The Israelites lived as strangers in a country not their own for 400 years and experienced great oppression at the hand of a tyrant king (Ex 1:8–14). Can you relate in any way?

They express exactly how they feel.

The Israelites groaned because of their difficult labor, they cried out, and their cry for help because of the difficult labor ascended to God.

‭‭Exodus‬ ‭2‬:‭23‬‬ CSB‬‬, also Ex 2:24 (emphasis mine)

Understandably, they moan and sigh in pain and grief. They cry out in utter horror and distress. They ask for help, expressing their desperate need for rescue. This is the groan of an enslaved and persecuted people.

Scripture emphasizes that these are our expressions too.

• We ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. Rom 8:23
• I cry aloud to the LORD; I lift up my voice to the LORD for mercy. Ps 142:1
• Hear my prayer, LORD; let my cry for help come to you. Ps 102:1

Not indifferent or aloof, God responds.

God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the Israelites, and God knew.

I am indeed concerned about you and what has been done to you in Egypt.

Exodus 2:24–25 CSB; 3:16 NASB, also Ex 3:7; Ex 6:5 (emphasis mine)

God hears their cry and remembers that he has made a covenant with them, promising to bring them up from Epypt to the land he swore to give to their forefathers (Gen 15:13–16; 50:24). “The act of remembering was not merely cognitive but involved a commitment to act in accordance with what was remembered.”¹ God sees their plight, takes note, and comes to their aid. God knows in a deep, personal, and intimate way exactly how they are suffering.²

God also responds to us in the same way.

• The Lord hears when I call to him. Ps 4:3
• He remembers his covenant forever, the promise he made, for a thousand generations. Ps 105:8
• I will be glad and rejoice in your love, for you saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul. Ps 31:7

In keeping with his nature and his promise, God then acts.

I am the Lord. I will free you from your oppression and will rescue you from your slavery in Egypt. I will redeem you with a powerful arm and great acts of judgment. I will claim you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God who has freed you from your oppression in Egypt.

Exodus 6:6–7 NLT (emphasis mine)

God frees the Israelites, delivers, redeems, and takes them as his own. These four acts of God retold in every Jewish Seder are also promised to us as believers in Jesus.

• It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Gal 5:1
• For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. Col 1:13; Rom 5:9
• In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace. Eph 1:7
• In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will. Eph 1:11; Rev 19:7–9

God simply cares when people—all people—cry out. The Lord does not allow the cries of the sufferers, no matter who they are or who they do or do not worship, to echo into nothingness. God takes note. God cares. God hears, even when no one else does.³

Danielle Parish

I find myself naturally drawn to the plight of the Israelites and have had my share of groaning as all do who live in a broken world. And you? What is your cry to the Lord today? Remember that God sees you and comes to your aid to set you free and claim you as his own.

But, I know that I have never suffered to the degree the Israelites did. In fact, my life has been and is pretty comfortable. And so I am challenged to consider how I might also be like Pharaoh in some way. I’m reflecting on how I might be contributing (even inadvertently) to or ignoring the suffering of others and what I might do to help relieve it.

PRAYER

Precious Father, thank you for hearing my cry, remembering your promises, seeing my plight, intimately knowing me, and coming to my aid. You have set me free from sin, delivered me into your kingdom, forgiven me, and claimed me as your own. Even though you have answered humanity’s spiritual need, many still suffer today under the actual yoke of slavery and tyranny. Hear their cry, Lord God, and rescue them. And show me where I may be contributing to their suffering and how I might help relieve it.

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1. https://biblehub.com/hebrew/2142.htm ↩︎
2. https://biblehub.com/hebrew/3045.htm ↩︎
3. Danielle Parish, The Exodus Bible Study (Carol Stream, IL: Rose Publishing, 2024), 16 ↩︎