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REVIEW
Navigating the Hard for Our Greater Good and His Glory
The musical Annie famously says, “It’s a hard knock life.” And everyone experiences hard in life. Sometimes it’s not just hard—it becomes ugly, nasty, dirty, exhausting, and overwhelming.
Exodus 2 is full of tension, yet because many of us know the story of Moses so well, we are tempted to rush past it. But slow down and consider what is happening: a mother afraid for her newborn son, carefully crafting a basket—really a tiny ark—to protect him from danger. A sister watching her family navigate fear and uncertainty. A mother nursing her child for a season, then surrendering him to a completely different culture and way of life. Moses learning his story and identity. Moses stepping in with a strong sense of justice, only to discover it is not always welcomed. Moses then spending years in exile among the Midianites.
None of it looked easy, clean, or predictable. Yet God was still at work in every part of it.
The hard places were not outside of God’s plan; they were part of His ongoing story to rescue His people, shape Moses into the leader he would become, bring about a greater good through a deeper relationship with God, and ultimately bring Him glory.
Life is hard for us too. Maybe not in these exact ways, but we all walk through difficult paths—relationships, health struggles, finances, work situations, losses, disappointments, or seasons that simply feel heavy.
So how do we navigate the hard?
• Don’t assume all hardship is punishment or failure. Some of the hard we experience is part of God’s design and authoring of our story.
• Remember that God often develops us in difficult seasons. Moses’ exile looked like a setback, but God was preparing leadership, endurance, humility, and dependence in him.
• Stop demanding a ten-step plan. God often works in the rhythm of daily abiding. Instead of trying to figure everything out at once, ask: “What is the next most sensible step I can take with God’s guidance?”
Exodus 2 reminds us that God is still present in the tension, still working in the waiting, and still faithful in the middle of the hard.
REMEMBER
Hard times are often the means for us to bring glory to God and experience the greater good of a deepening relationship with him.
REFLECT
- Where might I be viewing a difficult season only as punishment, frustration, or interruption instead of considering that God could be authoring something deeper in my story?
- How could God be using this hard season to develop my character, dependence on Him, or prepare me for what is ahead?
- Instead of demanding a full plan from God, what is the next most sensible step of faithfulness and abiding He may be asking me to take today?
Word of the week: Abide
RESPOND
Lord,
meet me in the hard—
in the ugly, nasty, dirty, overwhelming places
where I feel tired and unsure.
Teach me to abide with You there.
Shape my story through both the waiting and the wandering.
Give me courage for the next most sensible step,
trust that You are working for a greater good,
and a life that brings You glory.
Amen.
RELATE
This week, resist the urge to quickly “fix” someone else’s hard season. Instead, slow down, listen well, pray with them, and help them discern the next most sensible step rather than overwhelming them with advice or long-term solutions.
REHEARSE
AND GOD HEARD THEIR GROANING, AND GOD REMEMBERED HIS COVENANT WITH ABRAHAM, WITH ISAAC AND WITH JACOB.
Exodus 2:24 ESV
READ
Revisit: Exodus 2
Read ahead: Exodus 3:1-12
REJOICE
Be Glad
Bless God
10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord)
Shane and Shane Psalm 23
