Nougat 30

A friend and I were chatting recently. She said something and I responded. When she heard what I said, she replied, ‘I hear you.’ I assure you folks, it was a clear message of disagreement. Sometimes being heard does not signify intervention. Our Hope lies in the knowledge that when God Almighty says God has heard us, it’s action time. Hear what else God assures us in today’s Holy Nougat

“Then the Lord told him, “I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and lead them out of Egypt into their own fertile and spacious land. It is a land flowing with milk and honey—the land where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites now live.” Exodus‬ ‭3:7-8‬ ‭NLT‬‬

So we know God sees our circumstances AND hears us. But Moses needed a bit more than that to be convinced. And so God answered the unspoken prayer that haunted Moses for those many years in self-imposed exile – the one that haunts many of us in our moments of distress. God said simply, I see you. I see the suffering.

How many times have we had Moses’s query, wondering whether God realizes that we are in distress? The disciples cried out to Jesus, ‘Do You realize we’re all about to drown?!’ Now they knew Jesus’ healing and miraculous powers first hand; yet when troubles came – they doubted Him!

But Jesus intervened JUST IN TIME!

Exactly as God was explaining to Moses!

It is one thing for us to see and hear the suffering around us. And that is important. It is yet another thing for us to realize that we are called to intervene. (How many others may have been called before Moses’s time, who didn’t respond!) Moses did. The issue was that at the first bout, Moses was operating like the prince of Egypt; not the Called of God!

There is a difference. Ask David.

Despite being anointed to kingship, he humbled himself to LEARN about kingly ways from Saul as his musician; AND when faced with the oppression of Goliath, David did not falter. But he faced Goliath in the knowledge of Who it was that called, anointed and appointed him. David INSISTED that God had heard the cry of Israel and no ‘uncircumcised Philistine’ could defeat the Israelites. No matter how much larger than life Goliath was. David’s reply is legendary: You come with sword and spear; but I come in the name of the Lord (1 Samuel 17:45; read the entire chapter).

David KNEW his strength came from God (Psalm 121)! He focused on God’s purpose for his life, because he had a testimony of the Goodness of God (Psalm 27:14). He KNEW that God was conscious that they were at the end of the rope.

Do we need to cry out today? Or are we needing to tell Goliath (or king Saul) about the God Whom we serve? Do we need a reminder that God cares that we perish? Most of all, are we skylarking by trying to solve problems with our natural skills and gifts and abilities that are designed for us to work with God?

Chew slowly as we pray/praise.

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May all we seek be found in Christ