"...I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered My Covenant.
Therefore, say to the Israelites, I am the Lord and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and mighty acts of judgement."
Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and cruel bondage. (Exodus 6: 6, 9)
Amazing promises of rescue and redemption from God to His people who were so bitterly enslaved in Egypt! Yet when Moses carried the message to the people they could not hear it because of their discouragement. The original language says they could not hear because of their 'shortness of breath'. The bondage they were experiencing under Pharaoh was so great, it felt like it was crushing them physically. In fact the Hebrew word for 'Egypt' is Mizraim, from which they get their words for "crucible, anguish, crushing hopelessness". They could not hear, so God sent Moses into His great redemption story to take them by the hand and lead them out of their bondage.
Sometimes life is like that. Look around and you will see people bitterly enslaved to sin and circumstances, people in a fiery crucible, experiencing crushing hopelessness. People who live under such discouragement - such 'shortness of breath' - that they are unable to hear God's promises of rescue and redemption. God still calls people into His story, as He called Moses, to take the oppressed by the hand and lead them out of bondage. So I have a question for you: Does what breaks God's heart also break yours?
Consider this: We all know the shortest verse in the bible, "Jesus wept." (John 11:35) The occasion was at the tomb of His dear friend Lazarus, brother to Mary and Martha. When Jesus saw the weeping and mourning of the family and those who were gathered there, He was deeply moved and He wept. We miss it in our English translations, but the original Greek word "wept" means "shed a tear". Was it sorrow for those who had lost their loved one or the pain of death itself that moved Jesus? We just know what scripture tells us, that when He saw the mourning of the people, it moved him deeply and He shed tears.
There is another time we are told Jesus wept. In Luke's Gospel he writes that as Jesus was approaching Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday, He wept over it, crying out: "Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem...if you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace but now it is hidden from your eyes..." (Luke 11:42) The original Greek defines this weeping as "to weep, to wail, lament, implying not only the shedding of tears, but also every external expression of grief."
What caused Jesus His greatest anguish, weeping and lamentation was not the death of His beloved friend Lazarus - although sorrowful, Jesus knew He would see him again. But these gut-wrenching tears from our Lord were for those people who were lost and didn't even know it. You can almost hear it as He approached the city that fateful week - the breaking of God's heart.
Does the breaking of His heart also break yours?
Consider the rest of the story from John's Gospel. At Lazarus' tomb Jesus had the people roll away the stone. He prayed to His Father and then called in a loud voice: "Lazarus, come out!" (John 11:43)
Lazarus came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen and a cloth around his face. Jesus told the people standing there: "Take off the grave clothes and let him go." Jesus called Lazarus from death to life, but He also called the people to enter into the story by removing the grave clothes that bound Lazarus.
Throughout the millennium, God has always had a great story of rescue and redemption for people - a wonderful message of hope for those who live in cruel bondage and oppression. And when the hopelessness becomes so great that people cannot hear the message, He still looks for those who will enter into His story and lead by the hand, for those who will help remove the grave clothes.
Is He calling you?
O Lord - give us a heart like Yours!
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