Exodus 2:23–25Scripture
Lord, what a privilege it is to be here today. We are excited to open your word and hear you speak to our hearts. We're thankful not that you spoke once, but you continue to speak to us throughout generations, and we hold the promises you've given us closely to our hearts.
In your precious and holy name we pray, amen. Well, we are in Exodus chapter 2, moving right along, busting through this way faster than we did Romans. And so I will say it was a bit of a daunting task trying to do a whole chapter in one Sunday, picking out a general theme
Introduction
For the chapter. We have made copies of our study for the small group. Not everyone here is in a small group. We encourage you to get in a small group, to get plugged in. But if you're not quite there yet, I would still encourage you to pick up one of the studies. We have placed them at the coffee counter back there, and so you can grab one and take it home. And so we want to encourage you to do that, because there's a lot that we could visit about each week that I'm not able to go into full detail about, and you'll just really need to take responsibility and go through that yourself. Okay. Okay. After everything that's happened and everything that the nation of Israel has survived and gone through in Genesis, now we find them in Egypt, and the reality is things are not going very well for them. Can you relate? Right? There are times in your life where everything seems to be going sideways, right? Things just don't seem to pan out very well. And it's just great irony, because there is a high point coming out of Genesis, where now they are saved from famine, and because of Joseph they're able to be fed. They're able to be brought into a place where they are given a roof over their head, food to eat and a place to live in peace. And then we turn a page, and we get into Exodus, and things have gone sideways just that quick. Right? And sometimes in life it's like that. Everything seems to be going well. How many of you have ever heard the phrase that things come in threes or whatever, right? So something bad happens, and you just know, and people joke about it: two more bad things are about to happen.
Like, I can expect if one bad thing happens, many more are about to tumble into my life. And that's kind of what's happening to the nation of Israel, to the Israelite people: one bad thing after another. And the expectation of the promise to move forward in abundance and blessing seems to be unrealized for Israel. They do in fact move forward, just not the way they think. Isn't that crazy, though? Because oftentimes in life God gives you a promise that he will be with you, never leave you or forsake you, and then you move forward into that, and all you see is chaos and trouble and problems, and it's just disturbing. And we have a lot of questions that spring out of these kinds of things that happen in our lives. And then we're introduced to an Egypt where the people of God are not protected but are under attack. The sons of Israel are being pursued for the purpose of murder and having to be protected by midwives. And in the second chapter, one of those sons is preserved, but no one in Israel knows, or very few do. The mom does. The mom knows, but the nation
Point 1God works even when we cannot see it
Doesn't. Isn't it crazy that God could be at work in our midst and we miss it? And we don't miss it because we're unobservant; we miss it because we weren't supposed to know about it. You are uninvited from knowing he's delivering. It's not only deliverance because you know it's deliverance. It's deliverance because he says it is. It's deliverance because he's at work. It's deliverance because he's delivering, not because you're aware of it. And let me tell you, if it depends on your awareness that he's delivering, you'll never get delivered. Because if there was ever a generation more unaware than this generation, I don't know about it.
He delivers because he is God. He delivers because he is good. He delivers, and not on your timeline.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 6:38
Oh man, if anything about the story of Egypt should just rock you to the core, it's that God doesn't move very fast, at least not according to what I think is fast. At least maybe not fast for me personally, but fast for a nation. Maybe it doesn't happen on my timeline. But understand something: if you are an Israelite, you have no idea that the birth of Moses has happened, let alone the significance of that birth and what that will produce for future generations. Just think about that for a moment. We read chapter 2, and we get encouraged when we read this. It's encouraging. Matter of fact, as we read back through this, we know what's coming, and it's encouraging. But imagine living in it. Now, just back up for a second and put that in perspective with your problems. There is going to be a day where you can look back at the landscape of your life, and you can see the perseverance through trouble, and you can be encouraged by what God did in the midst of your trouble. But the reality is, when you're in it's hell. It seems like hell. It smells like hell. It feels like hell.
But God is delivering in the midst of your hell, and that's the good news.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 8:05
But it's often impossible to know, impossible to see, when you're in it. The Israelites in this stage, we're encouraged; they're not. They're very much discouraged. We're encouraged. Do read chapter 2. People, kids are just getting... It's bad. And even though we're reading this, we're encouraged, because we're like, "God's about to get them." They don't feel that. This was not an encouraging time. And honestly, you know, I try to prevent us from thrusting ourselves into the text, but if you just feel so compelled to do that today... Because this isn't a story about you. This is a story about God's goodness and his faithfulness and his purposes and his deliverance and his activity in our life. This is a message and a story about God. This is not a story about you. But if you just can't help yourself and you must thrust yourself into the story today, I just want you to understand this is not an encouraging time. And many of you are sitting in a place in your life now where it is not a very encouraging time.
But your feelings do not dictate the faithfulness of God.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 9:34
He is faithful in every way. Listen to this. This is, out of this whole chapter, this is the text I'm doing. It's going to seem weird, but I promise. And I'm just going to break down the sections and point out some key words in here, one section at a time. "During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned." They didn't groan because they were expecting; they groaned because they did not see hope. "The people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel—and God knew." This is so easy to make into a sermon. You hear the points. That's why I picked it. I try to go to the part of the chapter that's stupid-proofed, you know what I mean? Like, you could see it right there. I don't even need to tell you the points. Now you know all the points. It's all the "and"; there's an "and" before all of them. All right. And I love it. When you are waiting for deliverance from your trouble and you have not yet seen deliverance, you can begin to question God's goodness and his faithfulness. Oh, when everything's great, this seems almost sacrilegious, unthoughtful and unkind, to consider God in this fashion. But when all hell is breaking loose, these are our thoughts: Where is God? Is he good still, and is he faithful to do what he's promised he would do? The section really is divided well into many sections. The first part of this is, I would say that generally speaking there's multiple points, but generally speaking this section is broken up into two parts. Okay? The first part of this is what's happening on earth, and then simultaneously the second part of this is what God is doing in the heavens: his plan in the heavens unfolding on earth. So it's the problem on earth, it's God in the heavens with a plan unfolding his purposes on earth. And while he's unfolding his purposes on earth, he's doing so in the midst of their trouble as a deliverer, delivering them. But they don't see the deliverance while it's happening in the midst of their trouble, that God is actively involved in their lives. He has not checked out. He has not blocked himself from seeing what is coming into the future. He has not checked out, set everything in motion and let everything just run its course. He is actively involved in what is happening.
This is good news for us when everything seems to be going sideways: that God has a plan in the midst of your sideways.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 13:02
Unfortunately, though, like many of us, the Israelites don't see the second part of this. They don't see God at work. And you might not see it either, but you can know it, because he says it, that he is always with you and he will never leave you or forsake you. That's a promise you can take to the bank. See, so often in our life we live by what we see. We get disillusioned, and we don't hold on to what is promised, and so we cannot persevere the way we should in the midst of our race. It's important. We get to read about it in Exodus, but they don't get to see the second half of God's plan, of God's working, until 80 years later. Just do the math, right? Because we're at the part where Moses has been birthed. Okay? That's where we're at. He lives 40 years in Egypt. He lives 40 years out in the wilderness, in the desert, and then he comes back as the deliverer to speak to Pharaoh. Are you with me? 80 years from the time that God hears them, remembers them, sees them and knows their pain, to the point that they get a sense that God is showing up for them. Notice that I said that they get a sense of it, not that's when he started, because he was already doing a work when people were birthing babies. But they don't see his work till 80 years later, and that's the way it works. Some of you are not even going to live 80 years.
"God, move today. God, move this year. God, move. Hurry. This month, God, you need to move." If this is truth, the way God moves is not the way you think he should move, according to the way you pray in your prayer life, right? "I'm not coming out of this closet till I get an answer." You're going to be in there for 80 years. I know. This church is like, "I just want to go to an encouraging church with a pastor just not so sadistic." I mean, I'm just saying it's the truth. It's the truth.
He don't get in a hurry because you're in a hurry.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 16:18
He doesn't change his plan because you have a better one. The audacity to think you know better. That's fine. Go in your closet and cry out to the Lord and beseech him and share your heart and tell him what you really feel, and it doesn't have to be theologically correct. But just know that God moves according to his purposes, when he wants to. And although you can't see it, he's already at work before you even prayed it and requested it. He's already doing the work. He don't need you to lay out a timeline. He don't need you to request it for him to be like, "Oh, I never thought of that." You know? Like, he's already on the clock. Oh, good luck; it's going to be a wild ride today. But we can know he's there. How can we know it? Because he says he is. Not merely because of watching how he deals with his people in Genesis, not merely because he is the God who makes
Point 2Following God still means many days of trouble
And keeps his promises, but because of paragraphs in the Bible like this. The first part that stood out to me is "during those many days." We get this idea: we come to the Lord, and we believe there won't be many days of suffering. There won't be many more days. There won't be many more days of trouble. "I came to Jesus. I'm protected. I'm good. All of the pain, all of the struggle, all of the suffering, all of the issues that i've dealt with, all of the future hiccups and speed bumps, they're all gone. I have smooth paths, and everything's going to be okay." Wrong. When you sign up with the Lord, you're on the front line of God's ministry, and you're going to have 80 holes in you by the middle of the afternoon. That's the way it goes.
You haven't experienced opposition until you sign up on his team and put on his jersey.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 18:26
That's when you start to get hit. So if you're under this illusion that coming to Christ and responding to his call will then soften your life, you got it wrong. It don't work that way, ladies and gentlemen. It doesn't work that way.
Sometimes God's salvation looks like death on a cross.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 18:52
Sometimes God's remedy and recipe for beauty goes through ashes to produce what he wants there. He knows many days of trouble. All we see is instability, despair and hardship for the people of God. They don't know about the boy that's been born. They don't know that boy will one day be the deliverer of the people. They don't know the plan God is executing in their present and in their past, and they're crying out to God, and there seems to be no response. I mean, where in here do you have people walking out of their house and going, "That's all right, guys. God told me it's going to be all right. Just hold on 80 years"? Not that would be encouraging, but at least it would be an answer. No, there's nothing: 80 years of no response.
The response is the deliverance. The response is not a word. The response is God moving on behalf of the people.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 20:20
That's the response.
His movement means more. All of us waiting on a word, trying to get a word, trying to wait for a word. God will do what he will do. And let me tell you, his plan does not have to be your privy. I don't even know if that makes sense, but it just feels right, so I'm just going to say it. I'm not sure that's Englishing so good, but I got the mic; I can do what I want. "Their cry for rescue from slavery"
Point 3God hears every cry you cry
Did go to God.
Know this: that every cry you cry is heard. He is not deaf.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 21:12
I mean, some of us think he is, because there have been times in my life where my cry has got a little louder, because I just think he might have gotten hard of hearing. I mean, he's been around a little while. I mean, can you relate? Have there ever been times in your life where you pray so reverent, and then just everything goes wrong and sideways, and you're like letting him have it? You know? Are you too reverent for that? I mean, David does it. Elijah does it. And let me tell you, in case you didn't know, God can handle it, because he already knows the intentions of your heart and the thoughts and the meditations of your heart anyway, so you might as well just say it. But I just want to let you know he ain't hard of hearing, and that if you have a cry and you beseech him and you lift that to him, he does hear you. That's good news, because there is nothing more annoying than sitting at a table with people who won't listen, can't listen, refuse to listen and never hear. That's annoying. That's annoying. But God hears, you know. And God doesn't talk over you. Some of us wish he would talk more, but he don't talk over you. He listens. He hears. And quite honestly, he's already working on a plan that you just now got privy to: the problem. God heard their groaning. God always hears. I've heard some people question whether God hears them. Why do you think that people say things like this: "I'm just not sure God is hearing my prayers"? I mean, I've heard that a lot over the years. I believe people say that because God didn't respond the way that they wanted him to. So it's less about whether God hears them or not and more about how God responds to the cries of people. I mean, the audacity of us, seriously. "God must not have heard me, because when God hears me, I mean, when I jerk his chain and wake him from his slumber, he does exactly what I tell him to do. Okay? If he heard what I asked him to do, we know he would have heard us, because he would have done it by now. That's how I know if he heard me. When I pray, he responds and does what I say. That's how I know he heard me." Oh, so let me break this down for you. This is arrogant for three reasons. It's arrogant because we assume that the proof of God hearing us is God immediately doing what we tell him to do. That's arrogant. That makes you God, not him God. That's arrogant. That's idol worship, and you're the idol. And number two, it's arrogant because we assume that what we are asking God to do is in God's best interest. Okay? When in all reality, there are times that I ask for something that is not best for God or me. Our children are like this. Amen? And how many times do your children ask for something that you know is not best for them, and you tell them no? Let's just talk about candy at the grocery store, when they want something sweet, and it's not best for them, and it's not best for you. Praise God's holy name, because we don't need our kids going ding around the house. It's not best for them. It's not best for you. It's not best for anybody. I mean, if I would give Lon a flamethrower at the age of five, he would have burnt our house down just trying to see what would light up. It's not best for him. It's not best for me. Actually, we did go to camp one time, and he loved this, because somebody brought a leaf blower to camp. We all made fun of him. We thought he was ridiculous. We had no clue why he had a leaf blower, until the morning when he went around to every campsite and lit their fire, like the burning bush up in the desert. And I was like, "Maybe he is not so stupid," because that man made every campfire every morning. You'd just hear it, just from one campfire. You can hear it from a distance, and then you hear it get closer. Bam. Like, "Oh, we can almost get out and be warm." Leaf blower. That was a real, legitimate rabbit trail. I have no clue. But there are some things, there are some things, there are some things that are not good for you to have. Oh, did you know this?
Sometimes what is not good feels good, and that's what gets confusing.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 26:54
We have this expectation: "Well, God's going to do good for everyone, so if it feels good, it must be good." Wrong answer. Getting a no from a parent does not mean the parent didn't hear you. Come on now. Oh, they heard you. It was actually, in fact, the hearing that brought the no, because how could they give you
A no if they did not hear? A no is not indicative of lack of hearing. A no is indicative of proper hearing.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 27:35
You just don't like the no, so you blame the no on the lack of hearing. But the Bible says he hears, and he can say yes and no. "Oh, bummer. I thought I had him backed into a corner. If I ask it, he had to do it." Wrong. Number three, it's arrogant because we don't think about things from God's perspective. We only think about things from our perspective.
We know God hears because we serve a God who speaks.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 28:12
Just let that one sit a little bit. Think about it. We know God hears because we serve a God who speaks. I've spent the last several weeks in preparation for this sermon, and I have went around, not to anybody in the church, so that you don't think this is about you. It's not from anybody here. I didn't poll anybody here, but I did a personal poll. It's not as thorough as Barna, but it's good enough. It's a weak little shabby poll. And I spent the past several weeks asking people how they would know that God listens, and here are some of the actual answers, and I quote. All of them are subjective. People who went to the VBU will understand what I'm talking about. Everybody else, you can be lost, and I'm not going to fill you in. All of them are subjective, and none of them are objective, and that's the problem. We talked about subjective truth and objective truth, but all of these responses were subjective. They are as follows. Here they are. "I know God listens to me because whenever I lose something, I pray to God, and then I end up finding it right where I had looked before." Sound familiar? Like your keys. I ain't trying to hate on finding your keys and praying. I'm just saying, that's how you know God hears you? It's all about you getting what you prayed for exactly when you pray for it. That's how you know? That's how you know? "I know God listens because I asked him to deal with a coworker that was driving me crazy at work, and she got fired." That's legit, I quote, and I quote no one from here. Don't look around. I see some of y'all looking around. I'm just kidding. Just kidding. "I know God listens to me because I asked God to heal me, and he did." So everybody that didn't get healed, God didn't hear them, nor did he even care to listen to their cries? What kind of theology is this? "I know God listens because I needed a raise, and I got one." Oh man, little do they know that raise comes with pain. What are you going to think about God hearing you then? "I know God listens because I prayed for my dog, and my dog got better." I'm not trying to belittle these things, but I am saying that's subjective. Did you know that we can have something firmer to stand on than that nonsense? Let me give you a few. There's only two that I could think of; maybe you can think of some more objective ones. I know God listens because he promised he would in his word. In other words, I know God listens because he speaks. Are you with me today? Listen, I didn't mean to say that, but I didn't mean... Anyway. Listen. Okay. It's dangerous to assume that because you want something and it came to pass, it is evidence that God was listening or that it was God performing on your behalf. Sometimes I want something, and it comes to pass because of my disobedience, not because of God's purposes. Sometimes I want something, and it comes to pass because God wants to teach me that what I wanted was not necessarily good in the first place, and this is the hard way he's going to teach me. Once again, please recognize that an entire generation passes before them before the deliverance begins. However, they are amid deliverance.
I'm going to say this. Listen: it seems to them that an entire generation, 80 years, passes before God begins to deliver, but they've been in a season of deliverance, not just in Exodus, but from the beginning. God began delivering his people the moment Adam and Eve sinned. His plan was already in motion. It even goes back before that, because before the foundation of the world Christ was crucified for you. In other words, God had purposed in his mind before he even created the earth and made Adam and Eve, before they even sinned, he already had provision, because he had purposed provision and deliverance for the people who would sin. So just because you see it doesn't mean that's the moment he showed up and started to preserve and deliver. God has always... Because he is a deliverer, he is always delivering. Amen. So how do we know when God's delivering? When he entered existence? When is that?
He's always been. So in the midst of your... "So why, Shawn? Why are you telling me?" In the midst of your trouble, know there is a deliverer who was and is and always will be. So although you don't feel it, and although you don't see it, he is delivering you out of your trouble. He has a purpose. This is good news. This is something you can hang your hat on. And I know you want to hang your hat on emotions, but how many of us know that just flip-flops day to day?
Some people live their whole life waiting for a deliverance that they have been living in their whole life.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 34:36
Your whole life can be the story of God's deliverance, and you can miss it because it didn't happen the way you wanted it to. Think about the nation. Think about the Jewish nation. They missed the deliverance, and they were living in it: 80 years before they see it. But just
Point 4Is it enough that God hears you
Because they waited 80 years to see it doesn't mean God waited 80 years to start delivering. Let me ask you this question: is it enough that God hears you? Just track with me. I couldn't think of some really good characters that would apply to all people, so you're just going to have to insert names or characters or personalities in the world that you respect and that you think highly of, that might make you tremble in your boots a little bit to stand in front of. I have some ridiculous ones that you're going to laugh at me about, because some of you don't care. Neither do I. But I'm trying to make this hit, and I'm talking to the young people on this one, particularly the women. What if... Let's consider a few people, because hearing is more valuable than we think it is. When we think of God hearing us, we're like, "cool." But what if somebody valuable on earth gave you their ear? Let's put it in perspective. So, young lady, or a Swiftie, let's say that for your birthday your mom got the hookup. Taylor Swift came to your backyard. She was going to do a private concert in your backyard for all your friends, and then she hung out and stayed there for the weekend. I don't know why I'm yelling. And she ate dinner, and she watched movies with you, and at dinner she began to ask you about your life, what you did. She wanted to know you. Once a month she wanted you to come hang out on her private jet to go to her concerts, because she just loved hearing about your life. Hearing would mean something then, wouldn't it? That somebody would give you their ear, and you, beyond everyone else, Taylor Swift listens to you. Okay, some of you older people are like, "Who's T-Swift?" You know, I mean, I know we live in a volatile time right now, and our respect for presidents is low, and the dishonor we show in our house and in our joking and our jesting is dishonoring. So it's hard for us to contemplate political figures that you... It's always easier to look back in history and respect figures. But it's amazing, because people back in history respected figures at that time. What's wrong with us? So you think the problem is the candidate? The problem is you. Honor is about you. Honor is given whether it's earned or not. Honor is about you. The problem is not the candidate; the problem is you. You won't hear that. You won't hear that in many churches today. You won't hear it. I'm telling you, the problem is our culture and our lack of respect for humanity. Okay, that's... I just need to say that. So with that in mind, let's not talk about the two candidates running now, because there are some people in this church today, and I'm just... This is the diatribe. You're trying to decide if you're happy that Trump got shot in the head yesterday, and there are some of you in here today that wish it was biden. So let's just take them off the table, and let's go back and find and consider one presidential candidate that you respect, and say he invited you to the White House to have dinner with you, and you get into the room. Let's say you get into the Oval Office, and he asks you, "tell me what you believe would help our nation." He wanted to hear what you thought. What would that mean to you? I mean, I wouldn't go. I mean, I don't think... Would you? And if you would go, would hearing mean something? Because today we talk about God, and it's like hearing's not enough; he's got to perform. See, what if, like, the Queen of England, she's dead now, but let's say before, she invites you, and you get called into the room, and you might have 40 things you want the queen to do, or 40 things you want to request, but in that moment I have a feeling that you wouldn't ask one of them, because you're just happy to be invited into the room.
Did you know when Jesus died, the veil was ripped, and you were invited into the room?
Pastor Shawn Gray · 40:27
You were invited into the room. Why do we put more precious value on people on earth hearing us than God hearing us? I just need to move on. I need to move on. But this is special. God hears you. He hears you. And yet God hears you, and you act like that's not
Point 5God remembers, sees and knows his people
Enough. I've got to go. I really got to go. Listen: "God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob." They're crying out to God, and God is hearing. But God is not hearing because they are special people. Just don't get this wrong. This is not some Western where there's a force of good and a force of evil, and everybody that's good has white hats and everybody that's bad has black hats, and the Egyptians, they all have black hats in this Western, and the israelites, they all have white hats because they're good. That's not what's happening. They're all bad. Every one of them are filthy, wretched, nasty, terrible sinners worthy of God's wrath and destruction. There are not any good people in Egypt. It's not like all the bad people are in Egypt except for the israelites. Did you notice, did you notice that those who were saved were those who put the blood over the doorposts and the lintel of the house? Did you notice the Israelites had to do it too? Amen. Why? Because there are no good people there. Even they needed the covering of the blood. Shocking, right? You're like, "Shawn, that's not chapter 2." Well, I mean, I know. There are no good guys. Why do I draw emphasis to that? Because what I hear, and have prayed before, when people don't feel God hears them because God hasn't done what was requested of him: we actually believe that God answers our prayers when we're good enough.
No, God answers your prayers because he's good enough.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 42:51
That's right. Amen. In other words, we hang our request on our goodness and our deeds. This is what is referred to as liberation theology. Liberation theology states this: that God is always on the side of the oppressed. But sometimes the oppressed are oppressed because God made them so. So what of your liberation theology then? Let's just look at Jeremiah 29:11, one of the most popular T-shirt verses on planet earth: "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." Everyone wants to claim this as their life verse. But back up a few verses, to verse 4, all you liberation theologians. Read this: "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon." God did it. God oppressed them. In other words, God says, "I sent you to captivity, and you are going to be here for a long time." "But Shawn, what about Romans 8:28?" That's a good one. Let's read that: "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." But sometimes what is good doesn't feel good. Is it not enough that God foreknew you? Is it not enough that God predestined you? Is it not enough that you were called? Is it not enough that you were justified? Is it not enough that you are being and will be glorified? No one deserves redemption. "God saw," everybody say "saw," not "saw" but "sees," the people of Israel. Some say, "If God saw what was happening, there's no way," or "How could he allow this to happen?" God saw. God sees. I love this, because God is not deaf, God is not mute, and then we move to this place: God is not blind. This is the same God who saw his Son hanging on a cross, by the way. "Well, if God saw me in my pain, why didn't he deliver me?" Well, God saw Jesus in pain, and you're the beneficiary of what he saw, him not changing his plan. I don't have time to go into that, but, ladies and gentlemen, that's a big deal, because you're a beneficiary of someone else's suffering benefiting you, and God not acting, although he saw, was to your benefit. If God sees, he sees everything you do, as well as have done or will do. He sees everything we have done which is befitting his wrath. Think about that when you do the things you do and you think it is in private. What if God sees? What if what God sees controls his response? Where would the wrath of God go that was meant for me if it didn't go to his Son? In the light of this, how do you continue to pray to God about the injustices you faced at the hands of other men? See, all of you think what you want is justice.
But if you got justice, you would get hell.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 46:52
So I just want to say this: be mindful about praying for justice, or be mindful about the injustices you have faced at the hands of other men. Be careful to not pray that what is just comes to them but misses you. Are you with me today? It's very interesting. It's very interesting, because justice should be shaped by our ability to see that we're not getting delivered because we're special. We're not getting delivered because we're good. We're getting delivered because of God. That's it. "And God knew." I love this. "And God knew." That is a beautiful word in Hebrew, because in Hebrew it's the same word that's used when Adam knew his wife, and the result was a child. It's the same word. Actually, it is a term of intimacy. In other words, God wasn't hearing from afar. God wasn't remembering from afar. God wasn't seeing from afar. God was intimately involved with his people. "Shawn, where do you get this from?" Psalm 23:4 says this: "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death..." Where's God? Where's God? Is he far off? Where is he? "I will fear no evil, for you are with me." That's encouraging. How do we know that? Because it says it. God was with them in egypt. Where is God in the midst of your darkest days? He's with you. Oh, that's encouraging. That's encouraging, man. He's with you. He's with you. Oh man.
God hears you. God sees you. God knows you, because he's with you. And God has a plan.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 49:04
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