God States He Intends To Use Moses - Exodus 3:9-10

“And now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me; furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them.  Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.”

Here God repeats what he had already mentioned earlier -- the fact that “the cry of the sons of Israel” has reached Him and that He had seen the oppression the Israelites were suffering under the Egyptians.  God is not always one of many words as you may have noticed through your reading of the Bible.  So when He takes the time to repeat something, it’s important.  And when what He repeats is a loving and caring expression of His concern for us, then I take great heart in it.  And so it is with these repeated statements that can be applied to us.  He hears our cries to Him.  He notes our sufferings.  He is fully aware of our situations, whatever they may be.

But He does not stop there.  The next word He utters to Moses (and thus to us) is “Therefore” and then He commences to outline His plan for getting the Israelites out of Egypt and freeing them from their oppressors.  God is moved to action when His heart is moved by what He hears and sees.  And we note that our God is a God of ‘planned action’.  His steps are well thought out in advance and His sense of timing is critical.

And then the next phrase is an example of how God approaches His children with respect to His plan.  He says to Moses, “Come now”.  Those are words of love from a Father to a son.  They remind me of the words in Isaiah chapter one, verse 18, where God says to the wayward Israel, “Come now, and let us reason together.”  God is forceful but He is not dictatorial.  He invites us to be part of His solution for mankind.  But we also must not neglect the significance of the word ‘now’ in the phrase “Come now.”  I am reminded here of the numerous times one of us adults (parents and grandparents) of my grandchildren calls to one of them and says, “Come now and see . . .”.  But instead, they dilly-dally and take their time and when they do get to us, the wonderful thing we were going to share with them (the Blue Jay at the feeder, the salmon in the river, the snake in the grass, the bee sucking nectar from a flower, etc.) has gone.  They’ve missed the opportunity to be part of the experience.  So it is with God; when He calls and says, “Come now” we can’t saunter over at our own pace; not if we’re going to be at His service.

Then God proceeds to give Moses his task.  He will send Moses to Pharaoh and it will be Moses that brings God’s people out of Egypt on God’s behalf.  What a privilege for Moses to have God want to use him in this way.

This whole scenario is a prototype of what God was going to do when He sent His own Son, Jesus Christ to deliver all of mankind from their sins and the oppression those sins cause.  Jesus had the awesome opportunity to be in His Father’s Service.  And God uses men and women even today to accomplish His plans for one, for a group, for the whole world.  There is much to be done at each of those levels.  Our job is to find out what God is doing and wants to do, commit ourselves to being available, stay close to His side when He utters the words, “Come now” directly to us, and then rely fully on Him to enable us to do what He asks.  Are you willing?  Are you ready?  He is able.

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What God Saw and Heard and Felt - Exodus 3:7

And the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings.”

Dr. Charles Price, in introducing some teaching on the prophet Isaiah, commented about the ‘old covenant’ that God had with His people Israel and how it was made international in nature when He established the ‘new covenant’ through His Son, Jesus.  And since God is constant, much of what we read about (with the exception of some actual specific events that applied to Jerusalem and the country of Israel or Judah physically) could well be taken to apply to us today.[1]  That came to mind as I read this verse.

I thought of all that the world and in particular, God’s people today, Christians, were going through.  I thought of wars where innocent Christians were being killed and of enslavement or persecution of Christians by those who hate Christ and what He stands for.  I thought of the crippling power of illnesses, disease, drugs, and broken marriages and families.  I thought of people being mentally taken advantage of by false doctrine, commercialism, and the like.  I thought of lives being ruined by sexual, physical, mental, and/or social abusers.  I thought of the lies of the Enemy that were devastating lives.  I thought of dictatorship or the movement towards it as well as the goal of Islam to take over the world.  And I applied this verse and God’s words to all of that, and to us today.

God says He does “surely see” the affliction of His people.  God is fully aware of everything that is going on here on earth – in your house, in your city, in your country, and in our world in general, especially where His people reside.  It is as clear to Him as was the suffering of the Israelites in Egypt.  And in fact, with all that is going on in Egypt today and the persecution of Christians and others there, we can safely say that both the old and new covenant members of “His people” in Egypt today are under His watchful eyes.  What a comfort we can take in that.

God has seen our suffering, but He also hears our “cry” if indeed we are “crying out to Him”.  You may well ask, “Doesn’t He know what is going on without us having to cry out to Him? I mean, He’s God, isn’t He?”  Yes, of course, He does and He is.  We already know that He sees our affliction.  But He can’t hear a cry that doesn’t exist.  We were created to be dependent on God and to be in fellowship with Him.  We were intended to be not only His people, but also His friends.  Can you imagine a marriage where the wife is struggling with something physically (like pulling the fridge out to clean behind it)?  Her husband is nearby reading (or watching television) and he hears her groans as she tries to pull the fridge out.  Yes, he can get up and help.  But he’s also careful not to interfere in something he may know she has wanted to handle by herself in the past, and so he’s reluctant to do so.  (Those of you who are husbands can probably identify with this.)  However, when he hears his beloved wife say, “Honey, can you give me a hand with this; I’m really finding it tough this time.  I must be getting older.  I need you” he smiles, says nothing, and jumps up to help.  His wife has shown her need of him and he’s only too willing to join forces with her.  That’s how it is with God.

Our verse under consideration here also speaks of His people’s “cry” being a result of their sufferings under their ‘taskmasters’.  Who are your taskmasters today?  Is it an abusive spouse, employer, church leader, or even a politician running your country?  Is it something other than a person – is it television, or sex, or the love of money?  Is it social media? (I can best identify with that latter one and have to set limits for myself; I have to find ways to stop trying to respond to all the posts I receive or to try to answer everybody’s questions.)  Is it a cult you are slowly getting involved with or one you’re already in too deep with?  Who or what is your taskmaster?  Is there more than one?

We need to take some time on our own to answer these questions and then cry out for help to God asking to be “released from our own taskmasters”.  My prayer is that you will have the willingness and courage to do so.  And then to do whatever you know you have to in order to stay free.

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[1] Sermon preached at The Peoples Church, Toronto, September 23, 2012.

[Are you looking for a speaker at your church, your club, school, or organization? Ken is available to preach, teach, challenge, and/or motivate. Please contact us.]

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