"WHY WOULD GOD WAIT?" (An Article by Christian Henry) ~ 10/27/26

“And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them.” (Exodus 2:23-25)

So far in the book of Exodus, we’ve seen some of the Israelites’ enslavement in Egypt and their growing unrest. To make a long story short, Jacob, Abraham’s grandson, and his large family came to Egypt, where Joseph, one of Jacob’s sons, was thriving; the family lived and grew there. After a few hundred years, the story of Exodus begins, and we see that the Israelites multiplied exponentially and filled the land. God intended this family as a sign of His favor and promise, declaring that He would restore His blessing to the world. But Pharaoh had other plans. This was a new Pharaoh, one who loved no one and respected no one, and who didn’t see Israel as a blessing. He thinks this growing Israelite immigrant group is a threat to his power. If they took up arms against Egypt, they’d quickly be overwhelmed. So, Pharaoh attempts to destroy the Israelites by brutally enslaving them and using them in hard physical labor. Egypt has become worse than Babylon, and Israel cries out for help against them and their enslavement.

Where we are now, around forty years had passed since Moses fled from the palace to dwell among the Hebrews, and Moses was about sixty (having been in Midian for twenty years), and at about eighty, he would be called to be the deliverer of his people. Egypt had gone through multiple leaders by this point, but that changed nothing about their standing, at least not for the better. The Israelites endured the intense affliction and its long duration until they saw no way out and finally cried out to God. They could no longer bear the treatment and, since they retained their faith in the God of their fathers, they cried out to the Lord for help. The greatness and vehemence of their cry was so loud that it reached up to Heaven, and came into the ears of the Almighty, who was pleased to admit and regard their cry.

The groans of the oppressed are loud in the ears of the righteous God, to whom vengeance belongs; especially the groans of God’s children, the burdens they groan under, and the blessings they groan after. God seemed moved by their prayers to give effect to the covenant, whose essential condition was the faith and contrition involved in the act of supplication, and in which God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He had promised to bring their seed out of a land not theirs in which they were afflicted, and into the land of Canaan; one flowing with milk and honey.

He only seemed to forget the promise He made, but in reality, was ever mindful of their situation; God knew before a single tear left an eye. No merit of theirs influenced what God did for them. It is an absolute fallacy to think that the prayers of the Israelites “changed God’s mind” or “caused God to reconsider”; freedom was always the plan. His eyes, which run all over the earth, are now fixed on Israel. He will be strong on their behalf.

In college, I was confused about this. Why would God wait to free His people? As written, it sounds like God’s hand was forced by their cries. I know that God is all-knowing and supremely wise and infinitely gracious, so what gives? Next, I did something I highly recommend for all seeking Biblical clarification: I called my Pastor Grandfather for help. He explained that God did this because He wanted to shape His people into a more unified nation and bring them to a place where they would all join hands and cry out for deliverance. God made it seem that He noticed their complaints and was moved to finally remember His covenant. But in reality, He needed no reminder.

Often in life, we endure stretches when too much is put on our plates, and God seems nowhere to be found. The weights are too heavy, and there’s no spotter in sight. “Where are You?!” we cry. We feel abandoned. We feel left behind. We feel forgotten. But rest assured, God hears you. Like a new parent who hears their baby whining at 3 AM, God is ready to sprint into His child’s room and help. In the case of the Israelites, I’m sure that they thought God was simply ignoring their cries. But He wasn’t. Returning to the parent and baby metaphor, just because the parent doesn’t appear immediately doesn’t mean that the child’s cries haven’t been heard. He delayed their inevitable exodus because He needed them to be in the right place to set the rest of the Bible in motion. They had to become who they needed to be, no matter how much heartache it caused their Heavenly Father.

When we don’t receive an immediate answer to our prayers, we need to keep this in mind. It’s hard, I know it is, but sometimes we need to consider what God is saying by His silence. Maybe there’s still work we can do for the advancement of the Kingdom from our current state. Maybe your circumstances are meant to inspire others to join the cause. Almost always, our lives are shaped by what we’re going through. Whatever the case, we must understand that our loving Father is waiting for a reason.