Exodus 5:1 says, And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.  Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh what God had said.  They said that God wanted Pharaoh to let His people go so they could hold a feast for Him in the wilderness.  God didn't even ask that His people be allowed to leave for good.  Some people today refuse even reasonable demands made by God, simply because they want nothing to reflect glory on Him.  Verse two states, And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go.  Pharaoh asked the question that every person must ultimately ask, "Who is the LORD, and why must I obey Him?"  Even as followers of Christ, we may at times ask why must we obey God.  Verse three declares, And they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days’ journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the LORD our God; lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword.  Moses and Aaron told Pharaoh that he needed to let them go three days journey to worship God or there would be consequences.  Sometimes today, God's people aren't willing to go even a thirty minute or less drive to worship Him, and when they don't there are spiritual consequences.  Verse four says, And the king of Egypt said unto them, Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their works? get you unto your burdens.  Basically, Pharaoh, the authority of Egypt, told Moses and Aaron to tell the people to get back to work.  Those who do not believe in God today use every way possible to cause people to avoid worshipping God.  Verse five adds, And Pharaoh said, Behold, the people of the land now are many, and ye make them rest from their burdens.  Pharaoh said that there were too many Israelites to allow them to be released from their burdens, or work.  Worshipping God was the reason they were to be released.  What would happen today, in America especially, if all Christians stopped working for three days to worship God?  Verse six declares, And Pharaoh commanded the same day the taskmasters of the people, and their officers, saying,  Then verse seven adds, Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go and gather straw for themselves. Pharaoh told those over the people of Israel to quit providing them with straw to make bricks, which would make it harder on them.  We should not be surprised if the people of the world today go out of their way to make life harder for Christians.  Verse eight continues, And the tale of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them; ye shall not diminish ought thereof: for they be idle; therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God.  Pharaoh said that the amount of bricks made would not decrease, since evidently the Israelites had too much time on their hands if they wanted time off to worship God.  We may at times feel that we just have too many demands on us for us to take the time out to worship God, even without someone adding to our workload.  Verse nine concludes, Let there more work be laid upon the men, that they may labour therein; and let them not regard vain words.  Pharaoh said add to the work load so the people of Israel would not regard vain words.  Pharaoh regarded God's word as vain, or nothing.  We today cannot  allow God's word to mean nothing in our lives if we are to successfully follow Christ.  Verse ten says, And the taskmasters of the people went out, and their officers, and they spake to the people, saying, Thus saith Pharaoh, I will not give you straw.  The taskmasters told the people that Pharaoh had declared that they woul receive no straw to help make their bricks.  The people of Israel would have known that this was a direct result of Moses and Aaron going to Pharaoh on behalf of God.  I wonder how many questioned if it was worth it, and how many people today ask the same thing about following Christ if it is going to cost them materially.  Verse twelve adds, Go ye, get you straw where ye can find it: yet not ought of your work shall be diminished.  The work requirements were going to increase, but the amount of output required was going to be the same.  Verse twelve says, So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of straw.  The people of Israel had to scatter everywhere through the land to find straw.  At times, it may feel like we have to work harder in order to serve God, and the question is if we feel that it is worth it.  Verse thirteen concludes, And the taskmasters hasted them, saying, Fulfil your works, your daily tasks, as when there was straw.  The taskmasters did not decrease the demand for production.  We should not be surprised today if the world attempts to make serving and worshipping God harder for us.