Today’s 333 Devotional: “Seen, Heard, and Delivered”

While there are a lot of great lines and stories associated with the Exodus, one of my favorites is what the Lord said to Moses at the burning bush.

“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.” (Exodus 3:7-8)

The key words are “seen,” “heard,” and “deliver.”

The children of Israel were in bondage to the Egyptians who abused, mistreated, and generally made their lives miserable if not a living hell through hard labor. And in their misery and pain they cried out to God for deliverance.

Does that sound familiar? Today with what is going on in our country as well as around the world with the coronavirus pandemic, racial violence, and economic devastation, causing food shortages, loss of jobs and lives, coupled with religious persecution, as God’s people we need to be crying out to Him.

The problem is that we don’t see God getting us out of the mess that we’re in, which may very well be an indication that we are getting close to the time of tribulation the Bible talks about.

But in our country, America, this is happening partly because we’ve taken, if not pushed, God out of our schools, government, judicial system, in our everyday lives, and as a result we’re experiencing God’s discipline.

However, in our story, and throughout the pages of the Bible, God’s character is not to turn His back on the plight of His people. Instead, He sees what is going on, hears our prayers, and will come down and deliver us, but not only deliver us from our problems, but also deliver us into the promises He has for our lives.