Exodus chapter 5

2 Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go."

"Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go."

How many times do you hear this, or the equivalent from people who do not know God and have no apparent desire to know Him? There is so much prejudice in the world, so much ill feeling, and a lot of it is directed towards Christians. I've been reading about the Christians in Orissa, and the persecution that thousands of them are currently undergoing from Hindu radicals. The Hindus are basically blaming the Christians for the death of one of their Swami, even though Maoists have repeatedly claimed responsibility and have killed many, forced thousands to flee to government camps or the forests, and are now trying to poison their water supply. I read some blogs and news reports on this, and the comments that people had left after each one were so biased, so prejudiced, even from Christian commentators. How can people of faith, who profess to know God, treat one another in this way?

Pharaoh was presumably a man of faith as the Egyptians had many gods, yet he did not know the one true living God. The Hindus in India are presumably men (and women) of faith, taking revenge for the murder of one of their leaders, and yet they do not know the one true living God either. It is heartbreaking to read of what is happening in India, of the murders, the persecution, just as it is heartbreaking to read of what happened to the Israelites when they asked for leave to go worship in the desert. I am sure Moses thought it would all be plain sailing. After all, with God on his side, what could possibly go wrong? Yet the straw was taken away and the daily quota of bricks remained unchanged, forcing the Israelites to work longer hours as they had to find the straw with which to make the bricks.

Just because God is on our side (or rather, we are on the side of God), does not mean we will necessarily have an easy time of it, quite the opposite in fact as we may be ridiculed for our faith, looked down on, and depending upon where we live, may even lose our jobs, our homes, our families, and be imprisoned (and possibly tortured) or killed.

Here, Moses and Aaron followed God's instructions, and as a result of going to see Pharaoh, the Israelites suffered. Sometimes, life is worse after you become a Christian then before. There are women in India who are treated little better than slaves, working for rich Moslems. They may be ill treated and raped, and then thrown out of their employer's house onto the streets, where many of them have no option but to become prostitutes in order to help support their family. How can life be better for them in those circumstances? Yet their faith is so deep, so strong, it puts me to shame. And I expect that the Moslems believe their faith is just as strong, just as deep.