Intro: One of my children asked for ice cream while I was eating it. I jokingly pretended like I didn’t know who she was.

[Mat 7:11 NASB20] 11 “So if you, [despite] being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!

Text:    [Exo 2:23-25 ESV] 23 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. 24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 God saw the people of Israel–and God knew. [Exo 3:7-9, 19-20 ESV] 7 Then the LORD said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, 8 and I 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 broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey. … 9 And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. … 19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand. 20 So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it; after that he will let you go. [Exo 4:31 ESV] 31 And the people believed; and when they heard that the LORD had visited the people of Israel and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed their heads and worshiped.       

Title:    God Saw, and God Knew

Thesis: God has seen what his people need, and God will intervene

Trans: Look at the proper hermeneutic. Is God consistent? Are you God’s people? Do you cry out to him?

• We have a consistent God.
• We are people who cry out to God.
• Call upon the name of the Lord and be saved. Works all things for the good.
• How do you know you are called? You call on him!

1. The people cried out and God heard           
   • The people felt unheard and forgotten
     • Pharaoh didn’t hear their cry. The former Pharaoh didn’t “remember” Joseph, and there is yet another Pharoah, who surely didn’t remember (400 years…)
       • MLK’s refrain of “100 years later”
     • Moses wasn’t hearing their cries. Possibly he had forgotten them.
       • Retell what has brought him to this point in time
     • Crying out does not suggest passive connection. They expected God to care.
   • They were wrong about being ignored. They were heard and remembered.
     • 3:7 in Hebrew is, “Seeing, I have certainly seen. Knowing, I have certainly known. Hearing, I have certainly heard.”
     • God is not ignorant. He knows the real need.
   • He remembered his covenant.
     • “remember” used to describe God when keeping his promises. “pay attention” in other places. “remember” the sabbath day… (commit to engage in. like cashing an undeposited check.)
     • Not by their merit
     • God’s plan remained at work (The sin of the Amorites had now reached its full measure per Gen 15:16
   • Trans: You know the voice of your children.
2. God knows what is needed and what will work                 
   • “I have come down [apocalypse] to deliver them… and to bring them up
     • God does not have mere empathy. He has come to act!
     • This is something he had committed to 400 years prior
     • [Isa 64:1, 4 ESV] 1 Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence– … 4 From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him.
     • Tabernacle. He is here to stay.
   • “I know [that this will take] a mighty hand. So I will stretch out my hand
     • God knows when his direct intervention would be needed
     • God also uses Moses and Aaron. Yes, God could do it by himself.      
   • “…after that he will let you go.” God knows what will work.
     • We see in Jesus that he knows what is (and will be) in people’s hearts
       • [Mat 9:4 ESV] 4 But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts?”
       • [Luk 16:15 ESV] 15 And he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.”
     • God knows the results of his own actions and plans
   • Trans: What a mighty God we serve. He is not ignorant of our past, present or future. Habakkuk: [Hab 1:2-5 NLT] 2 How long, O LORD, must I call for help? But you do not listen! “Violence is everywhere!” I cry, but you do not come to save. 3 Must I forever see these evil deeds? Why must I watch all this misery? Wherever I look, I see destruction and violence. I am surrounded by people who love to argue and fight. 4 The law has become paralyzed, and there is no justice in the courts. The wicked far outnumber the righteous, so that justice has become perverted. 5 The LORD replied, “Look around at the nations; look and be amazed! For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn’t believe even if someone told you about it. [Hab 2:3, 14, 20 NLT] 3 This vision … will be fulfilled. If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed. … 14 For as the waters fill the sea, the earth will be filled with an awareness of the glory of the LORD. … 20 But the LORD is in his holy Temple. Let all the earth be silent before him.”
3. Worship is the response
   • When they heard that the LORD had visited & seen, the result is belief, faith, and worship
     • The plagues start in chapter 7. All that has changed here is the people’s knowledge that God had heard and would be acting on their behalf.
   • This is a worship of humility. Remembering our place in this arrangement
     • [Job 37:22-24 ESV] [Elihu] 22 Out of the north comes golden splendor; God is clothed with awesome majesty. 23 The Almighty–we cannot find him; he is great in power; justice and abundant righteousness he will not violate. 24 Therefore men fear him; he does not regard any who are wise in their own conceit.” [Job 42:2 ESV] [Job] 2 “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
     • As the worship team comes up
   • We too can trust the promises of God for our future
     • [Heb 4:9-11,14-16 NLT] So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. ¹⁰ For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world. ¹¹ So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall.…¹⁴ So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. ¹⁵ This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. ¹⁶ So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.

Sing worship

Conclusion: Trust God with your circumstances. He has heard your cries. He has remembered his commitment. He will act, and he has seen the outcome already.

[Num 6:24-26 ESV] 24 The LORD bless you and keep you; 25 the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26 the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.