Category: God Takes Notice

Exodus 2:24-25 – God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.

“First, consider God’s knowledge of the oppressed. When the people cried out, He heard their cry. Not only did He hear it, He also saw or looked at their oppression, and He took notice, meaning He knew or was concerned (vv. 24-25). God heard. God saw. God knew. God’s ability to see and to hear appears throughout Scripture. Think of Psalm 34: 15: ‘The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry for help.’ God’s exhaustive knowledge or omniscience also appears often in Scripture. When the Scripture says that God ‘knew,’ it means that He knew all about them. God was intimately aware of their agony. And because God knows, He acts. Second, “He remembered His covenant with Abraham” (v. 24). God’s covenantal memory gets underlined here. God remembers His unbreakable promise of salvation. To ‘remember’ something means to bring it to the front burner and act on it. The term “covenant” appears for the first time in Exodus here. It appears 25 times in Genesis. The best definition of “covenant” may be in The Jesus Story Book Bible: ‘a never stopping, never giving up, unbreaking, always and forever love’ (Sally Lloyd-Jones, Story Book, 36). As mentioned above, Exodus and Genesis go together.”  [Merida, Tony. Exalting Jesus in Exodus (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary). p. 16]

God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and with Jacob. The word remembering, is not an accidental remembering, rather it is the reference to God’s faithful connection and adherence to the covenant made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Therefore, when we consider that in Genesis 15:12-16, God foretold of this exact occurrence, shows us that none of this was an unknown to the Lord, nor is salvation something that is reactionary of the Lord (as in the Lord never intended this, but he is now acting once realizing what has happened).  Rather, the situation of Israel and the Lord’s plan of salvation has always been planned of the Lord.  There was never a moment when Israel was outside of God’s plan of salvation. To take notice/remember, is a remembrance that is more than a mental act; it also includes a performance of God’s word: God hears, God remembers, God looks (considers), and God knows (is concerned). To remember is literally ‘to know’, which means to take note of with a new of caring. Hence, salvation is for the Lord to know, and for us to know the Lord. This leads us to also know that our salvation has always been in God’s sovereign plan and word (Ephesians 1).

Prayer Response: Lord, thank you that you hear and remember your covenant of love and grace! That is our salvation, displayed fully by the cross of Jesus Christ. Help us be mindful of this reality and live in the full confidence of your saving heart and faithfulness.

Song of Worship: Let’s join our hearts together as we sing “we hold on to every promise you ever made, Jesus you are unfailing!” “This We Know” by Kristian Stanfill

– MK

Exodus 2:23 – “During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God.”

The Israelites were now at a point of utter misery and need. Up until now there is no mention of crying out. They were just coping with life even through all the oppression and dominance, they seem to just be going with it. But they have come the realization, they are no longer seeking a betterment of their lives, hoping for relief, but finally they cry out in desperation. They have come to the realization of the utter despair, their eyes were opened to the ultimate deprivation of oppression, and finally come to crying out in desperation, the cry for help.

What does it mean to cry out in desperation and how is it done? First there needs to be a clear understanding of what sin and the oppression does in our lives. The ultimate effect is bitterness, life void of God’s rescue and blessing. Then wake up to your senses and stop settling with how things are and stop just coping with the disappointments, and the wrongs in our lives. Crying out is not about volume or just an emotional cathartic experience, but with the entirety of your life in honest assessment before the Lord and crying out for His help and deliverance. Let’s ask ourselves this question, do you really care that God takes notice of you? Has God taken notice of you? Have you placed yourself in a position that God would take notice of you? This is our salvation, when God takes notice of us and intervenes by His power through the Holy Spirit.

Prayer Response: Lord, help me in my current situation. Lord help my family. Lord help me in my work. Lord rescue me and those I relate with. Holy Spirit, come and intervene in my life.

Song of Worship: Let’s proclaim together over our lives, if “death could not hold you the veil tore before you, you silence the boast of sin and grave”, then how much more has the Lord’s salvation won over the oppression of sin and it’s effects? “What A Beautiful Name” by Ben Fielding and Brooke Ligertwood

– MK

Exodus 1:11 – “So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.”

The wording of “store cities” (Pithom and Rameses) is very similar to the wording ‘tabernacle’—the house of the Lord. Therefore, the idea being that the oppression of the Israelites led them to build monuments/structures of the oppressors. The very people of God who were called to worship only the Lord, they were instead oppressed to build places of worship for the enemies of God. However, what God’s rescue leads them to is to build a tabernacle—where they celebrate God’s covenant, revelation, rescue, and freedom. The rescue of God is not just for the release from building the monuments and structures of the oppressors, but to build instead the tabernacle of God where he dwells with His people and to celebrate God’s presence with us.

“God’s desire extended beyond liberating Israel from political, economic, and social slavery. He desired worshipers. He wanted Israel (like Adam) to know and worship Him. Further, He wanted to use Israel to make worshipers from all nations. Therefore, God responded to all of the dimensions of Israel’s slavery. He did not just free them from social-economic-political oppression and let them worship any god. Neither did He just free them spiritually without changing their awful situation.” [Merida, Tony. Exalting Jesus in Exodus (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary). p. 12]

Prayer Response: Lord, thank you that salvation is not just from living and building our lives in and for the world, but towards living in your abundant presence and building our lives for your glory. Spirit of God help us to grow in worship daily in your church and may that be a vehicle to bring others also into worship of your Son, Jesus Christ.

Song of Worship: Let’s lift up this song in prayerful desire unto the Lord. “Build My Life” by Housefires.

– MK

Exodus 1:14 – “They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.”

“Bitterness starts out small. An offense burrows its way into our hearts. We replay it in our minds, creating deep ruts that will be hard to build back up. We retell our hurts to any available listener, including each sordid detail. We enlist support, pushing us further into our resentment. We hear the offending person’s name and cringe. We decipher the offense as intentional and our offender as full of spite. We look for other reasons, both real or imagined, to dislike our villain. With each new piece of information, we form another layer of bitterness. We fool ourselves into thinking no one will know, but anger and resentment have a way of seeping into everything. Resentment is like a beach ball we try to submerge in the water. No matter how valiant our efforts, it pops up with all its vitality, splashing everyone around.” [Peterson, Anne, “How to Deal with Bitterness.” Christianity Today. March 15, 2011]

Bitter and harsh labor: this wording connotes the state of the Israelites and their need of rescue. Bitter (marah) is a common biblical word used when considering a life devoid of God’s rescue and blessing. That’s the effect of sin and oppression, bitterness mounts up. When you get bitter, there is no sense of God. It’s hard to think about God’s blessings in your life. It’s hard to think about God’s rescue. You also get tempted to make the wrong decisions about your faith, your family, your call in life. We really need to be aware of what bitterness does.

Prayer Response: Lord, would you open my spiritual eyes to see things for what they are. To see how bitterness can creep in and mount up and interfere with making the right decisions, thinking biblically and ultimately worshiping you with the whole of my life. Holy Spirit come and help, rescue me from bitterness of life that is transformed to worship you, serve you and love others.

Song of Worship: as we join in this song, let’s lift up our eyes to God. Away from the bitterness of life, unto lifting our eyes, our lives singing “you are the giver of life!”  “You Alone Can Rescue” by Matt Redman

– MK

God intends to rescue people from bondage and bring them into a relationship with him, so that they might live abundantly in his presence. You can see this thematic flow in the outline of Exodus below.

Rescue (1-18) In Egypt and in the desert

• Out of Egypt (1-12)
• Through the wilderness (12-18)

Relationship (19-40) At Mount Sinai

• Principle (19-24) for the relationship, law.
• Presence (25-40) building of the tabernacle, the manifest presence of God among his people.

“Why would you want to study this book? First, we need to know God better. We meet the living God in Exodus! Think of Psalm 66:5-7: Come and see the wonders of God; His acts for humanity are awe-inspiring. He turned the sea into dry land, and they crossed the river on foot. There we rejoiced in Him. He rules forever by His might; He keeps His eye on the nations. The rebellious should not exalt themselves. Come and see! We will see that God wills to be known and glorified. We will see a God who is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” ( Exodus 34: 6 ESV). In encountering this holy God we should, like Moses, bow down and worship (34:8).

“Second, we need to understand God’s redemption better. Exodus is a picture of the Gospel, and we will seek to understand Exodus in relation to Jesus. There are a number of reasons for this. In Luke 24, Jesus explained the Old Testament “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets…concerning Himself in all the Scriptures” (v. 27). “Moses” here is short for the Pentateuch, which includes Exodus! Earlier, in Luke 9:31, when Jesus talked with Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration and Luke says that Jesus spoke about His “death,” (lit. His “departure,”) the word there is exodos, the Greek word for “exodus.” Jesus’ triumphant death and resurrection was the greater exodus. Jesus would pass through the waters of death in order to deliver His people from bondage to their sin and take them to the new heavens and new earth. In the New Testament, Jesus is also referred to as “our Passover Lamb,” using terminology from Exodus (1 Cor 5:7).” [Merida, Tony. Exalting Jesus in Exodus (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary), pp. 4-5]

Prayer Response: Lord, thank you for the overarching heart of love and redemption. As we go through this series would you do a mighty work in your church. Help us to understand who you are and how you save. Helps us to have a greater understanding not just cognitively but also in reality of our daily living. In Jesus’ name.

Song of worship: As we join in the chorus, let’s proclaim that He alone is our salvation. “You Are My Salvation” by Martin Smith

– MK