There was a song that was song in the days of old that went like this: I love the Lord he heard my cry, and pity every groan.
In this scripture neighborhood of our text, we located this message in the book of Exodus in chapter one and two. In fact if we were to study this lesson closely we will notice that Exodus really picks-up where Genesis discontinues as it gives us the ancient description of how the children of Israel went from the episodes of years of Joseph to the affairs of Moses. Noticed that these scriptures, advances us from the stages of being blessed to an era of being in bondage, enslaved and suppressed.
And if we were to recall the events of the nation of Israel at one point and time it seems as though the Israelites felt comfortable, and content with living in Egypt and with the living arrangements in Egypt. And I think that I need to pause early and tell someone that we ought not get to comfortable and content in the living arrangements and in a bondage situation. I also notices something while they in were in Egypt. While they were residing in Egypt we see that they developed in their population and in their strength, but what they didn’t know and understand is that Egypt was not their permanent home.
And what they didn’t know is that Pharaoh’s plans were to starve them to death. In fact his agenda was to oppress them physically, emotionally and spiritually.
Under the thumb of Pharaoh they were facing annihilation, elimination and extermination. The scripture declared in chapter one and verse thirteen of Exodus, that the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour: verse 14 says “And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour”. The children of Israel were going through. The children of Israel were dealing with hardships and some pain. I can only image that the agony was almost unbearable.
And some of us may be feeling just like the children of Israel, sometimes you may find yourself enduring an overwhelming amount of suffering, and misery within your life, and the question is still, what should I do. How do I deal with this position that I’m in?
Can I tell you that in the time of harsh conditions that it is typically for some people to rely upon their emotions to deal with their troubles and their disappointments? Some of us rely on our emotions to deal with our displeasures and
discouragements?
But I think that I need to stop right here and to tell someone that needs this message, that in our time of need, is the time when we need to seek the Lord. In our time of trouble, is the time when we need to seek the face of the Lord, they needed to make some life changing decisions.
Because while they were going through these hardships the children of Israel had to make some decisions, they had to come to grips with some things. After the suffering in chapter one and most of chapter two, they had to make some life changing choices.
And some of us that are dealing with the pressures of life, those of us that are pressured with the weight and the forces of stress, we need to follow verse twenty-three closely.
Because in chapter two and verse twenty-three it says, “And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.
In verse twenty-three, their first response was to “cry”. Their bondage in Egypt gave them cause to cry. And someone that’s on the live who might be going through what you are going through, it just might make you cry. Crying is alright, but I think that I need to tell someone that crying by itself won’t make your problems go away. Crying alone won’t take care of the problems, in fact sometimes crying will send you into a dark space of depression.
Sometimes crying will make you feel like giving up. Sometimes crying will make you feel alone and by yourself. And I’ve seen at time that when some of us “cry” we will often respond to the situation with our emotions, which sometimes seems to make matters worse for us.
But on the other hand, sometimes crying relieves the pain, sometimes crying will become the release valve, the regulator, the spigot of relief, sometime crying can be good for us. Crying alone won’t always fix the problem.
At times when we “cry”, God is waiting for us to settle down with our emotions, so that he can minister to us. We need to understand that God wants us to do something about what causes us to cry. Although God know that we have all of these different kinds of emotions in our life. Because after all, He is the one who gave us our emotions, and He knows that our emotion are normal. But God want us to know that he is well able to take care of our problems, because God has been solving problems long before we have ever seen a problem.
But here is a secret. We have to be careful in life because sometime our troubles are because of our own actions and our own deeds. Because many of the trials and tribulations that the children of Israel experienced; were brought on because of their own foolishness and failures to put God first. Some of their problems were because they just made some bad choices.
And because of their erroneous choices, because of their mistakes and shortcomings, it brought them into an era of pain and misery.
So, what was their resolution, what was their resolve, what did they do? The bible said that they “cried. And again remember the realization that crying alone won’t fix the problem.
But I think that they finally tap into something. Let’s peep at this verse twenty-three again. The children of Israel cried, but then in their crying they added the most important ingredient necessary, look as what they did. They cried out, and their cry came up before God. What a powerful resolution.
Here is my argument. I believe that when we just sit in the corner crying and sucking on our thumbs, we are not gaining any traction, in fact we are doing the opposite of what God expect of us. God doesn’t mind us crying, but by him being our God want us to cry out to Him with our needs. Don’t just whine and complain. But add an additive to it, cry out to God, because believe it or not, the Lord desires are to set us free from the things that are oppressing us.
For these Israelites, in verse twenty four is says that God heard their crying and then he remembered his covenant, his pledge and his promise with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. And here’s a word for somebody, and that is when you press God for spiritual needs, you will get spiritual results.
Some of us may know how the children of Israel were feeling. Some of us have been through the fires, some of us have been through the floods. Some of us have dealt with the brutally of others, and some of us were enslaved to some ungodly situations. There are so many people who have been beaten, oppressed and imprisoned by the restrains of the devil. And it seems like things are not changing.
But in verse twenty four it is said that God remembered. That’s enough to shout on right there. God remember. God remembered me. God remember and did not forget. Someone
can shout for this point on, because some of you can remember that God remembered. God remembered the promises that he made. (And you do know that he is a promise keeper), yes he is. God remember the covenant that He had made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. So, when he heard the cries of his children sometime happened, sometime sifted, and something begin to change.
Please know that a sincere and candid cry to Lord is our way of petitioning him for a response. People of God, the Lord will hear your cry and not only will he hear our cry but he’s able to answer your call. Verse twenty five proves that to us, because verse twenty five tells us that “And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them.
So here it is, Moses people were suffering, and God responded to the cries of His people. About forty years had passed between Exodus 2:22 and Exodus 2:23, between Moses' flight to Midian and the response of God to the cries of His people.
The king of Egypt had died, and this was obviously the same king who had sought to arrest and execute Moses. Because of the very fact that his death is mentioned suggests that he was the same king, and now Moses was free to return to Egypt.
It is said that he could now return to Egypt without being arrested. The Israelites suffered and cried under the heavy weight of their enslavement. Remember, the Israelites were suffering severe, inhuman oppression:
They were being forced to labor for the state.
They were being worked ruthlessly,
They were given backbreaking, crushing tasks to do.
They were being viciously mistreated, abused, beaten, and slowly killed off in order to control the population growth.
And they cried under the bitterness of their enslavement. When Joseph was ruling Egypt, the people were comfortable and had plenty of food and everything else, living a life of ease. But not now: Egypt no longer meant comfort, plenty, and ease. Egypt meant enslavement, a life of hard labor and harsh treatment.
But when they cried unto the Lord God, God heard them, and just like the Lord heard them, he can hear you also.
