Heard, Remembered, Seen & Known

It’s been a long time since I sat down to write. I don’t really know why, and I have been wrestling with that very question. Maybe I haven’t had anything to say worth writing down, maybe there’s been a fair bit of impostor syndrome, there’s maybe even been some guilt because there’s always something else I should be doing.

We’ve been hectically busy during the Covid-19 crisis, busier even than usual, and I’ve been focusing most of my creative energies into the online Junior Church that Joe and I have been running for the families of our fellowship, via WhatsApp. We started with the Easter story and then we dived headlong into the early life of Moses, from his birth and the bulrushes story right up to the parting of the Red Sea. It was a really productive experience spiritually as we dug deep into such a familiar part of scripture. Finding depth and meaning for the kids meant we were finding depth and meaning for ourselves.

One of the passages has struck a chord for me and has continued to resonate with me long after that week’s lesson was recorded and uploaded. Such a simple set of verses, but so filled with truth and hope and the loving involvement of our LORD.

“…The Israelites groaned because of their difficult labour; they cried out; and their cry for help ascended to God. And God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob; and God saw the Israelites; and God knew.

Meanwhile, Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law…” Exodus 2: 23 – 3: 1

Let’s look at chapter 3 verse 1 first of all.

I’m an impatient person when I see something I want to do or when I’m ready for a change. My mother has often referred to these seasons of life as ‘waiting room times’. I struggle to find purpose when my heart is ready for something new, and yet large portions of my life have been spent in a ‘waiting room’ when God has placed something on my heart but the time is not quite right for Him to bring it to fruition. I have learned to accept God’s timing but I’m still working on the patience and purpose bit. In this verse there is no sign of this impatience or hunger for change in Moses. He would appear to be content with the life he has found in Midian. He was a humble shepherd and – please note – they weren’t even his sheep. It was his people, back in Egypt, who were impatient for change, for their release from captivity, for their cruel labour under cruel slave masters, to end. The ‘meanwhile’ was most pertinent to them and it is understandable that they were impatient and frustrated, because it must have appeared to them that God was not listening and that He most certainly was not acting. They were crying out with pain, with anguish, with frustration, in the agonies of the reality of their existence. Yet … ‘meanwhile’ … a shepherd was about to get a shock.

You see, God was indeed listening.

In verses 24 and 25 of Exodus 2 we learn 4 mind blowing things about the Creator of the universe and LORD of Heaven’s Armies.

1. God heard

God heard His people cry out, He heard them groan. He also hears our prayers, our tears, our innermost reflections. We matter to Him intimately. God can hear our very thoughts so that even when we cannot verbalise our pain (or our joy for that matter) He still hears.

“Even before they call, I will answer; while they are still speaking, I will hear.” Isaiah 65: 24

When anxiety or depression hit me, one of my concerns is that I feel unheard. I need to cling to these two simple words and remember that that is never the case, my God always hears me.

2. God remembered

God remembered His promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And He remembers His promises to us. He remembers all His promises; He cannot lie and He is utterly trustworthy. Hebrews 6: 18 says, “…it is impossible for God to lie…” but check out Titus 1: 2, Numbers 23: 19 and John 14: 6 for 3 more examples.

Human beings find this concept really difficult to grasp because we all lie to a greater or lesser extent; half-truths, ‘little white lies’, lies by omission and full on lies to save our asses! So, it’s hard for us to get our heads around the very notion of a being who never lies who actually cannot lie because He is truth. But just because we cannot understand it, doesn't make it true.

So if God has made a promise He will keep it. To not keep it would be against His very character.

3. God sees

I love this. I love it because it sings in my ears with a Na'vi accent. Have you watched the movie Avatar? “I see you,” is a quote from the movie that I particularly love. It is said by the Na’vi (the indigenous people of the planet Pandora) as a declaration of love but also of ‘getting’ the person and of understanding the essence of them. I weep every time it is said. It seems like the ultimate declaration – I see you and I love you. Now, reading Exodus 2: 25, the quote means so much more. Because if God “sees me” then how much more intimately am I seen?

“As for you LORD, You know me; You see me.” Jeremiah 12: 3A

“Humans do not see what the LORD sees, for humans see what is visible, but the LORD sees the heart.” 1 Samuel 16: 7B

You see God sees us as we truly are; He sees the person He has created us to be, He sees our circumstances, He sees our struggles, our hurts and our wounds and He sees our hearts. To be fully heard and fully seen is to be fully known.

4. God knows

God knows us intimately and completely. Nothing is hidden from Him. He sees us right down to our DNA and He knows how many hairs are on our heads at any one moment (Luke 12: 7).

God knows everything we have ever done, or thought or said. He knows everything that has ever happened to us and everything that ever will happen to us. He knows our sin; He knows us.

Mind blown yet? Because, knowing all this, He loves us and chose to save us, paying the ultimate price.

Heard, remembered, seen and known. That is what being a Christian is. And above these; we are also loved, redeemed and saved.