Then the LORD said, “I have observed the misery of My people in Egypt, and have heard them crying out, because of their oppressors, and I know about their sufferings. I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them from that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey-the territory of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
Exodus 3:7-8 HCSB

It’s easy for us to Monday morning quarterback where the Israelites are concerned. It’s easy to look at their ongoing pattern of crying out to the Lord only to be rescued and then mess up again. I used to read Exodus and think about these poor people who were wandering around in the desert for 40 years. Their trip from Egypt to the Promised Land should have taken about two weeks. Sadly, however, they wandered around for 40 years and most of them never even made it into the Promised Land.

In our Scripture passage for today, God is telling Moses He has heard their cry and has come down to rescue them. He wants to deliver them from the oppression and slavery they are facing in Egypt and bring them into the Promised Land. Many years prior to this, God had made a covenant with Abraham. He had promised Abraham to make Him into a great nation through His son Israel. He had told him that his ancestors would be slaves in a foreign land for about 400 years. You can read about this in the Abrahamic Covenant found in Genesis chapter 15.

God saved Moses from death as a baby and brought him out of Egypt to be a shepherd for his father-in-law. God did all this to prepare Moses to shepherd His people (Exodus 1-3).

I used to pity the Israelites for their failures, and then I realized I am just like the Israelites. God has rescued me from a life of sin and bondage to my sin. I accepted Christ as my Savior, but I still fail Him at times. I have often followed the same pattern they did. I was rescued, I grumbled and complained, messed up, suffered the consequences, begged God for forgiveness, God forgave me, I did well for a while and then I messed up again. Like the Israelites, I would repeat this pattern for many years in my life.

I would wander around in my own little wilderness. It would take many years for me to truly understand. Like the Israelites, I had become enslaved to sin. My sin was bringing me down. It was oppressing me and weighing heavily on me. It had become a burden. And like the Israelites, I cried out to God to save me. And He did. He freed me from my bondage to sin. He will do the same for you. All you have to do is ask and surrender to Him.

You often hear it said that the first step to solving a problem is admitting there is a problem. I will be spending this week talking about the Israelites and how I have identified with them. You may find you do also.

If you have realized that like the Israelites, you are in bondage to your sin and you want to be free. Do as they did. Cry out to the Lord. He will hear you and He will save you.

Have a great day!