“Then the Lord told him, ‘I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and lead them out of Egypt into their own fertile and spacious land.’”
After 400 years of the Israelites suffering in slavery in Egypt, God decided it was time to deliver them and lead them into the promised land. So He appeared to Moses in the form of a burning bush and told the Hebrew turned Egyptian royalty turned murderer of an Egyptian that he was going to be the one to lead the Hebrew people out of Egypt.
The Hebrew people had probably been praying for deliverance from day one, knowing that God had made a covenant with their forefathers to give them a promised land. But can you imagine how weary and discouraged they must have been when year after year went by, and generation after generation died off, and they were still left in slavery? They probably thought God had forgotten about them and lost all hope.
We can all relate to the wearying wait—to the "age-long minute," as Amy Carmichael put it—when day after day, month after month, year after year, our prayers remain unanswered. Discouragement sets in and we wonder if God will ever answer. In fact, even when Moses went to the Hebrew people and told them everything God had said about their coming freedom—their answer to prayer!—Scripture says "they refused to listen anymore. They had become too discouraged by the brutality of their slavery" (Exodus 6:9, NLT). Another translation says "they did not listen to him because of their broken spirit and hard labor" (HCSB).
What I love about this story is that even though the Israelites had lost their faith in God, God didn't lose His faithfulness to them. According to Exodus 3:7-8, God saw the oppression of His people, He heard their cries of distress, He was aware of their suffering, and He was coming down to rescue them. And rescue them He did.
The same is true for whatever we're going through now. God sees us where we are, He hears our cries for His help, He is aware of everything we're suffering, and He already has a rescue plan in mind. Will He rescue us on our timetable? Probably not, but we can be assured that His timing is the right timing. Our job, in the meantime, is to prevent a broken spirit from turning into hopelessness.
If you have a broken spirit right now because of a long period of unanswered prayer, don't stay that way. The psalmist says that a broken spirit is material for sacrifice: "The sacrifice You desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God" (Psalm 51:17, NLT). So you can take your broken spirit, offer it to the Lord, and He'll transform it. And most importantly, He'll give you Himself in exchange. And that's really the point. Not the rescue (although we think the rescue is the point!), but a deeper knowledge of God, which eternal benefits.
So be encouraged as you enter into this holiday weekend! You can rest in the fact that God has full knowledge of your situation and has already worked everything out for your good and for His glory. This chapter of your life has already been written in His book (Psalm 139:15), as has the one after that and the one after that.
And one thing's for sure: God is a master Storyteller.
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