SCRIPTURE:
'8And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.’ ” 9Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and harsh labor. '
Exodus 6:8-9
OBSERVATION:
Moses delivers the very thing the Israelites have been praying for, good news. Freedom is coming. God has heard them and has answered. Yet the people can’t receive it. Their suffering has gone on so long that hope feels unreal. Their hearts aren’t rebellious so much as they are exhausted.
Like seed falling on a path that’s been trampled over and over again, their hearts have been impacted by disappointment, pain, and survival mode. When every day is about getting through the next shift of harsh labor, there’s no emotional space left to imagine something better. The Word of the Lord isn’t rejected because it’s false, it’s rejected because it feels too good to be true.
APPLICATION:
I’m pretty much one of the Israelites.
When my mind, heart, and soul are in chaos, I don’t listen even when God is speaking clearly. Discouragement dulls my hearing and keeps me locked into survival mode. I’m so focused on managing today that I can’t lift my eyes to tomorrow.
What makes this even more revealing is that, unlike the Israelites, I know the ending. I know God wins. I know freedom is real. I know redemption is guaranteed. I’ve experienced it time and time again. And yet, I still live as if everything depends on me.
Why?
Because I want to control and I want to conquer.
Control: I want God’s promises, but on my timeline and in my way. Waiting feels like losing.
Conquer: I want a battle to fight, something to overcome, because struggle gives me identity. If I’m not conquering something, I feel empty.
I love Kobe, #mambamentality for life, but thinking about it more I believe he got some of it wrong.
Imagine an athlete who trains endlessly but never rests. Every practice is full speed. Every workout is max effort. No trust in the coach’s plan, no trust in the process, just grind, grind, grind. Even when the coach says, “You’re ready. You don’t have to push today,” the athlete ignores it. Rest feels lazy. Trust feels passive.
But the irony is this that the athlete eventually breaks down. Injury. Burnout. Mental fatigue. They stop performing not because they didn’t work hard enough, but because they couldn’t surrender control.
Often that’s me.
I keep showing up spiritually like it’s a competition I have to win, a season I have to dominate, a weakness I have to conquer instead of a game that’s already been won by Christ. I confuse faith with effort and surrender with weakness.
What if the Israelites didn’t need to fight harder, believe louder, or suffer longer?
What if the only thing delaying their joy was their inability to receive?
What if my discouragement isn’t proof that things are hopeless, but evidence that I’m trying to carry what was never meant for me to carry?
If I surrender my obsession with control and conquest, I don’t become passive or less than, I become properly postured. Postured to hear. Postured to hope. Postured to celebrate freedom and chosen to co-mission rather than charging forward on a solo mission.
PRAYER:
Jesus, I’m a mess! So, I loosen my grip. I stop striving to conquer what You’ve already defeated.
I choose trust over control. Heal me. Help me. Amen
