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Respect

Words of Faith Final

Respect
Words of Faith 9-13-2022
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2022
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
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Exodus 2
[23] During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. [24] God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. [25] So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.

These verses remind us how the Hebrew people got to such a miserable place. It is hard for us to imagine generations of hardship. In our modern world, we tend to be people who expect instant relief. When we suffer, we want a solution, and quick! A couple years in a "recession," and we are ready for change at any cost. We tend to use the most immediate pain medicine and the fastest economic solutions. The Old World moved much more slowly.
It seems that in the ancient world, people were aware that God was working over decades and even generations. They hoped not so much for themselves as for their people. The patriarchs knew that a "great nation" was coming but not within their lifetimes. Much of the hope of the Old Testament is expressed toward the coming of a Messiah that would not arrive for centuries. In our modern world of sound bites, podcasts, and 38-minute episodes, we tend to be a little less patient. We expect to see change in a much timelier manner.
In the case of the Hebrew people, it took several hundred years to grow the nation and another generation to set it free. While Moses was about the toilsome life of a sheepherder in the Sinai area, the Hebrews were groaning under their slavery. Some might have thought that God just was not there or that He had turned a deaf ear to them. Nothing could have been further from the truth. The plan of redemption was underway. The details of the mass evacuation were set. God had not forgotten! He remembered the promise and covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
There is a marvelous phrase in this text. "God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them." The truth was that God was always intimately involved in the painful hardship they were going through. He was deeply concerned. The Hebrew words here indicate that God saw or "experienced" their pain and had understanding. The KJV translates that the Lord had "respect" for them. God had respect for those who suffered. Respect not so much in the sense of admiration but in the sense of deeply understanding the pain of their experience and giving it weight or consideration.
Even though the suffering and death of Christ were more than a millennium away, God was and is eternal. He already knew the incredible pain caused by sin and injustice. He knew the price. He had respect for them.
There are times in our lives when we go through great difficulty. We may experience years of hardship or decades of pain. We may suffer under injustice and be tempted to think that God has forgotten us. It is not so. God looks at and feels the pain of his people. He respects their pain. It is not forgotten. Relief may not be immediate, but we can rest in the hope that it is coming.

Lord, help me through the hard times. Draw near to me as I draw near to You. Reassure me with the knowledge that You are there to bind up the brokenhearted and carry those who are hurting. In Jesus' name.

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2022
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2022 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.