Do you ever feel like God doesn’t notice you or even care? How could he among all the millions of people recognize you and your needs, let alone come to your aid to help? Be assured, God does notice you. We can know this because of how he cared for his people, the Israelites.

After God had scattered the nations at Babel, he chose one man through whom to save and bless the world and made a covenant with him (Gen 12, 15). God promised to give Abram offspring and make him into a great nation. And God does not forget his promises. After many years of waiting,

• The Lord took note of Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had promised. (Gen 21:1 NASB)

“Took note of” is one word in Hebrew—paqad¹—and is translated many different ways in different verses and versions. It appears as take care of, come to the aid of, be gracious to, watch closely over, be concerned about, attend to, pay attention to, visit, and observe.

Sometimes this word is repeated to add emphasis and comes out as indeed concerned or certainly take care of. Because we don’t see the original language, we miss the intensity of God’s concern.

This promise of God’s care was passed down from generation to generation; from Sarah to Joseph and his brothers:

• Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will assuredly take care of you (paqad paqad) and bring you up from this land to the land which He promised on oath to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” (Gen 50:24 NASB)

Then to Moses and the Israelites suffering under the burden of slavery in Egypt:

• Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has appeared to me, saying, “I am indeed concerned about (paqad paqad) you and what has been done to you in Egypt. (Ex 3:16 NASB)
• And when they heard that the LORD was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped. (Ex 4:31 NIV)
• And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, “God will certainly take care of (paqad paqad) you, and you shall carry my bones from here with you.” (Ex 13:19 NASB)

But God’s care was not over after his deliverance from Egypt. He reassured Hannah:

• The Lord paid attention to Hannah’s need, and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord. (1 Sam 2:21 CSB)

And then Naomi and Ruth:

• When Naomi heard in Moab that the LORD had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. (Ruth 1:6 NIV)

And the Israelites exiled in Babylon:

• For this is what the Lord says: “When seventy years for Babylon are complete, I will attend to you and will confirm my promise concerning you to restore you to this place. (Jer 29:10 CSB)

And finally to us, his children:

• Remember me, Lord, when you show favor to your people, come to my aid when you save them. (Ps 106:4 NIV)
• Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 1 Pet 5:7 NIV

When God takes note, we can be confident of a divine visitation and intervention in our lives … God is not faithless. God is not absent. God is not hard-hearted. God cares about our suffering. God cares about injustice and oppression, and he will do something about it.²

Danielle Parish

How has God taken care of you?

PRAYER

Lord God, thank you for your promise to notice me and come to take care of me. I may not be suffering as the Israelites did, but that doesn’t mean you care for me any less. I cry out to you as they did and trust that you will come to my aid.

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1. “H6485 – pāqaḏ – Strong’s Hebrew Lexicon (niv).” Blue Letter Bible. Accessed 23 Jan, 2025. https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h6485/niv/wlc/0-5/#lexResults ↩︎
2. Danielle Parish, The Exodus Bible Study (Carol Stream, IL: Rose Publishing, 2024), 17. ↩︎