…I stumbled across Exodus 5, where the Israelites were required, as slaves to the Egyptians, to make bricks without straw.
This was at a time when the Israelites, led by Moses and Aaron, had had it with Pharaoh’s heart, which seemed to harden at the slightest of provocation. (I mean, seriously: If someone turned water into blood, I’d capitulate, right there. It would not take a swarm of locusts and certainly not the death of babies to get me to let the Israelites go, but that’s just me talking.)
(But seriously: I’m Pharaoh! I can capture just about any one to do my dirty work, amirite?)
But back to the story, that phrase, “bricks without straw,” stuck in my head. The Israelites were being asked to do something without the proper resources. Bricks need straw, and the Israelites were doomed to fail.
In the story in Exodus, of course, they faced travails so God could show God’s power.
So we are entering a time that, to me, feels like Bizarro World. Our leader is someone I can barely stomach, and the good work that was promoted by the previous administration looks like it could be disappeared by a few strokes of a pen. We are now entering a time when we will build bricks without straw.
But I promise: We will build them. This is not the time for despair. This is time for some creative building. Onward.
Dating Jesus 
Are you saying God will deliver us, or that we’ll find a way to do the impossible ourselves to appease Pharaoh?
I believe God will deliver me, and leave you in the trenches, you infidel. Not really. I honestly believe those of us who disagree with the zeitgeist of the new administration will work together — not to make bricks, but to get a new Pharaoh.
I think if the God of Abraham ever decides to deliver anything, I’m sure there’ll be a little something in here for the likes of me. As long as there’s coffee………
I don’t want a new Pharaoh. I don’t want anymore Pharaohs at all. I think it’s time the brick makers decide what’s going to get built with the fruits of their labor. That was the promise of democracy after all…wasn’t it?
A better analogy than mine. Or metaphor…
Different bibles.
Noted.