Father, How Much Longer

 

         

William Carey had to overcome many obstacles to take the gospel to India. He finally found himself aboard a ship, bound for Asia. Before the ship lifted anchor, Carey was deposited back on land by the ship’s captain. The captain had received an anonymous letter against Carey. In response, Carey wrote to his friend Andrew Fuller: “All I can say in this affair is that, however mysterious the leadings of Providence are, I have no doubt but they are superintended by an infinitely wise God.”

In Exodus 1:1-14,22 we read  about how the descendants of Jacob  went into Egypt and how they multiplied greatly and became so numerous that the land was filled with them. Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us, if war breaks out, they will join our enemies, fight against us”.

The Egyptians came to dread the Israelites; they made them slaves and worked them ruthlessly.  In Exodus 2:23-25 we are told ” The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them”.

A new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.  This seems incredible since Joseph saved the nation during the devastating seven years of famine. How could they forget him? They did, people forget. We live in a “what have you done for me lately” world. Gone were the days when Pharaoh honored Joseph. Gone was the privilege given to the Jews because of Joseph’s position in Egypt.

Pharaoh concocted a three-part plan to keep these despised immigrants in their place. The first step was forced labor. Pharaoh had his plans, but God overruled him. Although he enslaved an entire race, the Jews continued to multiply and increase. The second stage of his evil plan was Genocide. He told to the Hebrew mid-wives to kill every new born boy. But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king commanded.

In the third stage of his evil plan, Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “Every son who is born you shall cast into the river.” The Israelites cried out to God. But, was God there? If he was, did he know what was going on with His people? Did He care? Had he forgotten them?  Exodus 2: 24 -25 answers their questions in a profound way; “God heard their groaning; God remembered his covenant; God was concerned about them”.

God was fully aware of their suffering. He knew how their bodies were ruthlessly subjected daily to exhausting manual labor (Exodus 1:11). He knew the horror and trauma of legalized, enforced infanticide (Exodus 1:16). He knew about their resentment, anger and hopelessness (Exodus 2:11-14). God knew and he was preparing to take action in a way that would leave a permanent, indelible imprint upon the collective memory of the human race.  

God foreknew that the Israelites would experience desperate suffering. Centuries earlier he had told Abram “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions” (Gen. 15:13-14).

God also clearly revealed a divine purpose in this horrible experience. . In Genesis 15:16, God tells Abram, “in the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.” With regard to Israel’s suffering, we see in the Amorite allusion God’s rationale for his timeline.  But, the enslaved Israelite’s prayers must have sounded much like David’s.

David prayed “How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Look on me and answer, Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall (Ps. 13:1-4).God rarely provides an answer to such a question.

But for Israelites in Exodus he provides an answer before the question was ever raised. How long, O Lord? Four hundred years. Why so long? Because my purposes involve far more than just Israel and Egypt; they also involve the sin of and my righteous judgment on the peoples of Canaan. When the time is ripe for me to fulfill my covenant to Abraham, it will also be ripe for me to judge the wickedness of the Amorites.

Moses was born at a time when there were great hardships in the land. He had to be separated from his people for a longtime. He was a foreigner on the "backside of the desert" for 40 years tending the flock (Exodus 3:1-5). Why was all this happening to him? Had God forgotten him? God had not forgotten him; the program was going on as planned. The "backside of the desert" experience was a time of preparation for his future assignment.

In his commissioning of Moses, God declared that He had "heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptian are enslaving and I have remembered my covenant” (Exodus 6:5).  God started answering their prayer long before they got into trouble, but they did not know it. The God who knows everything had known that trouble was coming even before it arrived. Isaiah 65:24 says “And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear”.

God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. When the Bible says that God “remembers” someone or his covenant with someone, it indicates that he is about to take action .After the flood God told Noah “I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life” (Gen.9:15).

When God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived (Gen.19:29). God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and enabled her to conceive (Gen.30:22). The psalmist prayed “Remember, Lord, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old…according to your love remember me, for you, Lord, are good (Ps. 25:6-7).

After a long period of preparation, God remembered his covenant with Abraham. Acts 7 tells us that Moses was born when the new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt (vv.18-20). Pharaoh’s daughter took him. When Moses was forty years old, he killed an Egyptian and fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner (v.23). After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in a burning bush. Moses was 80 years (Exodus 7:7) when God sent him to deliver his groaning  people.

In Deuteronomy 26:1-8 we read “the Egyptians mistreated us and made us suffer, subjecting us to harsh labor. Then we cried out to the Lord, the God of our ancestors, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our misery, toil and oppression. So the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders”. The Israelites left Egypt with great possessions (Exodus 12:35-36).

The enemies of God always try to get God’s people to think that God does not see. In Psalm 94:7-9 the Psalmist quotes such enemies " They say, “The Lord does not see; the God of Jacob takes no notice.”” but the psalmist asserts “Take notice, you senseless ones among the people; you fools, when will you become wise? Does he who fashioned the ear not hear? Does he who formed the eye not see?”

1 John 3:20 states that God knows everything. The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good"(Prov. 15:3). The righteous groan because of injustice and corruption; God sees everything that is happening to his people. When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears” (Ps 34:17). God knows his people’s weaknesses. He also knows the power, plans and the tricks of the enemy because nothing in all creation is hidden from his sight (Heb. 4:13).

God is in heaven; he does as He pleases (Ps.115:3). All the peoples of the earth are counted as nothing, and He does as He pleases with the army of heaven and the peoples of the earth. There is no one who can restrain His hand or say to Him, ‘What have you done?’”(Dan 4:35). The Lord Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him ? His hand is outstretched, so who can turn it back?"(Isa. 14:27). The LORD frustrates the plans of the nations; He thwarts the devices of the peoples” (Ps.33:10-11).

In the tearful, agonizing experience of slavery, it would have looked like God had forgotten his people. He had not and he knew just what he was doing. Are you crying out to God? Know this: Your God hears every word you cry out, even your unspoken thoughts. Your God remembers all His promises and He will faithfully keep each one of them (2 Cor. 1:20). He sees what is behind and what is ahead of you. He has hem you in behind and before and laid his hand upon you (Ps. 139:5).

God knows all the threats that you are facing. He knows you very well: Your failures, your weaknesses and your strength. He knows the path by which He will lead you. The reality expressed in the words “God knows” is a well of profound comfort and peace for us in our afflictions. Yes, there remain unanswered questions.  But, the words in Exodus 2:25 and Genesis 15:13-14 are full of hope.

If you are a child of God your affliction has a purpose. You likely don’t know what it is yet, but someday you will. Your affliction has a timeline. You likely don’t know what it is yet, and likely it already seems too long. But someday you will understand. And you will understand that the purposes for both your affliction and how long you were required to endure it extended far beyond the range of your perception.  

There is an exodus that is far greater than the mere escape from your affliction. Your sojourning in this foreign land is coming an end. There is a Promised Land far greater than Canaan (Heb. 11:13-16). And when you reach it, no matter what you suffered in this valley of tears, you will have no regrets. God will have worked it all for such good (Rom.8:28), that you will wonder that you ever questioned his judgment or goodness. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether (Ps.19:9).