“And God heard their groaning and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel and God knew.”
– Exodus 2:24–25
What a beautiful passage of scripture at the end of Exodus, chapter one and two, and the horrible picture of oppression and slavery that we prayed through in Exodus chapter one, even in light of those realities in the world around us today. But to see these words, as the people of God are crying out to God for the Bible to say, “God heard their groaning and God remembered his covenant.” Now, obviously that doesn’t mean that God had forgotten his covenant with them. God doesn’t forget. He’s omniscient, he’s all-knowing. It is not in his capacity, he does not forget anything. But the picture here is God saying to his people, “I know the promise I have made to you, and I will be faithful to that promise to my covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob.”
We have a God who hears the cries of His people.
God Sees and Hears His People
God saw the people of Israel. Even that phrase, in their suffering, God was not distant from them. God was intimately aware of what they were walking through. So these are the last three words in Exodus 2, “And God knew.” So as you read these words, as you hear them, I want you to just let them soak into your heart as part of the people of God, in a world where groaning and crying out to God is a reality. I think specifically about one family that I know who has been through such a hard time. Family member after family member, after family member, who has been in the hospital with COVID and some who have died, and it’s just been such a hard road.
And so to read these words and to realize God hears our groaning, and God is faithful to his promises to preserve us to up hold us, to love us, to comfort us, to give us peace, to bring us through ultimately. God sees us and God knows. What a picture, I just want you to feel that I don’t know what you’re walking through in your life right now.
Exodus 2:24–25 Reminds Christians to Trust in God’s Provision
I’m guessing some, many of you who are listening to this are walking through hard times. And I just want to remind you for all who have trusted in Jesus, for all who know God, God hears your groaning, he hears your cries to him. I think about yesterday in my time with the Lord, just crying out in some different ways to God and just knowing he hears me, knowing that he is listening to me, that I can cast my cares on God, knowing that he cares for me.
We’re talking about God, not just anybody, God. I can cast my cares on God and know that he, the omnipotent omniscient, sovereign ruler of the universe hears me, and is faithful to me, and has made promises to me that he will keep, that God sees me and God knows me. And he knows what I’m walking through. He knows you. He knows what you’re walking through. God hears your cries and he will be faithful to every single one of his promises to you. So I pray this oh God, I pray Exodus 2:24–25 over every single person listening right now, who knows you, who has been reconciled to you through the blood of Jesus, who is your son or your daughter, who is in your family, who knows you as father. God, we praise you for hearing our groaning for hearing our cries to you.
Exodus 2:24–25 Thanks God for Knowing Us
And we praise you for remembering your promises to us, for always, always, always being faithful to your promises. God, I just pray that reality over everyone listening right now. That they would soak that in a fresh way today that you hear them. That you see them, that you’re not unfamiliar with what they’re going through. You’re intimately familiar with what they’re going through and you have promised to sustain them, to strengthen them, to satisfy them, to comfort them, to give them peace, and be their joy, and be their help, and be their wisdom, and just help them get through in some circumstances, just the next moment or the next day.
God we praise you for knowing us. We praise you that when we walk through trials, challenges, difficulties, that you know us, you see us. You hear us and you are always faithful to us. We love you, God. God, we trust in you. We lean upon you. We need you. And we praise you as the ever faithful, always hearing, always seeing, always knowing God. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
