Exodus 2:23-25,
I want to focus this time not necessarily on an example of prayer, but it's definitely a short little passage that helps inform our prayers. Just by way of context, at this point the people of Israel are in Egypt as slaves. It has probably been around 400 or so years since Joseph was there, second in command. And not only are they slaves, but as we're going to talk about in just a moment, this is a harsh slavery. As a matter of fact, Pastor Cook was reminding us of this a few weeks ago.

Even just reading through that, hopefully you found some encouragement already. But there are three specific ways that I think that this should help inform our prayers.

The first way is by remembering that God is a God who hears. The circumstances of Israel in this passage are quite bad. Just again, by way of context, verses 12-14 in chapter one say, “The more that they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel.” So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves and made their lives bitter with hard service. In all their work, they ruthlessly made them work as slaves. So this is a harsh slavery. And in the context of our passage, the king of Egypt who was responsible for some of that harsh slavery has died, but their slavery didn't stop, their conditions haven't improved. And we see here in this passage that they are groaning, they are groaning because of their slavery and we can understand why. Then we see this beautiful phrase in this passage which says that their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. I thought that this was very interesting because there is a couple of other places in scripture where this imagery of our prayers coming up to God are used. There's a beautiful verse in Revelation which talks about the prayers of the saints are like bowls of incense or that are like incense that rises to the Lord. Then again we're told in this passage that God heard. They groaned and God heard their groaning. So whatever your circumstances are this evening, you can learn from this that God hears your groaning. As a New Testament believer you're also encouraged and told that you have the Holy Spirit who intercedes for you in your groans which you cannot speak. So God hears.

It says that God remembered his covenant. Of course this doesn't mean that it's possible for God to forget. When it says he remembered his covenant, it is meaning that he is calling this to mind. And this is informing how he is going to respond to the groaning which he has now heard. So in particular, God is remembering that these are not only image bearers who are groaning, but these are the descendants of the patriarchs whom he had made a covenant to; Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So this means that God is going to treat them well for the sake of the covenant that he has made. In other words, he's going to do what he has already promised that he would do in delivering them. How does this relate to you? Well, this means that God also remembers the covenant that he has made with you, dear Christian. The covenant that he has made by the mediation of his only begotten Son. The covenant which was made in his blood, which has secured your eternal redemption. So again, whatever your present experience is, whatever suffering you are experiencing, God remembers the covenant which he made with you, and he is going to bring you to glory just as he has promised. And together, brothers and sisters, we are going to reach that blessed city that the patriarchs look to by faith.

God didn't need to be informed or reminded of the affliction or the suffering of his people. He didn't need to be informed. Scripture tells us that his eyes go to and fro throughout the earth, nothing is hidden from God. If I can paraphrase the psalmist, he says, “Where can I even go where you are not present?” So even before God's people cried and even before his people groaned because of their slavery, God knew. He had not forgotten that he had brought them to Egypt and he had not forgotten that he was also planning to bring them out of Egypt. And, dear Christian, neither has he forgotten your affliction. He knows. The same God who led you and leads you by the hand through your affliction is also going to lead you out of your affliction, whether in this life or the next. So take heart wherever you are, whatever is going on in life this night, whatever your lot is, God hears, God remembers his covenant that he has made with you, and God knows.

May these things stir us up to prayer.