Seen, Heard, and Delivered

While there are a lot of great lines and stories associated with the Exodus, one of my favorites is what the Lord said to Moses at the burning bush.

“I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey.” (Exodus 3:7-8)

The children of Israel were really going through it, being in bondage to the Egyptians who abused, mistreated, and generally made their lives miserable if not a living hell through hard labor. And in their misery and pain they cried out to God for deliverance.

Does that sound familiar to anyone? Today with what is going on in our country as well as around the world with the economic catastrophe causing many to lose jobs, homes, and families, along famine, natural catastrophes, coupled with religious persecution, God’s people are in like manner crying out to Him.

The problem is that we don’t see God getting us out of the mess that not only we’re partly responsible for, but is also an indication that we are getting close to the time of tribulation the Bible talks about.

But in our country this is happening partly because we’ve taken if not pushed God out of our everyday affairs, and thus we’re experiencing God’s discipline. (We look at this in yesterday’s devotional “America’s End Unless We Repent”)

However, in our story, and throughout the pages of the Bible, God’s character is not to turn His back on the plight of His people. Instead He sees what is going on, hears our prayers, and will come down and deliver us, but not only deliver us from our problems, but also deliver us into His promises for our lives.