He Bends Low

"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 2:23-25

Scripture is more than a book of old stories from long ago; they are full of Life for the weary soul and messages of God's omnipotence and justice. Throughout the Bible we find that God has been the I AM Who knows; knows us fully and feels the pain that drives us to despair. God didn't just know about the suffering the Israelites endured; He felt and knew it intimately and empathetically. He put on compassion and wore their anguish with them.

There is a comfort in this passage that strikes a cord within my heart. It is the realization that the God in these verses, in this story, is the same God that hears and knows my very own groanings and sufferings, and remembers His covenant of redemption with me. He is still interceding on our behalf 2,000 years later and still knows, knows full well, what we endure and face. He is never far off in my darkest hour; He bends very low to hear and know intimately the sorrows and troubles I endure. He doesn't stand above me, but comes to my level in all of my mess, brokenness, and sin and pulls me out of the pit. He doesn't roll His eyes with a disinterested sigh when I call on Him; He is never impatient or in a hurry. He carries me in His loving arms and catches me when I fall. He holds my hand all the way to the end and sets my feet on level paths. He runs to me when I cry in despair and makes me lie down when I cannot carry on any longer. He chases me and meets me where I am. In my darkness, He is there and isn't outside the chasm of what breaks my heart and brings me to my knees. When the sun hides its face each night, I know that He is still there hovering over the doorway of my heart. He knows me through and through.

"Because He bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath!" - Psalm 116:2

I become easily overwhelmed in life because of the curiosity and anxiousness of what lies ahead of me. I want to know right now what's coming, but I don't hold the keys. The path of life, while worn, is new to those who are still walking through it. I'm still learning what it means to be holy and what it means to put on love and forgive my friends and enemies. I'm still learning that I cannot control when God sends me rain or when He sends a drought. I haven't understood fully the depth and breadth of God's knowledge or why He brings certain things into my life. What a world I would know and face if I held the whole story of my life and dictated where it would go. What a sigh of joy and relief to know that I don't have to control anything or predict my future. I don't have to worry, even despite when I do. I don't have to know all the answers or have all the facts, because He never intended me to. He just wants me as I am.

He is the same God who parted the waters and the God Who steadies this world in motion. He was the fourth man in the furnace and is the Sovereign God in these tragedies we know. He was there as the curtain tore in two and is very present in all these hard times. He was God when Job felt pushed hard and the same God Who paints the sky at the opening and closing of each day. There is nothing He does not know or understand. He is God and knows about all these upsettings in our life. He sees and He knows, and He bends lower to our souls than the horizon of the setting sun.

"For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. O LORD of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you!" - Psalm 84:11-12