Verse for the Day, 16 June 2014.

Exodus 2:23-25  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.  (24)  And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.  (25)  God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.

The king of Egypt has died, but he has been succeeded by another. Any hope that the Israelites had of this new king easing the burden of slavery upon them quickly disappears. A deep distress and sorrow descends upon the Israelite nation for their suffering and slavery looks set to continue for many more years to come. In the midst of their great sorrow they cried out to God, that He might act so as to deliver them from their distress.

To a certain measure we can identify with the cry of the Israelites, we have found ourselves in great distress and sorrow, and like the Israelites, we have cried out for God to act on our behalf. These cries that we make are made with a mixture of anguish, sorrow, hope and doubt. We are in deep distress, we are gripped by anguish, we cry out to God in the hope that He might deliver us, but we often allow the distress to get the better of us and therefore doubt God’s ability or willingness to deliver us. These verses should greatly encourage us not to doubt God’s ability, willingness, compassion or knowledge.

We are told that the Israelites cried out to God for deliverance and God heard them, He remembered them and the covenant He had made. It is important that we understand what this means, God had not forgotten the covenant and the promises, nor had His ears grown deaf to the prayers of His people. God had set the covenant in place, and He had set the times in place for when these things would come to pass. What is being expressed in these verses is that the time for God’s covenant promises to come to fruition had now come. God had told Abraham this would all take place, his descendants would find themselves enslaved in a foreign land, but at the appointed time God would bring them out from slavery and into the Promised Land. This appointed time is drawing near; God is in fact already at work to this end in the life of Moses, a work that is hidden from the eyes of the Israelites. God never forgets His people, nor does He forget His promises, He shall bring them all to pass at the time He has appointed.

The encouragement doesn’t end there, look again at verse 25, “God saw the people of Israel – and God knew.” What incredible words! God looked upon His people, He saw all it was that they were enduring, but He doesn’t merely watch from a distance, He sees in a manner that He understands all that which they are enduring. We are told that “God knew”, He saw, He understood, He knew completely all that which they were suffering. This word “knew” implies more than just knowledge; it also conveys a sense of compassion, of showing a concern. God saw, God understood, God knew and God had compassion, He had concern for His people.

If we are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we can draw immense encouragement from this, God see us, He sees us when we are going through these times of great trial and distress. He understands and knows all that we are enduring, He knows the pain, turmoil and anguish that resides within the depths of our hearts, He see every tear that we shed, He hears every prayer and desperate cry. He sees, He understands, He knows and He has compassion and concern for us. And as we shall see in Exodus 3, He acts so as to deliver us!

Compassionate Father, we draw comfort from that fact that You are the all-seeing and all-knowing God. We are further comforted that You are also a God who is loving and compassionate towards His children. We thank You that our trials and sorrows, our tears and anguish, our cries and pleas are not hidden for Your sight, or unknown by You. You see right into our very heart and know all that which we cannot express with words. May we draw comfort from all this in our times of distress and may it strengthen us to trust in You all the more. Amen.