Exodus 5:20-23
And they met Moses and Aaron, who stood in the way, as they came forth from Pharaoh: And they said unto them, The Lord look upon you, and judge; because ye have made our savour to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to slay us. And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, Lord, wherefore hast thou so evil entreated this people? Why is it that thou hast sent me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he hath done evil to this people; neither hast thou delivered thy people at all.
When Pharaoh would not hear them, the people turned on Moses and Aaron. Since they could not strike Pharaoh, they struck the men of God standing nearest to them. That is often what pain does when people are overwhelmed. They lash out at the closest target. They speak from frustration, fear, and disappointment. So the very ones Moses had come to help now blamed him for making everything worse.
And humanly speaking, it did look worse. Moses had obeyed the Lord, spoken the word he was told to speak, and instead of things improving, the pressure had intensified. The people were suffering more deeply, Pharaoh was harder than ever, and now the very men he came to serve were condemning him. That is a hard place for any servant of God to stand.
But this is where Moses begins to show real greatness.
He did not retaliate.
He did not defend himself.
He did not fire back at the people.
He returned unto the Lord.
That is one of the clearest marks of a man who can be used by God. When misunderstood, he goes to the Lord. When criticized, he goes to the Lord. When things do not make sense, he goes to the Lord. Moses did not pretend he was unshaken. He came honestly. He poured out his confusion. He asked hard questions. He said what he was feeling. But he brought it to the right place.
That matters.
There is a world of difference between complaining about God to everybody else and pouring out your heart before God Himself. Moses did the latter. He took his confusion heavenward. And we will see this again and again in his life. This was one of the secrets of his strength. He kept falling on his face before the Lord. That is why he could bear so much. That is why he could keep going. He knew where to go when the burden grew heavy.
And there is something deeply comforting in that. Great men of God are not those who never feel pressure, never ask questions, or never struggle with what they see. They are those who keep bringing it back to the Lord. They do not have to be unfeeling. They do not have to act untouched. But they do have to know where to turn.
Moses turned in the right direction.
And that is the lesson here. When people speak against you, when obedience seems to make life harder instead of easier, when the outcome looks nothing like what you expected, do not stay in the bitterness of the moment. Return unto the Lord. Bring Him your grief. Bring Him your questions. Bring Him your hurt. The servant who keeps returning to the Lord will be held together by the very One who called him.