The Lord Remembers

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The Lord Remembers

You can’t appreciate it. When one part of your body hurts, it affects your entire body. If, for example, I took one of those big paper clips and put it right over a part of my finger that was burnt, I would feel it. But even more than that, if there was something good and joyous brought into my life, I wouldn’t appreciate it. If you put that big paper clip on this hand and put an ice cream cone in the other hand, I just wouldn’t appreciate it. In God’s word this morning, that’s what we have to understand. The Lord sent Moses to tell the Hebrews that the Lord was about to rescue them. 400 years has gone by, and now, in their generation, the Lord would rescue them. But when Pharaoh found out, he made their lives even harder than they were. So they lashed out against Moses and against the Lord. The Lord gave to them an amazing promise, that then, right at that time, the Lord was going to act. But they couldn’t and wouldn’t appreciate it because Pharaoh made their lives miserable. In these words that follow we see how the Lord kindly treats them: “² Then God spoke to Moses, telling him, “I am the Lord. ³ I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty, but I was not known to them by my name ‘the Lord.’ ⁴ I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land they lived in as aliens.” (Ex. 6:2–4 CSB17)

The Lord comes to his people to tell them that then, at that time, he was going to act. They groan and complain against the Lord. So he then follows up and reveals something very special to them. He reveals his name to them. He is the Lord. And in the words that follow, we see how much that fact will mean to them. For he doesn’t just tell them his name. He also tells them what his name means for them in their every day life. And so we read: “⁵ Furthermore, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are forcing to work as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. ⁶ “Therefore tell the Israelites: I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from the forced labor of the Egyptians and rescue you from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and great acts of judgment. ⁷ I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. You will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from the forced labor of the Egyptians. ⁸ I will bring you to the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.”” (Ex. 6:5–8 CSB17)

What does it mean that the Lord is their God? It means that they have a God who remembers. First of all, he remembers to rescue. Think of what their lives were like. 400 years before this the Lord promised to Abraham that his descendants would be slaves to an oppressive people. But at the then of that 400 years, he would rescue them. How many of the Hebrews forgot the promise that the Lord had made to them. But the Lord didn’t forget. He remembered. That’s what it means that he is the Lord. Second, it means that he redeems. He buys them back not just from the slavery under the Egyptians, but also from the slavery of sin. One of the amazing facts that we so easily forget in these words is what the Lord remembers. He made promises. He promised Abraham that through him all nations would be blessed. He promised to bring them up out of Egypt. And he promised to give them a promised land where the Messiah would be born. All these details that we so easily forget. But the Lord remembered. He remembered them because that is who he is. He is the God who remembers to rescue. He is our God who remembers to redeem. And our Lord wants us to know that these promises are written here not just for the Hebrews in Moses’ time. They are also written for us too. And that’s why it’s important for us to read these final words: “Moses told this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their broken spirit and hard labor.” (Ex. 6:9 CSB17)

Through Moses, the Lord gives them the amazing news that he is acting and fulfilling his promise now. And then the Lord tells him his own name—a great gift he had not given to previous generations. And here we see the result. They did not listen. They did not listen because they were “short of breath.”¹(Ex. 6:9 BHS-T)}} The concept and idea here in this phrase is that they were so oppressed and panicked, they could hardly breathe. And we are told that they did not listen because of their “harsh slavery.”² (Ex. 6:9 BHS-T)}} Despite all the good news the Lord had to share with them, when you’re in survival mode, all you can do is survive.

And so, my dear friends in Christ, my cherished Christians, where are you at in your life? In some ways we cannot compare our lives to theirs in Egypt. We have not been slaves. And we certainly have not been slaves for 400 years. But there is a sort of math that we have in common with them. We know what it is to have the cost of trials compounded by time. Notice what it did to them. They had the trial of being slaves. They had 400 years of living as slaves. And that led to them being unable to grasp the Lord’s promises. And instead they lashed out at each other. We too have the same temptation. Are you exhausted at having to hear another COVID announcement? Are you out of patience at having to put into effect another COVID regulation? God has allowed this trial to come into our lives. And, it’s the ticking of the clock, the day to day grind that slowly demoralizes us. And we too, just like the Old Testament believers face the temptation to lash out against each other.

But that’s why we keep going back to God’s word. That’s why we keep going back to words like these. Who is the Lord? He is our God. He is the one who remembers. He remembers to rescue. In the Lord’s good time he will rescue us from this virus and all the trials and tragedies it brings into our lives. But even more than that he will redeem us. For the times when we are exhausted and can’t seem to go on, how amazing it is to have a Savior like we have, who when he was so tired that he asked his disciples to stay up and keep watch with him, stayed awake when they slept. When we face the temptation to lash out against each other, Jesus was the one who bore our griefs and carried our sorrows. And even more than that, so that we would know that our sins were forgiven, he didn’t just reveal his name to us. He went even farther. He put his name on us in our baptisms.

Who is our God? He is the God who remembers. He remembers to rescue us and to redeem us. Let us remind ourselves of that fact now. And when we can look back after all this is over and say, “isn’t it nice to have all that trouble and all those trials behind us,’” let us also remember to praise and thank him. Amen.

¹ ”מִקֹּ֣צֶר ר֔וּחַ“

² ”מֵעֲבֹדָ֖ה קָשָֽׁה“