By, Stephanie Bowman
In working through a study of Exodus, I came to the part where Israel is in bondage in Egypt. They were slaves, mistreated in the greatest manner. During this time, the Bible says the groaned because of this slavery. Webster defines the word groan as “a low, moaning sound; usually, a deep, mournful sound uttered in pain or great distress”. The people of God were in pain–pain from their enslavement and torture, and in this pain, they cried out to God.
These cries reached the ears of God, and the Bible says in Exodus 2:24-24,
“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.”
God KNEW.
This all wasn’t news to Him. He loved His people; He had covenants with His people, and He knew these things were happening to them. He had a Sovereign plan already in place for the deliverance of His people just as He had a plan that they would be in this position.
How many times are we in bondage and enslaved by the things that are not of the Lord? I think of some times how I am a slave to my phone….choosing to scroll social media instead of spending that time with the Lord. I think of the bondage of comparison, and how many times I let that steal my joy and contentment. I think of the bondage of complacency, discontent, and selfishness.
God knows.
God knows these struggles that I deal with on an almost daily basis, and he is waiting on ME to remember that He knows, and that He has promised to deliver me from these things. He hears my cries as I beg Him for forgiveness when I fail time and time again…and He sees me. He sees me as His child, and He sees me as one who is covered by the blood of His Son. He sees my pain and my sorrow and He sees my joy and my laughter. Nothing we do is a surprise to Him, and yet He loves us still the same.
I encourage you, as you are walking through each day, and you feel the weight of the day get heavier and heavier, cry out to your Abba Father, and rest in Him and His strength…because He sees you, and He knows.