When the Egyptians enslaved the Hebrews and treated them cruelly, God paid attention. It must have seemed to go on forever. But God was not ignoring the problem. The Hebrews cried out to God and He was already busily at work raising up a leader who would deliver God’s people. (You know who that was, right?)
Exodus 2:23-25 sums it up:
After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned because of their difficult labor, and they cried out; and their cry for help rose to God. So God HEARD their groaning, and He REMEMBERED His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God SAW the Israelites, and He TOOK NOTICE.
Do you ever feel like God does not see your struggles? Do you ever feel like He is just not aware of how bad it hurts? Do you ever feel like He has forgotten you? Or that He is not hearing your prayers? Do you ever wonder how God can let you struggle with the same problems for years and years? (That has been an interesting journey for me; I have struggled with certain problems longer than I ever imagined, longer than I have even been a parent. Finances have been a challenge since I was a young, unmarried teacher.) So I do know it is easy to feel discouraged. But God never misses our pain. The Bible says He captures your tears—every tear—in a bottle. He sees and understands your suffering.
You may have noticed I capitalized each letter of the key verbs in the verses above. What did God do when His people cried out to Him?
He HEARD.
He REMEMBERED His covenant and His promises.
He SAW their suffering.
He TOOK NOTICE.
Amen! Isn’t that great? God saw their pain, heard their prayers, and He TOOK NOTICE. Amen. And consider this—the people were probably enslaved for more than a generation or two—God allowed them to suffer for a long time. But look at the amazing, miraculous, historic events that followed. When the Israelites walked out of Egypt, and when God drowned the entire Egyptian army and its chariots, the entire known world heard about it. All the nations were struck with the fear of God. All of them heard the news of all ten plagues, the death of the first-born sons, and the drowning of the world’s greatest army. Everyone knew about it and gave God the glory. And in the four thousand years since, the world continues to respect the amazing story of the Exodus.
My point? If we endure lengthy struggles, it may be so that God can do something amazing. In the end, the amazing deliverance will make the struggle seem small by comparison. Paul says that “the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that is to be revealed to us” Romans 8:18. God is going to do something so amazing that the glory to come will cause the struggle to seem insignificant by comparison.
God hears you. God sees your struggles. God hears your prayers. He takes notice. Be excited about that. The Hebrews were. When they heard that God had sent Moses, they were thankful.
The people believed, and when they heard that the Lord had paid attention to them and that He had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshipped. Exodus 4:31.
Dear God, thank you that you hear our prayers! Thank you that you see our problems and you take notice of our suffering. Help us to be encouraged, and to have the faith and hope to know that You are doing something great in our lives, even through our problems. Thank you that you notice, and that you never miss anything. We love you and we trust you. Thank you for the comfort and peace that you give us every day.
ΑΩ
Household Words: 