Exodus 3:7-11: a reflection

7The LORD said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. 8I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey; to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. 9Now, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me. Moreover I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. 10Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” 11Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”

At the burning bush, God tells Moses why he is acting, and the verbs are worth lingering over. I have surely seen the affliction of my people, he says; I have heard their cry; I know their sufferings; and I have come down to deliver them. Four movements: God sees, God hears, God knows, and God comes down. His people had cried in slavery for generations, perhaps wondering if anyone was listening. He was.

Notice how personal and attentive it is. God does not say I have noticed a general problem. He says I have seen your affliction, heard your cry, and, most tenderly, I know your sufferings. He is not distant from their pain, observing from far off; he knows it from the inside, and it moves him to come down. Their long, unanswered-seeming cry had reached him all along, and now he acts.

That is who God is toward suffering, yours included. When you cry out in a long affliction and wonder whether anyone hears, this is the answer at the burning bush: God sees your affliction, hears your cry, knows your sufferings, and is not indifferent. And notice how he chooses to deliver, by coming down himself, and by sending Moses. Often God's rescue comes not from the sky alone but through people he sends. Trust that your cry is heard by a God who sees and knows, and watch for the deliverance he sends.

Lord, at the burning bush you said you had seen your people's affliction, heard their cry, and known their sufferings, and had come down to deliver. When I cry out in a long trouble and wonder if anyone hears, remind me that you see, hear, and know, and are not indifferent. Come down for me, and send help.