Focus: Your God Cares!

Text: 1Pet.5:7

"Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you."

Of all who care about you, God cares more. If no one cares about you, then take it from me that God cares about you. That God who takes notice of the death of the sparrow given out as a bonus at the sales cares even much more about you.

Israel in Egypt is a case in point. Moses reports, "And the LORD said, I have surely SEEN the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have HEARD their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I KNOW their sorrows" (Ex.3:7). God is saying to you now: I see your pain. I hear your cries. I know of your deep sorrow, even the unuttered sorrows.

In verse 17, Moses continues, "And I have said, I will BRING YOU UP OUT of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, UNTO a land flowing with milk and honey" (Ex.3:17). God sees, hears and knows, and more so, He promises to get you out of your mess.

God says, "Now therefore, behold, the CRY of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also SEEN the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them" (Ex.3:9). God knows all about you and all that you are going through - every bit of it. He feels your pain. He is touched by all that touches you.

Moses says to Israel, "The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me, saying, I have surely VISITED you, and SEEN that which is done to you in Egypt" (Ex.3:16). God has arrived at the scene of your anguish and pain. He is right where you are now. He is involved in your crisis.

Back in chapter two of Exodus, we read, "And God HEARD their groaning, and God REMEMBERED his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob" (Ex.2:24). Again we read, "And God LOOKED upon the children of Israel, and God had RESPECT unto them" (Ex.2:25). The word 'respect' and the word 'know' are the same in the Hebrew. It means that God took intimate knowledge of Israel. 

God knows you and your history. He is familiar with and very much involved in your story. God looks at you and sees your agony. From His throne He sees all that goes on in your life.

We read of Moses, "And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and LOOKED on their burdens: and he SPIED an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren" (Ex.2:11). What Moses saw, God also saw. God and Moses saw the same thing, but Moses' response or approach was different from God's. God is God; man is man. God does His things differently from man's. Man often uses wrong means to achieve good ends.

Let's move from Moses in chapter two to God in chapter six. We read, "And I have also HEARD the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have REMEMBERED my covenant" (Ex.6:5). God heard Israel's groaning and remembered His covenant with them. 

God is remembering His word concerning you. His word never fails. His promises are sure.

Then we read of the people's reaction, "And the people believed: and when they HEARD that the LORD had VISITED the children of Israel, and that he had LOOKED upon their affliction, then they BOWED their heads and WORSHIPPED" (Ex.4:31). It's time for us to bow and worship our God! Celebration time has come. 

God is moving you from lamentation to celebration. God will deliver you from your own Egypt and bondage as He delivered Israel.

Moses writes, "And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the LORD LOOKED unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and TROUBLED the host of the Egyptians" (Ex.14:24). God will trouble your troublers. The word 'troubled' is translated in other Scriptures in the King James Version as 'destroy,' 'discomfit,' 'consume,' 'break,' 'vex,' and 'crushed.' The Egyptian army was hammered by God and put in the state of commotion. They were crushed and neutralized, and Israel was miraculously delivered.

Child of God, buckle up! Trust God to fight your battles! Believe that God truly cares for you and that He sees everything that is going on in your life. Raise your level of faith! Cast all your cares upon your God and leave them with Him! You will experience divine touch and deliverance. You will tell a different story. God will turn your woes into wonders. Your woes are God's raw materials, and you will greatly wonder at what He makes out of them. Be assured that your God cares. He sees. He looks. He knows. He remembers. He delivers.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter