Do you ever wonder if God knows what you are going through? Do you ever wonder if He cares? This past year we went through some pretty intense health issues with our parents. For several weeks Amy and I were both in full-alert-all-hands-on-deck crisis mode in two different states and at the same time trying to keep all the other plates in our lives spinning. Physical, spiritual, and emotional fatigue begins to set-in. While our faith never wavered, it was hard to ride the emotional ups and downs that accompany crisis.
In studying Scripture we can find encouragement. As difficult as we may have it, there is no struggle we can experience that hasn’t been experienced–and overcome–before. In the book of Exodus, the Israelites experienced forced slavery. They experienced genocide and infanticide. In short, they experienced the most degrading oppression possible by the most powerful nation at the time with no hope for the future. In the midst of this the Bible says,
“During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel-and God knew.” – Exodus 2:23-25 (ESV)
When I read these verses I’m drawn to several observations. First “the king of Egypt died.” The most powerful man of the most powerful nation who was doing these most horrendous things to the Israelites, he eventually died. He who was worshipped as a god, could not escape the judgment of God that all must face. No matter the circumstances, one thing is for sure, nothing lasts forever.
Second, I see the response of the people of Israel. Notice they “groan” and “cried out for help.” When I see the word groaning, I can’t help but think about a very physical and guttural sound. The oppression was so intense the people were physically moved to respond. It also speaks to their condition of an absolute and abject humility before God. They recognized inwardly and outwardly that they could not save themselves, help themselves, or do anything otherwise to change their situation. They cried out for help and for rescue. If to draw out some application – it’s okay to call our and cry out for help. This runs a little contrary to our facestagrammed world where every post, picture, and angle must be picture perfect. The cry for help from a posture of humility here also runs contrary to our #play#the#victim#and#be#outraged#all#the#time mentality.
The climax, however is not in the situation of the evil Pharaoh. The climax is not found in the response of the Israelites. The climax is found in the action of God. Look at all of God’s actions in these verses – “God heard . . .remembered his covenant . . . Saw the people of Israel-and God knew.” One action would be enough. “If God would just hear my prayer, hear my cry-if I could just know that my prayers were getting through.” This passage is a reminder that God does hear. He does see. He does know. Now in our instant-fix world we want God to see, hear, know and then come do something about it right now, right? And we want to tell Him how to work it out for us. While we get these two verses to find out the hope that God hears-it takes about 12 more chapters to see God work His act of redemption. Even then, there were parts to God’s redemptive grace that didn’t come to pass for a generation later as the people entered the Promised Land. In fact there were parts to God’s redemptive grace that wouldn’t come to pass for many generations later until His own Son would sacrifice Himself on our behalf. In fact there are parts to that promise that we are anxiously awaiting to be fulfilled. Like a kid at Christmas just waiting to see what might be under the tree-we know that God has ultimately prepared a place for us, that He’s coming back for us, that this life and this world, however messed up is, and however messed up it is going to get-this life and this world are going to get restored and renewed into something we can’t even imagine.
And with that-I’m glad God knows. I’m also glad that because He knows, that’s one less thing I have to worry about.