Exodus Chapter 5
Amelia led the tour group back into Egypt and everyone was given a piece of paper and a pencil to draw a picture. But after everyone had started drawing, the various tour group members took all the pencils away, smashed the lead and then gave the pencils back, expecting everyone to keep drawing. Sherry asked the kids if this seemed fair, which they all agreed wasn’t. Sherry explained that this was like what would happen to the Israelites today.
Moses and Aaron arrived back in Egypt and began telling the Israelites that God had seen their struggles and was going to set them free. The Israelites were overjoyed and stopped working, very excited to leave Egypt. The angry taskmasters took Moses and Aaron to see Pharaoh. They told Pharaoh what God had said but Pharaoh scoffed and said he didn’t know who this God was. So instead of setting the Israelites free, he took away their straw, which made more work for them.
Moses was upset with God. This whole thing had been too hard and nothing had worked. He had done what God said to do and God didn’t do His part. Now the Israelites have more work to do. But God told Moses to be patient and wait on Him. God is doing something big and Moses just needs to wait.
Sherry explained what was going on by asking Tyler to draw a picture. He agreed and pulled out a very old, dull pencil. Sherry said that she actually had a bucket full of felts that she just tested out this morning. But Tyler insisted on using his dull pencil, which was really hard work and didn’t even work. Tyler then tried to sharpen the pencil by using his teeth and various parts of the stage, but nothing worked. Sherry explained that on our own, we have no resources to do what God asks us to do and doing things in our own strength is sin. We need to wait for God and get the resources and strength from Him.
Amelia came in with the two brothers and told them that today, they had time to buy souvenirs from the market. But the boys only had Canadian money. Amelia had to go to the hotel to get the Egyptian money so they could do an exchange. Meanwhile, the boys had to stay there and wait for Amelia. However, as soon as she left, they just couldn’t wait and went to the merchant to try and buy things. The merchant wouldn’t let them, saying he couldn’t take their money but the boys kept trying until the merchant got upset. Amelia came back and explained that sometimes this is what we do with God. We need to exchange our strength for His but sometimes we need to wait for him. Doing anything in our strength doesn’t work.
They learned Isaiah 40:31: “but those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” We have to wait for strength from God, and not use our own strength.