He Is the Everything in Everything: Even There

After this presentation to Israel’s leaders, Moses and Aaron went and spoke to Pharaoh. They told him, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Let my people go so they may hold a festival in my honor in the wilderness.”

“Is that so?” retorted Pharaoh. “And who is the Lord? Why should I listen to him and let Israel go? I don’t know the Lord, and I will not let Israel go.”

But Aaron and Moses persisted. “The God of the Hebrews has met with us,” they declared. “So let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness so we can offer sacrifices to the Lord our God. If we don’t, he will kill us with a plague or with the sword.”

Pharaoh replied, “Moses and Aaron, why are you distracting the people from their tasks? Get back to work! Look, there are many of your people in the land, and you are stopping them from their work.”

⁶That same day Pharaoh sent this order to the Egyptian slave drivers and the Israelite foremen: “Do not supply any more straw for making bricks. Make the people get it themselves! But still require them to make the same number of bricks as before. Don’t reduce the quota. They are lazy. That’s why they are crying out, ‘Let us go and offer sacrifices to our God.’ Load them down with more work. Make them sweat! That will teach them to listen to lies!” 

 – Exodus 5: 1-9

“Therefore, say to the people of Israel: ‘I am the Lord. I will free you from your oppression and will rescue you from your slavery in Egypt. I will redeem you with a powerful arm and great acts of judgment. I will claim you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God who has freed you from your oppression in Egypt. I will bring you into the land I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I will give it to you as your very own possession. I am the Lord!’

So Moses told the people of Israel what the Lord had said, but they refused to listen anymore. They had become too discouraged by the brutality of their slavery.  – Exodus 6: 6 – 9

Introduction

While our text for today begins in Exodus 5, the story really begins before that.

In Exodus 2, the Bible says the Israelites groaned under the weight of their suffering, and God heard them.

The text says:
God heard their cries.
God remembered His covenant.
God saw them.
And God knew.

Before Moses ever stood before Pharaoh…
God was already listening.

Before deliverance became visible…
God had already decided to act.

And maybe that’s part of the tension in this story:
The Israelites prayed for freedom, but by the time God began moving, they were so exhausted by suffering that they struggled to believe deliverance had finally come.

And if we’re honest, sometimes prolonged pain can make us skeptical of hope.

Sometimes exhaustion makes it difficult to recognize that God is already moving.

“Can I be honest with y’all today?

I am currently in a season where I am exhausted and struggling to believe healing has finally come. 

For years, I’ve been praying and working hard in physical therapy. I’ve been walking better. Feeling stronger. Seeing progress. Believing healing was unfolding.

But now, two days before surgery, the pain in my body has intensified to the point where I have cried trying to walk. I am not sleeping well because the discomfort has increased. My nervousness is through the roof.

And if I’m honest, there is a part of me that keeps wondering:
‘Why does it feel worse when I’m getting closer to healing?’

That’s what brought me to Exodus this week.

Because Moses obeys God and goes to Pharaoh saying, ‘Let my people go,’ and instead of relief, the workload increases.

The suffering intensifies.
The pressure increases.
The people become discouraged.

And I realized something:
Sometimes things get heavier before they get lighter.

Not because God has abandoned us.
But because hell often grips what it knows it is afraid to lose.

And while praying through pain and fear and exhaustion, the Lord settled something in my spirit:
He is not only my everything…
He is the everything in everything.

Meaning even here…
even in pain…
even in fear…
even in uncertainty…
God is still here.”

That is the tension of Exodus 5.

God sends Moses to Pharaoh with a simple command:
“Let my people go.”

But instead of immediate freedom, Pharaoh increases the workload.

No more straw.
Same brick quota.

More pressure.
More exhaustion.
More suffering.

And the people begin to believe that obedience made things worse.

Have you ever been there?

The place where you obeyed God and life didn’t immediately open up?
The place where healing felt more painful before it felt peaceful?
The place where freedom felt terrifying because bondage had become familiar?

Exodus teaches us something difficult but necessary:
Sometimes pressure increases when freedom is near.

Point 1: The Enemy Wants Exhaustion to Interpret God

One of the most heartbreaking verses in this text is found in Exodus 6:9.

The Bible says the people would not listen to Moses because they had become “discouraged by the cruelty of their slavery.” 

Discouragement distorts perception.

Exhaustion can make you believe God is absent.
Pain can make you believe the story is over.
Fear can make you mistake silence for abandonment.

And some of us have been trying to interpret God through distorted perception and exhaustion. 

Trying to discern purpose while depleted.
Trying to hear clearly while overwhelmed.
Trying to believe while grieving.

But exhaustion is not a reliable theologian.

Just because you cannot feel God clearly does not mean God is absent.

Point 2: Even There

That is why Psalm 139 matters.

David says:

“If I ascend into heaven, You are there.
If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.”

Even there.

Not just in church.
Not just in worship.
Not just in answered prayers.

Even there.

In grief.
In fear.
In confusion.
In pain.
In waiting.
In disappointment.
In the places we do not talk about publicly.

Even there.

And while praying, something settled in my spirit.

I heard myself saying:

Even when I feel afraid, I am not alone because You are there.

Even when I doubt, You are the truth and You are there.

Even when it hurts, You are my healer and You are there.

Even when I grieve, You are the joy of my life and You are there.

And what I realized is this:
God being present does not mean the fight immediately disappears.

Sometimes God’s presence sustains you while freedom is unfolding.

Sometimes the pressure increases not because God has abandoned you…
but because something is shifting.

And that is what we see in Exodus.

Pharaoh increased the workload because liberation threatened his power.

Point 3: Why Hell Fights So Hard

Can I say something carefully?

Hell fights hardest near freedom.

The enemy wants pressure to convince you to go back to bondage voluntarily.

That is why some people experience intensified fear right before breakthrough.
Intensified temptation right before freedom.
Intensified exhaustion right before clarity.

But the devil is a liar.

Because what God has ordained for your freedom cannot be permanently held by hell.

Egypt could not hold Israel.
The pit could not hold Joseph.
The belly could not hold Jonah.
The grave could not hold Jesus.

And what feels like hell in your life will not get the final word either.

Point 4: Presence Changes the Fight

The reason this revelation settled me is that I realized God’s presence is never passive.

When God is there, things shift.

The Red Sea does not stay closed when God is there.
Tombs do not stay sealed when God is there.
Dry bones do not stay lifeless when God is there.

And sometimes the first thing God transforms is not the circumstance… but the person.

So, if I’m honest, this revelation was not new for me.

I have known God as healer.
I have known God as sustainer.
I have known God as present.

But sometimes in the middle of pain, fear, exhaustion, and uncertainty, you need to be reminded.

Because if we are not careful, pain gets loud.

Fear gets loud.
Discouragement gets loud.
Disappointment gets loud.

And sometimes the noise of what we are experiencing becomes louder than the truth of who God is.

That’s why I had to settle myself in the reminder:
He is still there.

Not because my circumstances suddenly changed.
Not because my pain disappeared overnight.

But because God’s presence is deeper than my suffering and more constant than my fear.

And sometimes faith is not discovering a brand-new revelation.

Sometimes faith is remembering what pain tried to make you forget.

Closing

He is not only my everything.
He is the everything in everything.

Meaning:
Even in places that feel empty… He is there.

Even in places that feel suffocating… He is there.

Even in seasons that feel over… He is there.

And if He is there…
then the story is not finished.

Some of you came in tired.
Some of you came in grieving.
Some of you came in carrying invisible battles.

But hear me clearly:

In fear…He is there.
In grief… He is there.
In doubt…He is there.
In pain…He is there.
In the pit…He is there.
In the fire…He is there.
In the waiting… He is there.

And because He is there…
we do not have to fall apart trying to survive this season.

Hell may be part of the journey, but it is not your permanent address.”

Because if God is the everything in everything… then even there is not hopeless.

And because He is there… I can declare this over my life and over yours…

“It won’t always be like this…