Reading

• Ex. 1:1-4:31
• Ex. 6:14-27

Devotional

After Joseph died a new king came to power in Egypt who had not known Joseph. The Hebrews prospered and they multiplied and grew mighty in the land. The new Pharaoh feared that the Hebrews were becoming more powerful than the Egyptians, so he decided to make slaves of them. This went on for many, many years. And the Bible says:

Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them.
(Ex. 2:23-25 NKJV)

Had GOD somehow been unaware that the Hebrews were in bondage? Not at all; GOD knew exactly where they were. Rather, these verses explain what happens when GOD’s children cry out to Him for help. This is the attitude of our Father in heaven.

1. GOD hears us when we cry out to Him.
2. GOD cares what is happening to us.
3. GOD responds, in His perfect wisdom, with what is best for us.

In the case of the children of Israel, GOD raised up a messenger to lead them out of Egypt. That man’s name was Moses. GOD told Moses:

“I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”
(Ex. 3:7-10 NKJV)

Always know that GOD sees what you are going through and that He cares and is ready to help in the way that is best for you.