THE GROANING OF THE CAPTIVE

Exo. 2:24

Morning Meditation 12/3/2015

"And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob."

The book of Exodus begins with the Jews under the heavy hand of Pharaoh. It was a Pharaoh who knew not Joseph. That was past history. God had blessed the Jews so much in the land of Egypt that Pharaoh saw the end of Jewish slavery. So he cracked down and with bloody whips drew from them slave labor.

When we come to our text the Bible says, "God heard their groaning." It is a sorry state when one human being beats another into submission and makes him work for just enough food to sustain his family. This is the condition that we are confronted with when we come to the book of Exodus. They were captives in a foreign land and were helpless to do anything about it.

God began the process of their deliverance with the birth of Moses. When Moses came to years we are told in Hebrews 11:24-26, "By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward."

Sometime in a depressed state, when it seems everything is going wrong, we wonder if God really does know where we are and what is happening to us. I believe this passage gives us the answer: "And God heard their groanings."

There is also something else God did. And God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob." A covenant with God is a guarantee that He will keep His promise. Exodus 6:5-6, "And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered my covenant. Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments:"

God's covenant reveals His plan. He had a plan for the nation of Israel. He would not allow Egypt to interrupt His plan that He had for His people.

Acts 7:34-35, "I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send thee into Egypt. This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush."

God's ways are not our ways nor our ways His ways. He never makes a mistake and in the end everyone will understand why He did it like He did.

Here is the promise made 400 years before. "To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; He said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance."

God never for a moment forgot Israel. He waited until He in wisdom knew the proper time for their deliverance. But He had never for a moment forgotten them.

Sometime the thing that makes us groan is necessary to get us ready for His mighty deliverance He is about to give.

A promise: Philippians 1:6, "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:"

May the Lord bless these words to our hearts.

In Christ

Bro. White