Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. ⁹ “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. ¹⁰ Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.” ¹¹ So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.¹² But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites ¹³ and worked them ruthlessly. ¹⁴ They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brickand mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.” Exodus 1:8-14

“Patience is important when we consider the works of G-d” is a lesson that we learned in the previous devotion. However, in the first chapters of Exodus, we see that the people of Israel had been groaning under the weight of slavery and oppression in Egypt for a very long time. Finally, at the end of chapter two, G-d finally takes notice, and “remembers” his people.  The poets and the psalm writers often lament over G-d’s inactivity, G-d’s forgetfulness, G-d’s inattentiveness.

Awake, Lord! Why do you sleep? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever.
²⁴ Why do you hide your face and forget our misery and oppression? Psalm 44

But I cry to you for help, Lord; in the morning my prayer comes before you.
¹⁴ Why, Lord, do you reject me and hide your face from me? Psalm 88

Do you believe that God can draw away for periods of time? Does this thought scare you as much as it scares me? It may appear to us that G-d withdraws from us, but G-d is always there. Perhaps we have lost the ability to hear G-d’s voice, or have not set aside enough time to really listen like we should. My advice is to continue to listen for G-d’s voice—in time, we will realize that voice has always been there—we just have not been attentive like we should.

Pastor Dave