Prayer is the key to open God’s favor and deliverances.

“The Israelites continued to mourn because of their bondage, and they cried out to be rescued from their oppression. Their cry for help ascended to God. He heard their pleas and remembered the covenant He made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God saw the situation the people of Israel were in, and He was moved to take action.” Exodus 2:23-25.

Yesterday we learned how God multiplied the children of Israel in Egypt in their miseries and sufferings. Human sufferings and God’s divine plan was working out hand in hand. Chapter 1 ends with the statement of the King of Egypt’s command to throw all Hebrews boy in the Nile river. They are at the climax of their sorrows and disappointments. The very next chapter describes the birth of the deliverer – Boy Moses. The chapter describes the young Moses’ divine protection and says he became the son of Pharoah’s daughter because she saved him from the Nile river and wanted to keep him as her son and King’s grandson. The rest of the chapter gives us an idea about how God well trained the future deliverer in Pharoah’s very palace- the arch-enemy of the children of Israel. He got the best training and education available in those days. It also describes how Moses, when he grew up, wanted to identify himself with his people –the oppressed people of God. Hebrews writer said this about Moses when he grew up. “by faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He rejected the fleeting pleasures of sin and decided to go with God’s people and plan. When he thought having the disgrace for the sake of Christ has far greater value than the enjoyment of the palace. By faith, he decided to leave Egypt and its attractions because he was looking ahead for God’s reward.

You see, God was multiplying the children of Israel to build a nation out of them. He was also preparing a deliverer who would rescue them out of Egypt’s slavery and take them to the promised land that was already promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the book of Genesis.

Now, the right time appeared in God’s clock, when the Israelites moaned and cried out to God in prayer. Out insight says, the children of Israel groaned to because of their bondage, and they cried out to be rescued from their oppression. As a result of the cry out to God, what happened? Their prayer ascended to God. The next verse says four things God did. He ‘heard’ their cry, ‘remembered’ the covenant He made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God ‘saw’ their situation. He was ‘moved’ to take action. God heard, remembered, saw, and moved to take action.

Beloved, do you see how vital our cry of prayers to God is in fulfilling His overall plan in our lives? God in heaven has open ears for your cry and prayers. Bible says your prayer to God in the name of Jesus Christ (John 14:13-14; 16:24) ascends to heaven. As a result, he will hear, remember, see, or look at your condition and move with the action. Why pray in the name of Jesus? Jesus is the only mediator between God and people, and no one else is qualified for the task of intercession. Why? God has not appointed anyone else. Bible says Jesus is the only mediator, and he is the only one who gave himself as a ransom for all people so that they can approach Holy God. (1 Timothy 2:5-6).

Did you notice God’s responses based on the prayers of Israel’s children are described in terms of anthropomorphism? It is a literary form attributing our familiar human qualities to God. The term later referred to animals and nature as well. God is spirit (John 4:24), and he has no physical form. He is present everywhere at the same time, and everything is present for Him. He does not have the restriction of time like we do. How do we explain the divine works of God, who is spirit? This is why the Bible writers used anthropomorphism to make Him understandable and relatable to human beings. It is a frame of reference to know God and his actions by our experimental and familiar knowledge. For example, God does not need to be reminded. Our passage says He heard, remembered, saw, and move with action to make us familiar and understand the almighty, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, holy God who is separate from us.

Your miseries and sufferings could be a place of birth for God’s eternal plan to unfold in and through you. The question is, are you ready to pray and cry out to God in the name of Jesus Christ? God waits for your prayer to hear, remember, see your condition, and move with action in favor of you. The one thing that must happen is your cry out and prayer to God. God has thousands of ways to help and deliver you from your miseries.

“Father in heaven, I understand how my miseries could give birth to the fulfillment of your purposes and plans. As you the Bible instructs, I pray in the name of the only mediator, Christ Jesus, for salvation and deliverance. I believe Jesus died and rose again to reconcile me to you. I accept Him as my savior and Lord. In Christ’s name, I pray. Amen.”