12-14 The (Hebrew) people were scattered throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. The taskmasters were urgent, saying, “Complete your work, your daily task each day, as when there was straw.” And the foremen of the people of Israel, whom Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them, were beaten and were asked, “Why have you not done all your task of making bricks today and yesterday, as in the past?” 15-16 Then the foremen of the people of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, “Why do you treat your servants like this? No straw is given to your servants, yet they say to us, ‘Make bricks!’ And behold, your servants are beaten; but the fault is in your own people.” 17-18 But he said, “You are idle, you are idle; that is why you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’ Go now and work. No straw will be given you, but you must still deliver the same number of bricks.”

19-21 The foremen of the people of Israel saw that they were in trouble when they said, “You shall by no means reduce your number of bricks, your daily task each day.” They met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting for them, as they came out from Pharaoh; and they said to them, “The Lord look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.” 22-23 Then Moses turned to the Lord and said, “O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.” Exodus 5:12-23 English Standard Version

The Bible doesn't hide the fact that many of it's 'heroes' faltered, and had doubts and fears. The Egyptians had appointed foremen from the Israelites to oversee the work of providing bricks, and when production had fallen behind schedule these foremen were beaten. Now, after having had their appeal to Pharaoh for fair treatment brushed aside, they cursed Moses and Aaron as they left Pharaoh's presence. What would you say was the problem with Moses' response in vs 22-23.

I would have to say firstly that it was understandable! I doubt whether I would've responded in a better way. Yes, Moses had received a miraculous sign of God's presence at the burning bush while he was shepherding his father-in-law's sheep, and God had assured Moses He would be with him. And even though he'd been away for some 40 years, his brother and the Jewish people had believed him when he told them of God's call, and His plans to set the nation free. But now it looked as if the plan was already shattered.

I think the problem here was that Moses, at this stage, couldn't see further than the day. He couldn't see what was down the road, what amazing things God was going to do in the months ahead. He’d expected God to work in a more immediate way, and now, when failure was staring him in the face, he asks God why He had bothered to send him at all!

Perhaps you're thinking that if you had received a remarkable experience such as Moses had at the burning bush, you wouldn’t have doubted God when the going got tough. But I wonder how many of us would have done better? If a situation arose where it looked as if we were the cause of the deep distress others were going through, I think most of us would feel we had failed, or that we'd misunderstood God's will for our life. And if people we are trying to bring God's message of salvation to turn against us, we might easily be tempted to give it all up.

Notice too how quickly the Israelites themselves forgot their early enthusiasm when Moses had told them that God had seen their distress, and was about to rescue them. They were quickly willing to blame others for the trouble they were in. As human beings we are also weak, and we lose heart so easily. We need to remind ourselves that, in Christ, “we don't have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses - but one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are. Yet He didn't sin.” (Hebrews 4:15-16) So, through Jesus, we can approach God’s throne of grace with confidence to find grace to help when we face a testing situation such as Moses faced that day. No need to think we must just give up.