Setting My Watch to God's Time

Day 30 of 365...


Exodus 1-3


Key Passages/Thoughts:



Ex 2:23-25 - "After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned because of their difficult labor, and they cried out; and their cry for help ascended to God because of the difficult labor.  So God heard their groaning, and He remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  God saw the Israelites, and He took notice."


Ex 3:7-8 - "Then the Lord said, 'I have observed the misery of My people in Egypt, and have heard them crying out because of their oppressors, and I know about their sufferings.  I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them from that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey....'"


The Israelites had been in slavery for a very long time at this point.  They had grown weary and tired of what they were going through.  I'm sure through the hundreds of years of slavery that they cried out too many times to count.  However, there is an important lesson to learn here.  First of all, I am no different that the Israelites.  I find ways to complain to God about many different things.  I become so impatient with my current situation that I forget that I was the one the landed me there.  I ask and ask for deliverance when God is wanting me to learn surrender.  In these passages, it says that God heard their cries or groaning or prayers or whatever else they spoke to Him.  It is here that I can find comfort.  God hears what I say to Him!  Let that sink in for a minute.  The Infinite, Holy, All-Powerful God hears the words that I speak to Him.  I can't fathom how much worse it would be if He didn't!  As I read this passage, I realized that God was telling me that He hears me.  Sure, I'm no different than the Israelites, but God reminded me that He heard their cries, and He hears mine, too. 


The other thing that I realized in this passage is that God's timing is the most important aspect of how and when my prayer is answered.  Usually, I want God to answer my request now, in the way I think it should be answered.  God almost always has something else in mind, and it always seems to work out better than I could have ever hoped for.  Sometimes it's painful, but, in the long run, it's what I needed.  This passage says that God heard their cries and Moses was the answer to their prayers, as we find out in future chapters.  Israel had to remain faithful through many generations before God answered their requests.  It kind of puts things into perspective.  I whine and complain to God when He hasn't answered my prayer in 24 hours.  God's desire to answer to my prayer is in direct correlation with my desire for His will and not my own.  When my desires line up with God's, I begin to pray God's heart.  It is here that God will receive all the glory for an answered prayer.


God give the desire to seek Your heart and Your heart only.  Thank You that You understand my desires and longings.  I pray You give me patience as I wait for Your response to my cries for my hope is only found in You.