I want to shift gears and go back to the Israelites again in thought. They were four generations in their captivity, a total of over 400 years that they were there. They had lost much of the memory of their heritage. I do not mean that they lost it all, but those people had never lost, at least some idea, some conception, of God, a god and I do not mean that it was the true God at all, but they had a concept of God, even as we have concepts of God before God begins working with us. That is why they in their misery, in their captivity, in their slavery, that they begin to cry out to God. Hold that thought in your mind because they were doing the only thing really that they could do, in their kind of slavery and being part of a police state, they were helpless and the only thing that they could do was call out to their concept of God. So, they were groaning under the burden of everyday life without even knowing that God was already beginning to work in their behalf.
A cursory reading of that series of verses might give one the impression that God was just sitting there on His throne, twiddling His fingers and waiting for Israel to do something. But God had already begun to move. As a matter of fact, it was He who ensured that Moses would live through the slaughter of the children; it was He who directed the boat into the hands of the Pharaoh's daughter. It was He who ensured that Moses would have an upbringing and receive the benefit of a tremendous education, the best kind of secular education that could be given to a person at that time. It was He who began to put thoughts in Moses' mind that maybe indeed he might be the deliverer. It was He who spared Moses' life whenever the Pharaoh could have maybe taken it. It was He who led Moses to flee the land. It was He who led Moses out into the wilderness. It was He who led Moses to the family of Jethro and undoubtedly brought Moses into that family so that he would have the time, the opportunity, to continue the preparation that God was making for this man to lead His people.
Note from the first use of the word: God is a covenant keeper who hears and acknowledges the sighs of His people.
