And the Lord said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. 8 So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey…” Exodus 3:7-8 NKJV
I know these verses from the Old Testament speak of a time thousands of years ago, but do they ever speak to me in my life today! God spoke these words to Moses as He was about to unfold His plan to bring His people out of Egypt and into the land He had promised them hundreds of years before. But people are people no matter what century they are living in, so I have to wonder what God’s people must have been thinking as they had been in bondage in Egypt for 400 years waiting for God to make good on His word?! I am sure I would have wondered where God was? What on earth was He doing? Had He forgotten His promise or even worse, had He forgotten me? Did He even care what I was going through? I cannot count the number of times questions like these have consumed me when I’ve been in the midst of the “bondages” in my own life! I’ve never doubted the existence of God but what was worse for me is to know He not only exists, but is all-powerful and has control over all things and yet allows me to go through loss, grief, trials, struggles, sickness, etc. I mean what kind of God is He?!
Well, the answer to that question is in verse 8 (remember this is God speaking): “So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey…” God Himself was coming down AND He was going to keep His promise to them!!! God was going to personally bring His people out of bondage and keep His promise to give them a new land. How amazing is that?! Now that’s encouraging word for all of us in whatever circumstances we find ourselves in today! But you know what? We have something even more amazing to get excited about!
As great as it was for God’s people in Egypt to have God Himself come down to deliver them, we have it even better—Jesus Christ has come down for us!!! It’s one thing for a Father to come down and do what needs to be done, it’s an entirely different thing for the Father to send His Son!! (If you are a parent, you know exactly what I’m talking about!) God loves us so much He sent His Son and His Son Jesus loves us so much He was willing to come!!! Jesus came to set us free from our bondage of sin AND to give us an abundant life!!! Now I still don’t understand God’s ways or His timing or why He allows some things and not others. But at the end of the day no matter what I am going through, I can trust Him with it. If God loves me enough to come down by way of His Son Jesus, He loves me enough to work in and through my circumstances and somehow work good out of it.
The children’s song we all know…“Yes, Jesus loves me; Yes, Jesus loves me; Yes, Jesus loves me; For the Bible tells me so” …leaves out the best part. Not only can I believe Jesus loves me because the Bible says He does, but even more because He came down and died on the cross for me!!!