Following God sometimes makes things harder because obeying him can put you at odds with a world that resists him, and because God often works on a longer timeline than we’d like. Moses learned this the hard way. He did exactly what God asked, and life got worse for everyone. But that wasn’t the end of the story. When following God gets hard, it’s often right before he shows up in a big way.
Moses Did the Right Thing and It Backfired
Picture this. God speaks to Moses from a burning bush and tells him to go to Egypt and demand that Pharaoh let the Israelites go. Moses is nervous, but he goes. He walks into the most powerful palace in the world and delivers God’s message. And Pharaoh’s response? He makes life even harder for the Hebrew slaves. Now they have to gather their own straw and still make the same number of bricks every day.
The Israelite foremen are furious, and they turn on Moses. Instead of being the hero, he’s the guy who made everything worse. So Moses does something surprisingly honest: he takes his frustration straight to God.
Exodus 5:22-23 Moses returned to the LORD and said, “Why, Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Is this why you sent me? Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people, and you have not rescued your people at all.”
If you’ve ever stood up for your faith at school, said no to something your friends were doing, or tried to make a hard situation right at home, you might know how Moses felt. You did what was right, and it cost you. Maybe people laughed, a friendship cooled, or you got left out of the group chat. It’s tempting to think obedience should always lead to instant rewards, but the Bible never promises that.
God Wasn’t Done Yet
Notice that God didn’t scold Moses for being honest. He answered him. Moses could only see the first chapter of the story, but God could see the ending. The extra work wasn’t a sign that God had failed. It was the setting for one of the greatest rescues in history.
Exodus 6:1 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country.”
God was about to show Egypt, and Israel, exactly who he is. Over the next several chapters, he sends the plagues, parts the Red Sea and leads his people out of slavery. The hard season that frustrated Moses became the backdrop for God’s power. In the same way, the hardest moments in your walk with God are often the ones he uses to show up most clearly. He isn’t absent when things get worse. Often he’s just getting started.
When Following God Gets Hard, Your Faith Grows
The New Testament helps explain why God lets his people go through difficult stretches. Trials aren’t random punishments. They’re one of the main ways God grows our trust in him and shapes our character.
James 1:2-4 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
Pure joy doesn’t mean pretending you’re happy when you’re not. It means you can look past the pain to what God is building in you. A muscle only gets stronger when it’s pushed, and faith works the same way. Every time you keep following Jesus when it would be easier to quit, your faith gets a little more solid.
Moses wasn’t perfect, and neither are we. He complained, doubted and wondered if God had made a mistake. But he kept showing up. That’s what God asks of you too: be honest with him about how you feel, and then take the next step of obedience anyway. Jesus walked this path before us. He obeyed his Father all the way to the cross, and what looked like defeat turned into the resurrection and victory over sin and death.
The Takeaway
When following God gets hard, it doesn’t mean you’re doing it wrong or that God has left you. Like Moses, you can bring your honest frustration to God, trust that he sees the whole story, and keep obeying. Often the hardest moments come right before he does something amazing.
