We see that Jacob’s descendents had become slaves in Egypt. Things went from bad to worse for them. Pharaoh made them do slave labor. Then he made the labor severe. Then he tried to cut their population by infanticide. Then he tried to destroy the nation with genocide. At the end of chapter 2, they finally cry out to God for help. The text says that God heard them and cared about them. He loved them and would intercede for them.

The interesting thing is that even before they cried out at the end of chapter 2, he was busy working out his plan of deliverance at the beginning of chapter 2. He was preparing their deliverer, Moses.

When we pray about our problems and struggles in life, ie, when we cry out to God for help, it’s good to remember that God loves us. He cares about us. He has our best interest foremost in mind and he hears us! He will intercede for us! And above all else, even before we cry to him, he’s been busy with the solution all along. Now God let Israel suffer for another 40 years, probably because they weren’t ready for deliverance yet. The suffering would have an impact on their character. Sometimes when we pray, God lets us suffer more. But all along he’s preparing our deliverence.