Exodus 5:10-19

And the taskmasters of the people went out, and their officers, and they spake to the people, saying, Thus saith Pharaoh, I will not give you straw. Go ye, get you straw where ye can find it: yet not ought of your work shall be diminished. So the people were scattered. And the taskmasters hasted them, saying, Fulfil your works, your daily tasks, as when there was straw. And the officers of the children of Israel, which Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, and demanded, Wherefore have ye not fulfilled your task in making brick both yesterday and to day, as heretofore? Then the officers of the children of Israel came and cried unto Pharaoh, saying, Wherefore dealest thou thus with thy servants? There is no straw given unto thy servants, and they say to us, Make brick: and, behold, thy servants are beaten; but the fault is in thine own people. But he said, Ye are idle, ye are idle: therefore ye say, Let us go and do sacrifice to the Lord. Go therefore now, and work; for there shall no straw be given you, yet shall ye deliver the tale of bricks. And the officers of the children of Israel did see that they were in evil case, after it was said, Ye shall not minish ought from your bricks of your daily task.

You can feel the pressure in this passage. The people are scattered, scrambling for straw, driven harder than before, and beaten when they cannot keep up. The system is crushing, and there is no relief in sight. Pharaoh tightens the grip, increases the demand, and then blames the people for failing under the weight of it all. It is a picture of bondage at its worst.

And in that place of strain, the officers of Israel do what seems natural. They go straight to Pharaoh and cry out to him. They plead their case. They explain the injustice. They point out the impossibility of what is being required. But Pharaoh does not listen. He does not soften. He does not reconsider. He doubles down. He calls them idle again and sends them right back into the same burden.

That is where the lesson comes into focus.

They cried to Pharaoh, but Pharaoh was the problem.

Instead of turning first to the Lord, they turned to the one who had no intention of helping them. And that is easy to do. When pressure builds and things become unfair, the instinct is to go straight to people. To the boss. To the supervisor. To the one applying the pressure. Or to someone nearby who will listen and sympathize. But this passage quietly reminds us that not every situation is solved by going horizontal first. Some things must be taken upward before they are taken outward.

It is not wrong to speak to people. There is a place for that. But there is something we often miss. If we go to people first, without going to the Lord, we can end up frustrated, discouraged, and no better off than before. Pharaoh did not change because the people appealed to him. And sometimes the people we look to cannot change what is pressing on us either.

That is why this is such a needed reminder.

When the load feels heavy, when the pressure increases, when things seem unreasonable, the first move is not to cry to Pharaoh. It is to cry to the Lord. To bring it to Him. To ask for wisdom, direction, patience, strength, and clarity. Because He sees what Pharaoh does not. He cares in a way Pharaoh never will. And He knows what to do with what we are facing.

It sounds simple, and it is. But it is something we forget easily. We run to conversations before we run to prayer. We look for counsel before we seek God. Yet Isaiah warned about taking counsel and not of the Lord. And experience proves it true. There is a peace that is forfeited and a weight that is carried unnecessarily when we leave God out of the first step.

So when the pressure rises and the burden feels like too much, the call is clear.

Do not cry to Pharaoh first.

Cry to the Lord.