday. But coming from a slave, it's a pretty lofty request. And Pharaoh responds in a rather logical manner: "umm, no."

But he didn't stop with "no." Pharaoh was insulted by this request:
 

So the same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters over the people and their foremen, saying, “You are no longer to give the people straw to make brick as previously; let them go and gather straw for themselves. But the quota of bricks which they were making previously, you shall impose on them; you are not to reduce any of it. Because they are lazy, therefore they cry out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’

 - Exodus 5:6-8

Basically, the people had to do just as much work, with less supplies. The labor was made heavier. And when they didn't make their quotas (which were impossible now), they were beaten. It was bad. Which brings us to Moses' prayer. The prayer has three elements that I want to break down: 

 

1. Why have you brought harm?
   
   This is an incredible statement, because we don't expect harm from God, yet often attribute harm to God. It's like saying I trusted you. It's full of accusation, and really...shock. Moses is shocked.
   
2. Why did You ever send me? Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done harm to this people
   He is now recounting the results of trusting in God. This is deep: I trusted You and only bad has come from it. He's blaming God. "YOU sent me. I speak, in YOUR name, and look!" Oh, I know this one well. When the results don't match your prayer. When the results don't match your expectation that God not only can but will do exceedingly and abundantly ABOVE all you could ask or think (Ephesians 3:20). It's when you start to question that reality. You start to question God.
   
3. And You have not delivered Your people at all.
   These are the prayers we don't pray. These are the thoughts you think about and you feel bad about. But you know when you're not delivered. Moses can't imagine the parting of the Red Sea. That moment is not in view. His present moment is all he can see, and in that moment he doesn't feel delivered. He feels played. 

Many commentators see this prayer as "spiritual immaturity." I see it as "worse before it gets better." The same way that my situation is worse before it gets better, I am worse before I get better. My faith is worse before it gets better. My prayer time is worse before it gets better.

 

This is Moses' first time before Pharaoh. But we know, according the story, that he goes back time and time again. Even though that first time was really bad. But after that last time...they saw a miracle so great that I don't even think we imagine it correctly. Painters have painted pictures, and movies have filmed its likeness numerous times. But we can't recreate the miracle of parting the Red Sea. And we can't recreate the emotion,the extreme feeling of deliverance in the hearts of the Israelites as they crossed over dry land. It's unimaginable for me. And it was unimaginable to them from the vantage point of their increasing bondage and misery.

 

So just like Moses kept approaching Pharaoh...even when it seemed useless, we have to be like that now. We have to keep hitting our knees. We have to keep opening our bibles, we have to keep making those almost laughable statements of faith...

Because sometimes it gets worse, before it gets better. 

 

And the better is unimaginably great.