Read Exodus 1:1-2:25

“God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob.” (Exodus 2:24 NIV)

God remembered His covenant!  That, my friends, is a mark of His faithfulness.  But it is not as if the covenant had been made the day before.  No, God had extended a promise to Abraham more than 400 years earlier (Gen. 12:1-3).  It was a promise that theirs would be a great people with a vast number of descendants.  According to this promise, other nations would either be blessed or cursed according to how they treated God’s people.  And this promise also guaranteed the people a specific tract of land.

Chapter 1 of Exodus certainly points to the multiplication of the people.  Verse 7 says, “but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them.” (Exodus 1:7 NIV)  In spite of the attempts of the Egyptian leader to squelch their growth, they continued to multiply.

But a closer look at the covenant reveals two problems.  First of all, they were filling the wrong land.  God had promised them land on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, not to the southeast in the area of the Nile and land of the pyramids.  God’s people were in the wrong land.  Secondly, the Egyptians were beginning to treat God’s people with hatred.  God had clearly said that He would curse those who cursed them.  The Egyptians were deserving of divine punishment.

But, no fear, our faithful God had not forgotten His promise.  Even though more than 400 years had passed…even though His people had shown no desire to return to the Promised Land after the famine in the days of Joseph…God remembered His promise and was about to fulfill it.  He would use plagues of punishment on the Egyptians in order to release His people to begin their journey to their land.

Your faithful God will never be delinquent on a single one of His promises to you.  He will always remember.  Even if days, weeks, months, or years pass without a sign of His action, He will one day step into your situation to fulfill His promise.

Which of His promises are you banking on?  Even if He delays, He is faithful!

Steve Kern