The Unseen Enemy of Worship (Exodus 5:17)
Written by: Naomi Middleton
“Pharaoh told God’s people, “You are idle, you are idle; that is why you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.”
We often answer the question “how are you doing?” by saying something like, “I’m doing good…just really busy.” We are busy with work. We are busy with our families. We are busy with our ministries. And the list goes on and on.
The other day I was reading the story of how Pharaoh made God’s people make bricks of straw. I thought it was so interesting that the one of the main reasons that Pharaoh increased the people work load was because they wanted to go and worship God in the desert.
We often think that it is bad things that keep us from worshiping God. And even though sin can definitely keep us from worshiping God, busyness is more often the culprit. We fill our lives up with so many things (usually good things) that we are often too tired to worship God. In a world that is always telling us to do more, we need to be so careful that we are not so busy that worship gets replaced with our endless to-do list.
We know that busyness often has a negative effect on our lives but we refuse to give it up. Busyness puts strain on our families, our marriages, and our emotional well-being. It causes us to be stressed, overwhelmed, and at times bitter. However, one of the greatest negative effects that busyness can have is on our worship. Busyness is often the unseen enemy of our worship.