“So I have come down to rescue them..” Exodus 3:8a NIV
Have you ever prayed for something that you really wanted God to move on. Or maybe it was less like prayer and more of this fervent agony stemming from a thing or situation that was totally and completely out of your control? Like there was nothing you could do about it except beg the Lord to rescue you?
The kind of agony that keeps you up at night?
The kind that forces you to relinquish whatever control you thought you had and humbly consent to the Lord’s authority and ability to get you out of this mess?
I have been there. Several times. Where life has forced me to acknowledge that if the Lord don’t do it.. well, it just won’t get done.
That is the state of being I imagine the Israelites were when we get to Exodus chapter 3. They were in total despair and in need of rescue. In Exodus chapters 1 and 2 we learn of the horrible and unjust treatment the Israelites experience at the hands of the Egyptians.
Until God stepped in.
Years passed, and the King of Egypt died. But the Israelites continued to groan under their burden of slavery. They cried out for help, and their cry rose up to God. God heard their groaning, and he remembered his covenant promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He looked down on the people of Israel and knew it was time to act. Exodus 2: 23-25
It was at this moment that we realize that it’s about to go down!! I mean, did you watch Dreamwork’s The Prince of Egypt? 👀
God heard His people and was moved to act on their behalf. You might be familiar with the rest of the story.. God called Moses to lead His people out. There were some plagues, the parting of the Red Sea and the destruction of Egyptians who thought they were more powerful than God. Wild.
The story is captivating. But I want to point you to a verse that is written even before we even get to all of that. And that is chapter 3, verse 8. God is talking to Moses at the burning bush and says that He “has come down to rescue them”. 🤯
Ya’ll I am geeked! God, the Lord of the whole ENTIRE creation, came down ⬇️!! I read this and reread it because I am just amazed that God, who could have wiped the Egyptians out with just a word or two.. He could have come to Moses in a dream.. He could have sent an angel to deliver the message but no He, Himself saw fit to come down to where they were. Meet them where they were and rescue them?! Faithful God.
That is such good news for us. To know that we serve a God who will leave His throne to come down to where we are and rescue us. That is what God did when the Israelites were in utter despair.
That is what Jesus did so that we would know that He hears our cries for help and He will rescue us.
John 1:14
So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have has seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only son.
John 3: 13-15
No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven. And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.