“Then Moses went back to the Lord and protested, “Why have you brought all this trouble on your own people, Lord? Why did you send me? Ever since I came to Pharaoh as your spokesman, he has been even  more brutal to your people. And you have done nothing to rescue them!”

–Exodus 5:22-23

On the other side of that statement lay plagues, sea crossings, and freedom. But at the time, Moses couldn’t see that. At the time, he wondered, Why did I even try? Why send me if I only make things worse!?

It’s the middle of the story. That frustrating place where all we can see is the destruction caused by things shifting without the reassurance of what they’re shifting toward. How easy, in the middle of the story, to get discouraged and assume You are not going to help us.

May I, like Moses, come to You to voice that frustration. May I be honest about what I’m feeling, but still direct my cry to You. And even better, may I learn to assume that it’s okay when things look like this. It is part of shifting, of growth, of change. Things gets ugly before what will be starts to take shape.

Transform my heart’s cry from, “You have done nothing! You’re not helping!” into  this:

“I don’t see it, but I know You’re working in this, I know You’re helping. It looks ugly and ruined right now, but I trust You to take this somewhere good.”

Help me to endure, hold on, and refuse to slam the book shut in the middle of the story.