How Does a Christian Respond to Hurt?

Introduction

A few months ago, I was at my grandmother’s house playing with my baby cousin. We were out playing in the yard, when all of a sudden, I saw her begin to teeter and taughter. As I went to scoop her up, she fell over into the soft grass. Although this was not a real fall, I watched as the tears welled up in her eyes and the whimpering cries of “Mommy” arose. Because she was hurting, my cousin wanted someone to sympathize with her hurt and pain. She wanted someone to make that pain better — and that person was her mommy.

The idea of pain— whether physical, emotional, or psychological — is not something we are not unaccustomed to. No matter who we are, we will experience pain and hurt. The idea today is not how to live a pain free life, but rather what we as Christians can cling to in our pain.

Our text today covers a people who were accustomed to pain, even if it was more often than not brought on themselves.

Context

The Israelites were in the midst of their Egyptian captivity. Many years before, Joseph had been sold into slavery by his brothers and taken to Egypt to serve. During this time, Joseph quickly gained fame and notoriety for his service and was promoted to a high position in Egypt. What man meant for evil, God meant for good, and Joseph was able to help his family survive the famine. Eventually, all of Joseph’s family moved to Egypt, where they prospered. After years passed, a new pharoah came to power who did not know Joseph and his brothers. Seeing the quickly multiplying Israelites as a threat, the Pharoah decided to make them become forced laborers to the Egyptians. The children of Israel who were once held in prestige were now treated harshly by those who were once friends. Taskmasters were placed over them and hard labor became their daily task. The Pharoah so feared the Israelites that they commanded the male children to be killed at birth. Moses entered the scene in the midst of this context. Through extraordinary providence, he was made the prince of Egypt, but he was soon cast from their midst because of a wrathful response to a fellow Egyptian. Living as an outcast in the land of Midian, Moses lived as a shepherd. One commentator wrote that this shows how far Moses had fallen. An Egyptian would’ve never stooped to the position of shepherd, but this is what Moses had to do to survive. It is here that our text begins today.

Exodus 3:1–12 KJV 1900

Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God. And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto 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 is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt. And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.

The children of Israel were at rock bottom. Their captivity had left them with no other choice than to call out to God for deliverance. Through His great providence, God used Moses to be the deliverance that Israel had called out for.

Though there is so much great truth that we could discuss in this passage, we will focus tonight on verses seven and eight to remind us of what we can cling to in times of pain.

The Lord Sees Our Hurt (V. 7)

The seeing here indicates careful watching and close attention.

Proverbs 15:3 KJV 1900

The eyes of the Lord are in every place, Beholding the evil and the good.

One of the names of God is El Roi- the God who sees.

The Lord Hears Our Cries (v. 7)

How much importance does this display that the King of the Ages knows what we are going through.

The Lord Knows our Sufferings

This idea goes back to chapter 2

Exodus 2:23–25 ESV

During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. 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.

The Lord Cares Enough to Act (v. 8)

He rescued them from their current struggle

He would bring them to better things.

“We can count on His future goodness because of His past faithfuless!”

Where do we go with this truth?

When we go through pain and suffering in this life, we can cling to the truth that God sees our hurt, hears our cries, knows our sufferings, and cares for us enough to act.