God Hears Our Groaning

23 Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. 24 So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them.

Background

Israel was enslaved by Egypt

Israel groaned because of bondage

God heard their cry and He remembered His covenant with their fathers

The Main Point

God hears its when we groan and cry.

But what does God hear beyond our groaning, that invokes God to action?

What is groaning

Groaning is that behavior by which we express our feelings about a particular situation, usually something that is uncomfortable or painful.

Sermon Points

People groan for various reason

When times are hard

When goals and desires are not achieved

Most of the time, people groan

because the situation is not favorable to them, and

for present, earthly things

legitimate and illegitimate groanings

There are groanings that means nothing to God

Legitimate groanings

Groanings that please God

Israel’s groanings was acknowledged before God

God remembered His covenant with their fathers

God looked down and acknowledged them

Groanings that resist

John 11:33 NKJV

33 Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled.

John 11.33

Grk. EMBRIMAOMAI - to rebuke, to restrain oneself

Jesus groaned - He was resisting to be carried by emotion drawn by earthly situation (e.g. death of a friend)

The Bible teaches us to not murmur/groan because of earthly problems

, - Israel “complained” of their situation in the wilderness

Jesus teaches 2 things here

resist to be drawn by earthly problems

do something about it! -

Groanings that look forward to a wonderful future

2 Corinthians 5:2 NKJV

2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven,

We groan because we desire to be clothed with our glorious body - not because we are not comfortable in this world

Paul’s testimony -

Paul said - to live is Christ!

We groan in excitement for our adoption!

Groanings that please God are aided by the Spirit

this kind of groaning is not normal even for Christian

this kind of groaning is taught by the Holy Spirit

If we want to groan in a way that pleases God, we need the help of the Holy Spirit!

for then it is no longer of the flesh, but of the spirit

What do we do with our problems?

bring them all to God -

Conclusion

When we allow the Holy Spirit to move into our body, soul and spirit, He works in such a way that we drawn to God, and God is drawn to us!

If God “remembered” His covenant by Israel’s groanings in Egypt, what will God do if we groan because we resist the urge of the flesh and instead focus our life on our glorious time with Him?

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