Today's Daily Lesson comes from Exodus chapter 5 verses 15 through 23:
15 Then the foremen of the people of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, “Why do you treat your servants like this? 16 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 But he said, “You are idle, you are idle; that is why you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’ 18 Go now and work. No straw will be given you, but you must still deliver the same number of bricks.” 19 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.” 20 They met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting for them, as they came out from Pharaoh; 21 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 Then Moses turned to the Lord and said, “O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? 23 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.”
The road to freedom always involves resistance, pushback, and eventually active opposition. Taking the first step towards freedom is one thing; but the second step is more difficult. The third even more difficult than that. The more steps towards freedom we take the more aware of just how much is against us we become. Powerful forces are deeply invested in our bondage -- whether political, religious, or personal. Freedom never comes easy.
Gandhi is said to have taught his followers, "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."
We don't win anything important without a fight. And the struggle is always with forces both outside and in.
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