“I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt; I have heard their groaning and have come down to deliver them……….” (Acts 7:34).
Many times, you may feel like you have been abandoned. Waves of turmoil after turmoil may be sweeping over your life. Oppressive problems after oppressive problems may be your daily bread. You are shedding tears; maybe it is your new normal. Things seem to be working against you.
Your life as you evaluate it has no meaning. Nothing in your life motivates you to continue your journey in life. Life is stagnant. Nothing is moving forward; nothing is working. You have reached a point of despair and giving you. You even wish to die. Death seems to be what you are crying for than living.
Your career has been crushed. It did not give you any notice for you to prepare in Advance. Every door you knock at for employment is locked. Every office you step in seeking to be employed, you are turned back without being given a chance to say a word. All the former glory is gone. Everything has vanished. What you can do now is cry and shed tears day and night.
Your family is staring at you for provision, but nothing is coming forth. Children are pestering you with questions about why you have not bought them this or that. Your spouse looks at you and starts shedding tears. It is as if you are living in prison. Hunger and lack are now your cruel master.
Friends and relatives are giving you a wide berth. You have just remained alone. Loneliness is the order of the day. Loneliness is haunting you. Loneliness comes with many friends, who include evil thoughts, despair, hopelessness and many others. Loneliness with her friends has become your cruel lords. They are taunting and tormenting you daily. You have No one to turn to. You settle for tears and cries all day and all night.
You look for the good, but only evil comes your way. You look for comfort but only intimidation comes your way. You look for happiness but only sorrow comes your way. You look for light but only darkness surrounds you. You look for love but hatred comes to you. You look for hope but despair comes. All that you are looking for to encourage you, you meet the opposite.
It is as though the whole world is against you. Prayers seem not to be answered. You try praise, it is turned into mirth, heaviness and sorrow due to what you are passing through. Every situation is hopeless to you. Hopeless has become your prison and cruel master. You are on the verge of harming yourself. You are at the end of your rope. At the snapping of the rope, you will be gone.
This may be your situation and conditions, but it is not who you are.
The children of Israel reached a state similar to yours in the land of Egypt. Cruel taskmasters were set over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. Their lives were made bitter with hard bondage. Their services were rigour. Their children were being killed. Nothing was admirable in their lives. They become slaves in Egypt.( Exodus 1:8–22). Then they turned to cry to their God. They also cried because of hard labour, bondage and slavery. They cried because of being humiliated. Tear became part of their life because no help was coming forth. As the hardship and slavery grew more hard and bitter, the more they cried to God.
This happens to Israel’s children because of their prayers to God. The Bible says, “Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out, and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. So 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 acknowledged them.”( Exodus 2:23–25).
God heard them. God heard their groaning. God remembered his covenant to them. Lastly, God acknowledged them. After all these what did God do? The Bible says that he sent them help. Our text says that God said, “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt; I have heard their groaning and have come down to deliver them……..” ( Acts 7:34).
The good news is that God has heard you. Wow! What a privilege. Not only has he heard you, but God himself has also come to your help and for your help. God is there with you right now ( Hebrews 13:5). In that situation you are in, God is there with you. God is right there, in the midst of that mess.
God is turning your mess into a message. He is turning your test into a testimony. He is turning your lack into abundance. He is turning your tears and sorrow into joy and jubilation. Hatred is turning to love. God is there in your situation to turn it from worst to best.
Now arise from the ground. Durst yourself. Embrace God and his doing in your life. This is the day of your visitation. Don’t allow it to bypass you. Your situation is turning around now for the better. Your prayers have been answered. Your tears are being wiped. I see a turnaround now in your life for the better in Jesus’s name. Your bondage is over. The doors of the prison you have been in are opening and you are walking out majestically.
Start imagining good things from God, for affliction shall not rise again.
Prayer & Meditation
Father in Jesus’ mighty name, thank you for seeing my afflictions and hearing my groaning. Thank you for coming to my rescue. You are here with me to do me good in Jesus’s name. Amen.
Contributor
By Gilbert Magomere Ayieko
Minister
