Everyday Gospel: A Daily Devotional Connecting Scripture to All of LifeExemplo

Nothing is more comforting than knowing that God watches over his people and hears their cries.

The Israelites in Egypt are experiencing horrible oppression. They are experiencing not just harsh treatment as slaves, but also the horror of the extermination of every infant son born to a Hebrew mother. It’s hard to imagine the scene of newborn boy after newborn boy torn from the hands of a pleading mother and thrown in the Nile to drown (Ex. 1:15–22). Here is a picture of life in this fallen, sin-stained world as black as it gets. Imagine the inescapable grief in house after house. Imagine the feeling of utter powerlessness. Could there be a more dehumanizing condition you could live in?

It is important to recognize how honest the Bible is about life in this broken world. The Bible doesn’t paint over the dark inhumanity, the deep grief, and the cries for help that are the result of sin living in people’s hearts. The darkness of sin makes the intervening grace of God shine even more brightly. When you read passages like Exodus 1–3, you think to yourself that there simply is no hope unless God acts in mercy to crush evil. The deaths of all these innocent baby boys cry out for another death, this one on a cross outside the city. The early chapters of Exodus preach powerfully to us of the need for a Savior who would once and for all defeat sin and death.

In this dark hour, when there seems to be no hope for the children of God, a beacon of hope does shine. The light of God’s presence shines on his Israelite children. Of course, they wonder where God is. Of course, they wonder if he hears their cries, if he remembers his promises, and if he cares enough to do something. But he is not absent. He has not ignored them. He has not forgotten his promises. He is not uncaring. He is not powerless. The words of Exodus 2:24–25 ring with as much hope for us today as they did in this dark moment thousands of years ago. He is the same God. He is for us what he was for them. Their security in trouble is our security in trouble. Their only hope in this broken world is our only hope in this broken world: “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” (Ex. 2:24–25).

God’s people were not alone in this trauma. They had not been forsaken. God heard. God remembered. God saw. God knew. And God would act in mighty rescuing power. Remind yourself today, as you deal with the consequences of life in a fallen world, that God hears, God remembers, God sees, and God knows.

Hope knows, in your deepest, darkest most alone moment, that you are not alone. God’s ears are always attentive to your cries, and he watches over you with eyes of mercy.

For further study and encouragement: 1 John 5:14