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WHEN I KNOW HE CARES

Exodus 4:31

Does it really make a difference when people discover that God cares for them and has a purpose for their lives? Most of us know that to be true, but news outlets around the nation figured it out last week in a powerful way.

When Brian Nichols killed several people in an Atlanta courthouse last week, he made national news as his rampage left a judge and other court officials dead or injured, as well as a man whose truck he stole to make his get away. But when he kidnapped a young woman named Ashley Smith at an apartment complex, he got far more than he intended.

Many of you have heard the story by now documenting that he turned himself in after spending seven hours with this remarkable woman. Initial reports stated only that she had talked with him about family and about God and he eventually chose to turn himself in.

What has come out since is that during the ordeal, she asked him if he would allow her to read. Listen to her account from the transcript from her lawyer’s office:

He said, "What do you want to read?"

Well, I have a book in my room." So I went and got it. I got my Bible. And I got a book called "The Purpose-Driven Life." I turned it to the chapter that I was on that day. It was Chapter 33. And I started to read the first paragraph of it. After I read it, he said, "Stop, will you read it again?

I said, "Yeah. I'll read it again." So I read it again to him.

It mentioned something about what you thought your purpose in life was. What were you--what talents were you given? What gifts were you given to use?

The net result of this bizarre encounter was that instead of a tragic end to a hostage situation, the realization that God cared for him and had a purpose for his life changed Brian Nichols and in all likelihood saved his life and the life of Ashley Smith.

When people realize that God Himself cares for them personally and individually, He opens their eyes to what life can be when we give ourselves over to Him. People don’t care what you know until they know you care!

THESIS: When I finally realize and believe how much God cares for me, the only thing I can do is bow down and worship.

That is what happened when Moses and Aaron were able to let the sons of Israel know that God cared for them and was concerned for the agonizing afflictions of life under the thumb of their Egyptian masters.

I. A COVENANT WITH AN AWESOME GOD

--Unless we understand who God really is, we cannot grasp the significance of His personal concern for each one of us.

--We either elevate Him beyond caring so that He is high and lifted up but too grand and lofty to care about folks like us; OR

--We treat Him as only a slightly improved version of humanity with all the same limitations we have and therefore are not that impressed that He cares. He is no different than we are!

A. ALMIGHTY

--God made a covenant with Moses’ forefather, Abraham, and identified Himself as God Almighty.

Genesis 17:1-2 I am God Almighty; walk before Me, and be blameless. And I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly.

--The Lord God is all powerful and sovereign…He rules over all things by that same power, a power that is infinite in every way, just as He is in all things.

Revelation 19:6 Alleluia for our Lord God Omnipotent (Almighty -- pantokrator) reigns.

--He is the source of all that power that exists and never diminishes in power, being equal to all that power that is.

--By His power, all things came into being…human beings included, of course, and we exist by the power He has in Himself to hold all things together.

Colossians 1:16-17 …all things have been created by Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

--So it is important for us to know these things about God in order to gain a greater appreciation for what it means for Him to initiate a relationship with us and communicate to us that He cares for us!

B. HOLY

Exodus 3:5-6 Then He said, “Do not come near here; for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” He said also, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

--‘Holiness’ cannot adequately be described as a word or a concept by which we speak of the Lord God.

--We have no categories or reference points that allow us to say, “Well, holiness is like…” because it is not like anything.

--Only God is holy and when He told Moses that the place upon which he stood was holy ground, Moses did not ask for clarification!

--You can perhaps understand the response of Moses as he hid his face, not prepared to face the God who is holy.

--This unapproachable, holy God defies our comprehension and surprises our sense of what is reasonable and right by taking the initiative to come to us and invite us into relationship with Him.

C. ETERNAL

Exodus 3:14 And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

--Moses realized that he was in the presence of the Eternal and Everlasting One whose name reminds us whenever it is made known that He always exists in the present tense…no past, no future…only the eternal now!

--Moses affirmed that in a psalm…

Psalm 90:2 Before the mountains were born, or Thou didst give birth to the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God.

--Think of it…God never began and will never end--He just is!

--And this very same God, One beyond our ability to comprehend, but One who provokes awe and wonder…this God knows our names and cares about us!

II. A CONCERN FOR A TROUBLED PEOPLE

--Now that we have set the stage for you and explained a little more specifically who God is, we are ready to examine the response of the Israelites in Exodus 4:31.

--The bigness of God and the awesomeness of God did not make Him remote and distant from those He created in His own image.

A. HE SAW THEIR AFFLICTION and was aware of their suffering.

Ex. 3:7 And the LORD said, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings.”

--No one who knows anything about God would doubt for a moment that He sees all things, but what they might not be ready to admit is that what He sees registers with Him and captures His attention.

We are aware of a lot more than we can actually say registered in our minds. Because we tend to be more concerned about what concerns us, we often ignore what goes on in other people’s lives.

Daily we see headlines that scream out at us about human misery somewhere in the world. We eat our breakfast, drink our coffee and go on about our day.

In the movie, Hotel Rwanda, a film about the genocide in Rwanda back in 1994, one line haunted me even as it was spoken. The main character, Rwandan hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina, said, “Surely people in the West will look at the film of these atrocities and they will have to come to our aid!” A news camera man apologized for the fact that those who saw the footage would either turn away entirely or look on, say “how horrible” and then care little and do less!

--God saw and did not turn away!

--He heard and gave heed to their cries!

B. HE WAS CONCERNED FOR THEIR CONDITION AND COMMITTED TO DELIVER THEM.

Ex. 3:8, 16 “So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey…¹⁶ “Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, I am indeed concerned about you and what has been done to you in Egypt.”

--Rather than keep a comfortable distance from this afflicted people, the Lord God intervenes and pursues a course of action to deliver them from their oppression and free them from their slavery and suffering.

When you and I see hurting people, is our first instinct to go help, or pretend we did not hear, act as if we did not see? People who are afflicted and oppressed by their circumstances or by their captors generate different responses. I am afraid that too many Christians want to look the other way instead of choosing to get involved. God gets involved and calls us to do the same!

A pastor friend of mine has come up with a great method of engaging folks in conversations that lead to the presentation of the hope we have in Christ. However, it must begin with a willingness to do more than share the gospel and then run the other way!

Whether the conversation begins with a homeless person or a hurting suburbanite, the introduction is simple. “When you were younger, did you have some dreams of how you wanted your life to be?” After they answer, the follow-up question is, “What happened to your dreams?”

The stage is then set to offer a dream that is guaranteed to come true…the promise that God will deliver Himself! If you come to Him, He will forgive you for your sin and your failures and make all things new…He will give you a new dream and the power in Christ to see it fulfilled!

God came to the Israelites and saw that their lives were hopeless…no one even dared to dream anymore! And He sent a rescuer to set them free! Why? Because He saw them where they were—afflicted and in pain, oppressed and suffering—and was concerned for each one to know the freedom of living life the way He created it to be lived!

--Moses was sent with Aaron to let it be known that their plight had come to God’s attention and He was ready to deliver them!

III. A REALIZATION BY AN OVERWHELMED PEOPLE

--God sent Moses to Egypt with instructions to tell the Israelites that the Lord God not only had not abandoned them, but that He cared, that He was concerned and that He was taking action on their part.

--Their years in Egypt were just as He had told Abraham, a time of protection from famine initially and a time to develop strength of numbers as a people.

Genesis 15:13 And God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years.”

--So now after four hundred and thirty years, the “sons of Israel” came out of Egypt just as the Lord had said.

--Far from being oblivious to their plight, the Lord God wanted them to know that He saw, He heard, He was aware—and most of all that He cared and was concerned!

Do you sometimes feel that God has abandoned you, or that He does not care what you are going through? The Israelites must have thought and felt that during their darkest days, but now they are made to realize that He was there all along, working out the plans that would free them.

A. THEY BELIEVED

Ex. 4:31 So the people believed; and when they heard that the LORD was concerned about the sons of Israel and that He had seen their affliction, then they bowed low and worshiped.

1. Words Were Spoken

Ex. 4:30 and Aaron spoke all the words which the LORD had spoken to Moses…

--Sometimes all it takes for people to believe is to hear the word of the Lord, to listen to the truth and faith is born in their hearts.

Romans 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

--In fact, God’s primary plan focuses on the truth of His word being spoken and faith coming as a result of hearing it without having to see miraculous signs.

John 20:29 Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”

2. Signs Were Given

Ex. 4:30 …He then performed the signs in the sight of the people.

--On other occasions, hardness of hearts and a strong resistance to the message of God’s love made it necessary for there to be miraculous signs in order for people to believe.

--Such was the case not only for the leaders of Israel, but later for Pharaoh who would not be persuaded until all the plagues had run their course and there was no more use in denying that Israel’s God was the Lord Almighty!

B. THEY HEARD

--When they first heard Aaron’s message, the realization of what all this meant must have taken root slowly in their hearts…and as subsequent events showed, those roots of belief were shallow.

--What they did hear and what they could not deny was that the God they had given up on wanted them to know three things:

1. He Was Concerned

--Not only was God not ignoring or abandoning them, He was actually concerned for them.

2. He Saw Their Affliction

--Not only was He not causing their affliction, He saw it and was moved by it to the extent that He sent Moses and Aaron to take action to relieve their suffering.

3. He Planned for Their Rescue

--And not only was the plan simply to relieve their suffering, He intended to set them free from the Egyptian masters who were inflicting the pain.

C. THEY BOWED LOW AND WORSHIPED

--As a result of what they had heard and seen, they realized that they were in the presence of the Lord God Almighty.

--Therefore, the only appropriate response was to bow low and worship Him!

How overwhelming must it be to finally realize that in the middle of a life, spinning out of control and full of hard times, that there is a God, the only true God, who is concerned about you and cares deeply for you?

Brian Nichols was so taken by that message that his immediate course of action was changed:

And I just talked with him a little more, just about--about--we pretty much talked about God . . . what his reason was, why he made it out of there.

I said, "Do you believe in miracles? Because if you don't believe in miracles--you are here for a reason. You're here in my apartment for some reason. You got out of that courthouse with police everywhere, and you don't think that's a miracle? You don't think you're supposed to be sitting here right in front of me listening to me tell you, you know, your reason here?"

I said, "You know, your miracle could be that you need to--you need to be caught for this. You need to go to prison and you need to share the word of God with them, with all the prisoners there."

Life changed for the better because last week Brian Nichols heard that God cared for him and was concerned about his situation in life.

What about you today? How can your life be different if God really does care for you and is concerned for you? What if you really believed that He cared more about your children…your marriage…your job…your finances than you do?

When we can come to grips with God’s love and concern for us, rather than be anxious and worried and full of grief all the time, we would be ready to bow down and worship before Him. Will you do that this morning?

March 20, 2005

Providence Baptist Church

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