God Sees

Experts say the world is becoming destabilized. There are conflicts and tensions in countries and between nations; rising inflation and economic inequality; natural disasters getting more dangerous; and Google AI even tells me that AI and misinformation are a threat as unregulated AI development poses risks to information integrity and job markets. There seems to be a lot against people at this time and each day societal issues seem to be increasing.  We are in a period of instability and uncertainty in which many people may feel afflicted and forgotten by the world’s systems. But the good thing is God sees us and He never forgets us.

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… Now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me; furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them. Exodus 3:7 & 9

God hears our cry and He sees our suffering. However, He may not alleviate all our troubles in a moment, but He often uses our challenges to shape us to look more like Him and to teach us how to obey Him. I intentionally omitted verse 8 of the above passage in Exodus because although God’s promise to the Israelites was that He was going “to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey,” unfortunately most of the people in that generation who heard this did not get to see the promise. Not even Moses. Only Jacob and Caleb got to experience this land as a whole generation died out in the wilderness because of their disobedience, murmuring and complaining. So, it is important that when we are in a difficult situation, we remain humble and flexible, while learning all of God’s lessons and obeying Him or else we may miss a blessing after our struggles. Charles Spurgeon spoke about learning through trouble.

"Most of the grand truths of God have to be learned by trouble; they must be burned into us with the hot iron of affliction, otherwise we shall not truly receive them".

Ouch! That sounds painful. But God, who is the Master Potter knows how much heat we can take. He has His eyes on us in the furnace of affliction just as He saw the Israelites in their oppression in Egypt and He heard their cries and responded. We can rest assured that God sees all we are going through.

I will rejoice and be glad in Your lovingkindness, because You have seen my affliction; You have known the troubles of my soul. Psalm 31:7

I must admit it is difficult to rejoice in suffering, but it is easier when we recognize that God is with us and watching over us, and He is allowing us to go through troubles for a purpose. They are not in vain.

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Romans 5:1-5

If we didn’t have tribulations, we wouldn’t need hope and we wouldn’t even truly understand what it is. So, it is very important to persevere through the problems. And when troubles come and we lift up our eyes to the hills from where our help comes from then we will start realizing that God has always had His eyes on us and we will start loving Him more as He reveals more of Himself to us through our trials. And it is so good to know that He sees us, no matter what we are going through.