In response to Moses and Aaron’s request that Pharaoh let God’s people go, Pharaoh imposes even more labour and harsher working conditions.
Moses and Aaron had first spoken to the Israelites, telling them that God had seen their suffering and intended to rescue them. The people believed what they heard. After seeing the signs Moses performed, they bowed down and worshipped.
Pharaoh did not like this.
He did not know this God, nor did he care what this God might have to say. In his mind, Moses and Aaron were spreading lies and giving the Israelites an excuse to avoid their work.
What stood out to me was Pharaoh’s strategy:
“Load them down with more work. Make them sweat! That will teach them to listen to lies!”
—Exodus 5:9
Keep them busy. Make their days harder. Give them more work to do. That way they will not have time to stop and think. They will not have time to listen to their God or consider the possibility that freedom might actually be near.
Pharaoh was threatened by this message. If the people went free, he would lose his labourers. He would lose his workforce and some of his power. He would no longer be able to expand his kingdom with the same speed and ease.
It struck me that the enemy often uses a similar strategy today.
Keep us busy. Keep us distracted. Fill every quiet moment. Make it difficult for us to pause and reflect, pray and listen, or read and fill our souls with God’s Word.
The difference is that Pharaoh did not know God. He may have truly believed Moses and Aaron were lying. The devil, in contrast, knows that God speaks the truth. He knows that when our attention is turned toward Jesus, we begin to see the freedom being offered to us.
When Jesus sets us free and we learn to follow his Spirit, the enemy loses influence. So perhaps one of his most effective strategies is simply this:
Keep them busy.