for His glory, for our good

As I have been reading through Genesis and Exodus this month, I have begun to notice how often God's people cry out to him in distress and need. They cry out to Him often. Sometimes in response to testing that God has allowed in their lives, sometimes in response to discipline that God has established to teach them, sometimes in response to the sins of other people that have greatly affected their lives. It seems that God's people are constantly crying out to him for help.

Not only that, but God consistently hears the cries of his people. He hears them, and he knows their struggle. He sees them, and he loves them. If that weren't good enough, he also answers them and delivers them. Consistently.

My faith has been bolstered many times as I have read how God has heard his people and has saved them from distress. My faith has also been bolstered as I have read about the realities of the ways God delivers his people. He delivers his people powerfully and wonderfully, yet rarely immediately. However, in the time of waiting, He is at work. He never forgets his people.

The book of Exodus gives an account of God's people in Egyptian slavery for 430 years. No doubt, 430 years of crying out to God and wondering if He heard their cries. After about 350 years of their slavery, Moses was born. And indeed, the people of God were crying out - not realizing that God's vessel for their redemption had been born unto them. And Moses grew until one day, in his anger, he killed a man and became an object of hatred and fear by his own people. So he fled. And God continued to hear and remember the cries and distress of His people.

After Moses had been married and started a family, God met him in a burning bush and made clear to his chosen vessel the plans he had to redeem his people out of slavery. God chose a very fearful and faithless man to deliver his people. And by His grace, he faithfully and lovingly used Moses to do just that - even after Moses' many faithless words and acts.

And then God made deliverance much more difficult by hardening Pharoah's heart. Through this and because of this, God performed ten dreadful and miraculous signs in the land of Egypt. The purpose of this to establish his name and his power to more than just Moses. To more than just his people. Indeed, to the whole nation of Egypt.

And God led Israel, his chosen people, out of the land of Egypt. Powerfully and strategically. In such a way that his power would again be demonstrated for all of Egypt to see. God's name was to be made great in the life of Moses, in the lives of the 600,000 men of Israel - not including women and children, and in the lives of the many Egyptians who looked on.

God heard the cries of his people for 430 years. He heard them, and he sustained them through that time with deliverance in mind. But not just a deliverance to free them from bondage, but deliverance to make his name great. And not just to make his name great in their lives, but to make his name great in the world.

This is how God consistently answers prayer. He hears his people, comforts and sustains them, and he delivers them for their good and for his glory.

Am I patient enough to desire these kind of answers from God? Do I love his glory enough to love that this is how he answers prayer? Or do I simply want deliverance from bondage and distress - not caring about the good of others, not caring about the truth of God's word and promises, not caring that God's name be proclaimed throughout the nations?

Oh Lord, have mercy on me as you did with Moses, for I am just as faithless and fearful. Do not give up on me. Please do not forget me, but give me steadfastness by your Spirit to love your name and your glory more than my life. Make your name great through me because you are gracious, oh Lord God Almighty.