God Hears Before We See

Exodus 2:23–25 (ESV)
“During those many days the king of Egypt died, and 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.”

Exodus 2 is a chapter filled with hidden movement.

Moses is born under the shadow of Pharaoh’s death sentence. His mother hides him as long as she can, and when she can hide him no longer, she places him in a basket among the reeds by the river. From a human perspective, it looks desperate. It looks fragile. It looks uncertain.

But God is working.

Pharaoh’s daughter finds the child. Moses’ sister is nearby. Moses’ own mother ends up nursing him. The very child Pharaoh wanted destroyed is preserved inside Pharaoh’s own household.

That is the providence of God.

But the chapter does not move in a straight line. Moses grows up, sees the suffering of his people, and tries to respond. He kills an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew, and then he runs for his life. Suddenly the deliverer we know God is raising up is in the wilderness of Midian.

Again, from the outside, it may look like everything has taken a wrong turn.

But God is still working.

That is one of the themes that stands out in Exodus 2. So much of what God is doing is not obvious in the moment. Moses’ mother could not see the whole story when she placed him in the basket. Moses could not see the whole story when he fled Egypt. Israel could not see the whole story while they were groaning under slavery.

But the chapter ends with one of the most comforting pictures of God’s care.

God heard.
God remembered.
God saw.
God knew.

Those words matter.

The people of Israel were suffering, and it may have felt like heaven was silent. They were groaning under the weight of slavery, crying out for rescue, wondering how long this would continue. But their cries were not ignored. Their pain was not unseen. Their suffering was not forgotten.

God heard them before they saw the answer.

As I think about this passage, I am also thinking back to the message I preached on Sunday morning. We talked about Mary and the way she was given the assignment of being the mother of the Son of God. What an incredible calling. What an overwhelming assignment. But even though she received that assignment from the Lord, she did not know the full picture.

Mary did not know every detail of what would unfold.

She did not know all the ramifications of her obedience. She did not know everything that would happen through the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus. She could not have fully understood the sacrifice of the cross, the birth of the church, or the fact that generations later, in 2026, we would still be talking about her obedience and reading Scripture shaped by the story God was writing through her life.

Mary is a powerful case study, but that same truth reaches into each one of our lives.

Most of the time, we cannot see the full picture of what God is doing.

But the picture is not the goal.

Obedience is the goal.

That is hard for us because we like clarity. We like to know where things are going. We like to see the outcome before we take the step. We want God to show us the whole picture so we can decide whether or not we feel comfortable moving forward.

But that is not usually how faith works.

Moses’ mother did not have the whole picture when she placed him in the basket. Israel did not have the whole picture when they cried out under slavery. Mary did not have the whole picture when she said yes to the Lord. And we often do not have the whole picture when God calls us to trust Him.

But not seeing the full picture does not mean God is not at work.

That is the reminder we need.

Just because we cannot see His hand yet does not mean He has not heard our cry. Just because the answer has not arrived yet does not mean God has forgotten His promise. Just because the situation still feels heavy does not mean God is absent from the story.

God heard.
God remembered.
God saw.
God knew.

And when Scripture says God remembered His covenant, it does not mean He had forgotten and suddenly recalled it. It means God was acting in faithfulness to what He had promised. His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was still intact. Pharaoh could not erase it. Slavery could not cancel it. Time could not weaken it. Suffering could not make it void.

God was still faithful.

So today, if you are in a season where you are crying out but do not yet see the answer, take comfort in Exodus 2. God is not distant from your pain. He is not unaware of your situation. He is not confused by the delay. He is not late to the story.

He hears before you see.

And sometimes, while we are waiting for God to show us the full picture, He is inviting us to take the next step of obedience. He may be preserving. He may be positioning. He may be shaping. He may be preparing a deliverance that has not yet appeared.

The story is not over just because the answer is not visible yet.

Because the God who hears, remembers, sees, and knows is still at work.

Prayer
Lord, thank You that You hear us even before we see the answer. Help us trust You when we do not have the full picture. Give us the faith to obey even when the way forward is unclear. Remind us that You see, You know, and You are faithful to Your promises. Help us believe that You are still working, even when we cannot yet see it. In Jesus’ name, amen.