May 30 - Day 4 - Exodus 2:23

²³ After a long time …

the Israelites groaned under

their slavery, and cried out.

Out of the slavery their cry

for help rose up to God.

²⁴ God heard their groaning,

and God remembered

his covenant with

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

²⁵ God looked upon the Israelites,

and God took notice of them.

Exodus 2

 

STOP.

Today is Step Two

in the process of freedom.

 

If you didn’t read Step One yet

(and it was a weekend,

so you might not have)

please read Step One

– Day 3, May 28/29.

 

We can’t truly be set free

until we know what we

need to be set free from!

 

Here’s the situation:

 

·         The people of Israel were in bondage; they were slaves in Egypt.

 

·         You and I are also in bondage. We are slaves to unbelief, pride, false priorities (idolatry), prayerlessness, legalism, and any of a million different permutations of these and other worries, lies, and destructive habits.

 

In the last devotion we asked: Do you want to be free?! Do you want love, joy, peace, hope, and courage to fill your life? (Of course!)

 

·         Exodus 1 revealed Step 1: The first step to freedom – as we detailed yesterday – is: We must admit that we are powerless over _______—and that our lives have become unmanageable.

 

·         Exodus 2 reveals Step 2: “After a long time … the Israelites groaned under their slavery, and cried out.” That’s it. That’s step two. Cry out to God! (And Step 2b is to trust that it will “r[i]se up to God,” to trust that “God [will] hear[],” to believe that “God [will] remember[] his covenant [and promises].”

 

“But I have cried,” you say, “and I still don’t see hope or light or peace or ‘deliverance.’” I know. And it hurts. It’s so defeating and discouraging. But don’t give up yet! Two points will make the difference … first in understanding (“Oh, I see”), then in effect (“Wow, it’s beginning to work.”)

 

1.    First notice who cried out! It wasn’t one priest on behalf of the people It wasn’t just a handful of people. It was the nation as a whole. They finally hit a rock-bottom-point. They finally arrived at a condition where essentially all of them quit relying on human solutions and cried as one to God.

 

And here’s the application for your life: Is all of you really crying … or just part of you? Is it all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, and all your strength (see Deuteronomy 6:5 and Matthew 22:37)? In any areas of your life do you keep compromising, keep stalling, keep holding out?

 

God is a gentleman. He generally doesn’t choose to work … until we give him our full permission to work. Healing works best when we come to “the end” of ourselves, and cry, “I can’t. Therefore, God I am totally dependent on you.” (And since we like to be self-sufficient, many of us never really allow ourselves to get to that point … maybe especially men!)

 

2.    The second reason that it appears that we God sometimes doesn’t hear our cry is Step 4. (Hang in until Wednesday.) But we aren’t there yet! Therefore …

 

Today let’s stick with the first of these two barriers. What do you want to be freed from … but what are you still holding back? Are you excusing a sin? Are you compromising your integrity? Do you fail to believe – deep down – that God can or will act? Are you too prideful to admit that you really need help? In what ways are you not loving God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, and all your strength?

 

When problems arise, let’s not just cry, let’s cry completely.

 

In Christ’s Love,

a guy who spells “help”

with an ‘A’ and two ‘L’s

(A-L-L)