God Hears His People

The Story of Crying out to God

Exodus 2:23-3:15, 16-17

For the next couple of weeks we are going to be jumping back into the Gospel Project.

This is a reoccurring three year teaching that we do that covers from Genesis to Revelation and everything in-between!

With the main focus being God’s plan for salvation through His son Jesus.

So we looked at creation over the summer and even got into Abraham and the promise that God had made him to make him great and his line would be as numerous as the stars.

Now we are going to be looking at Moses over the next couple of weeks and how God uses him to rescue the Israelites out of Egypt.

Before we can talk about that— I want to make sure we all know what is happening here and how we got here.

First off- Abraham had a son- who he was going to sacrifice— but God called him off.

Well from that moment Isaac who was Abraham’s son would have two sons named Jacob and Esau.

Jacob was clever and very deceitful and he ended up with the birthright and the blessing.

Which was meant for the first born Esau.

They eventually would meet up and hug it out and everything would be good there.

Jacob would have many sons!

One’s name was Joseph and Jacob liked him the most.

He gave him a robe of many colors.

That cause jealous and rage from his brothers who beat him up, threw him into a pit and then sold him off into slavery.

NOT the best brothers.

But while Joseph was being sold off— Joseph found favor with everyone that would eventually lead him to finding favor with Pharaoh!

And Pharaoh promoted Joseph to 2nd in charge!

A huge famine caused Joseph’s brother to make their way to Egypt.

They thought Joesph was dead at this point and they did not recognize Joesph.

Joesph eventually was like— Guess what I’M JOESPH!!!

They were scared— but Joesph was all like its okay— What you want to be used for bad— God meant it for good.

So all of Jacob and his family moved to Egypt.

Where they would be in place living among the Egyptians as equals.

It was not until Pharaoh died and the new Pharaoh did not know Joesph and they made the Israelites their slaves.

It was hard work and the Egyptians were not kind to the Israelites.

Look at Exodus 2:23-24

Exodus 2:23–24 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.

As we dive into this next part of the Gospel Project— we must understand that God hear us.

God Heard and He remembered his people.

Let me ask you a question:

Actually I want you to do something for me.

Call out the names of different charities and organizations they’ve heard about.

What do you know about those organizations?

How do they help those in need?

Each of these organizations started because someone saw a need when people were suffering and decided to do something about it.

When you see suffering, what are you moved to do?

Do you consider yourself to be a compassionate person who cares about the needs of others?

Have you ever felt like no one cared about you when you were suffering? Did you feel alone, invisible, or unimportant?

There is never a single moment when God is not aware of your hurt, disappointments, or challenges.

Today you will be reminded that God never forgets about His people.

He sees our need and will respond with compassion and wisdom.

So if you have your Bibles flip open to Exodus.

Do you know what Exodus means?

Exodus means “a going out” or “departure.”

This book of the Bible provides the historical account of God’s deliverance of His people from Egypt’s cruel slavery.

The people cried out to God.

They were in trouble and in need.

As we will see shortly the people needed someone and God was going to call someone to help lead His people out of Egypt.

God heard them and He was going to set his plan in motion.

GOD HEARS THE PRAYERS OF THE OPPRESSED

In chapter 2, we read about Moses’ birth (vv. 1-10), his growth (vv. 11-15), and his flight from Egypt (vv. 15-22).

The story continues in verse 23 with a new king ruling Egypt.

Despite this change in government, slavery remained intense. As a result, Israel groaned and cried out for help.

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. (Ex. 2:23-25)

When the people cried out, God heard them.

God also saw their oppression, and the writer says that God took notice of the situation (2:24-25).

God heard.

God saw.

God knew.

God’s attentive nature is revealed throughout Scripture.

God’s people can cry out to their God and trust that He hears them and cares about their situation.

In chapter 3, we hear some of the same language, and we see the Holy God to whom we pray.

This time God tells Moses that He has heard the groans of His people.

God calls Moses to serve as His agent of redemption, and in so doing reminds Moses that He has heard Israel’s prayers.

As a result of this, God tells Moses of His plan to free His people.

The writer gives the description of Moses’ call this way:

Exodus 3:1–6 ESV

Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” And he said, “I am the God of your 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 at God.

In this passage, we read of the burning bush and the angel of the Lord who appeared to Moses.

God spoke to Moses and called him to remove his sandals as an act of reverence.

Going Further with the Story

The “fire” represents God’s holy presence.

Fire appears later in Exodus and elsewhere in Scripture: a pillar of fire that leads God’s people; fire at Mt. Sinai; fire in the tabernacle; and fire on the Day of Pentecost.

When God forbids idolatry later in Deuteronomy, Moses says, “For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God” (Deut. 4:24).

The author of Hebrews uses this language also in describing how to worship (Heb. 12:28-29).

Fire is appropriate because we know that we are drawn to fire, even amazed by fire, but we also have to tell children, “Don’t play with fire.”

Fire must be taken seriously.

So must God because He is holy.

God then identified Himself with the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (3:6).

Before God entered a relationship with Moses, He entered a relationship with Moses’ fathers (see 2:24).

God was also giving Moses a bit of personal history of Himself.

All of this was to show Moses that the God of the burning bush wasn’t an unknown God; He was the God who acted on behalf of these men earlier in history.

Notice that God does not say, “I was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob…” but rather, “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob…”

This indicates that God’s people never really die; they’re part of an eternal relationship with God.

Who are some famous or semi-famous people you’ve met?

Does knowing about someone or meeting that person once mean that you know him or her? Why or why not? (p. 10, PSG)

You must have a real encounter with God.

An encounter with God leaves a person with an unmistakable sense of His uniqueness and holiness.

The next step is to decide if we are willing to trust the God we encounter.

You have to decide

Here is the deal

GOD RESPONDS TO THOSE IN NEED

We’ve seen how God hears the prayers of the oppressed.

Now let’s take a further look into how He responds to those in need.

Exodus 3:11–15 ESV

But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.” Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ” God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.

Moses wasn’t eager to go on this mission.

In their dialogue, Moses made several excuses for not obeying God’s call.

But God responded to each of Moses’ excuses and questions with statements about His own sovereignty and power.

Moses’ first argument was about himself. “Who am I?” (3:11), he asked.

He felt insufficient.

He essentially asked, “Have you considered my resume? For the last 40 years, I’ve been in a wilderness.”

Stop and think about it.

Even though he was once a prince, Moses is now a humble shepherd.

God asks this shepherd to confront the most powerful person in the world and tell him to let his slaves go free.

This would be sort of like an average blue-collar worker declaring war on a president of a major country.

Can you imagine your plumber declaring war on Russia?

Moses was an average guy, and alone he didn’t have great influence.

Yet God responded to Moses by revealing what was most important: Himself.

God said, “I will be with you” (3:12a).

Throughout the Bible this is what God’s leaders need in order to lead:

God’s presence.

That’s it!

Just God’s presence.

It’s the non-negotiable for serving God.

Think about Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Gideon, Jehoshaphat, and the disciples. (See Matt. 28:18-20.)

God was with them all.

In addition to God’s presence, God also promised deliverance.

God gave Moses a message to give to the elders.

Notice God’s sovereign prediction about what was going to happen:

Exodus 3:16–17 ESV

Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt, and I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey.” ’

God was not only hearing the cries of His people, but He promised that deliverance was coming soon, and that nothing, or no one, would be able to stop His plan from taking place.

Going Further with the Story

Moses still wasn’t convinced that God’s rescue plan would be successfully pulled off, or that he was the man for the job.

In chapter 4, he argues with God, complaining that no one will believe his message (4:1-9).

But God assures him that they will.

Then in the most widely known excuse, Moses uses his speech problem as a reason for not obeying God’s plan (vv. 10-12).

God tells Moses that his excuse is irrelevant and irreverent.

Concerning the latter, God says, “Who has made man’s mouth?” (v. 11).

God tells Moses that He formed him for a purpose.

God knows about Moses’ weakness, and it’s precisely because of this weakness that God will gain much glory.

God tells Moses that his excuse is irrelevant: “I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak” (v. 12).

God is looking for reporters, not public speaker.

We don’t have to make fine speeches; we just give the news.

Moses had to learn, like us, that “it’s not about you!” It’s about the I Am.

Moses’ final excuse is not so much an excuse as it is Moses’ desperate plea to pass the responsibility to someone else.

He is out of excuses.

Every one of Moses’ questions has been answered in stunning ways.

Now, Moses basically says, “Here I am, send someone else.”

God responds with anger (v. 14), but is gracious here as well.

He gives Moses some help by sending Aaron with him (vv. 14b-16).

CHRIST CONNECTION

At the beginning of our story, we see Moses leading his father-in-law’s flock.

The fact that Moses is a shepherd is significant.

Egyptians didn’t think highly at all of shepherds (see Gen. 46:34), and yet there is an important pattern of shepherding throughout all of Scripture.

Whether it is Moses who spent forty years as a shepherd in Midian, or the shepherd David who was taken from the sheepfolds to become king, it is clear that God loves to use shepherds!

God even refers to Himself as a shepherd (Ps. 23:1). And ultimately, salvation would come through Jesus, whom the Bible calls the Good Shepherd, the one who lays down His life for his sheep (John 10:11).

As we see in this story, the plan is in place.

God responds to His people’s suffering by revealing His promise of redemption to the reluctant shepherd-mediator, Moses.

And here we look forward through the Scriptures to Jesus, the great I Am who gives us an even greater revelation of God’s goodness and righteousness.

He is the Good Shepherd, who would lay down His life for His sheep, in order to lead us out of a greater slavery into a greater freedom, from the kingdom of darkness into His kingdom of light.

From a kingdom of bondage to a kingdom of freedom.

Let’s Pray

99 Essential Doctrines: Enslaved to Sin

Because of the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, all of humanity has inherited a sin nature that inclines them toward sin and rebellion.

Human beings are enslaved to sin (Rom. 6:17), continually living with the propensity to transgress God’s commandments whenever possible.

It isn’t until one experiences salvation through the work of Christ that he or she is able to overcome sin’s enslavement through the power of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:2).