Exodus 2:25 And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them.
God Knows You
Have you ever been forgotten? Most children have had the panicked feeling of losing track of one of their parents in the grocery store. They quickly find Dad or Mom, but being forgotten is a bad feeling. It is a feeling that most of us never outgrow. We feel forgotten when someone misses our birthday or anniversary.
The Bible says in Exodus 1:8, “Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.” There came a time, as there always does, where a person’s life is basically forgotten, where the next generation moves in and moves on. Instead of being blessed by Israel’s children, Egypt felt threatened by them. So, they put the children of Israel into bondage as slaves. All of this was because they had forgotten Joseph.
Pharaoh forgot, but God did not. Exodus 2:24-25 says, “And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them.”
God “heard,” “remembered,” “looked,” and “had respect unto” the children of Israel. Did God remember in the sense that a person remembers after he has forgotten? No, God never forgot. He was always in a continual state of mindfulness of Joseph, Jacob, and their descendants. God heard. Was that because the children of Israel were loud enough in their groanings of bondage? Well, God heard, but He is not a man that He has ears. He always remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God looked upon Israel, but it wasn’t as if God had to strain His eyes. God does not have eyes in that sense. God just has a real-time, perfect comprehension. He knew Israel, and He knows you.
Sometimes people treat us as they do precisely because they have forgotten, but God treats us as He does because He knows us. That’s where faith and trust come in. Sometimes we wonder why God will allow certain things if He remembers us and cares about us. God does what He does because God is good. God’s dealings with you are not accidental: they are deliberate. While we may not see how it all fits together now, God does. Israel’s bondage was part of God’s plan. God was in control, and God was working things out according to His plan for Israel and to fulfill His promise to Abraham.