God is concerned 2

And Aaron told them everything the Lord had said to Moses…and they believed. And when they heard the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped. Exodus 4:30-31 NIV New International Version

One of the promises of Jesus which we hardly pick in promise boxes is “…. in this world you will have trouble but take heart! I have overcome the world”. John 16:33.Storms are an essential part of our lives. We are either  going through one, have just gone through one or will soon go through one. The children of Israel were also in a storm. They had been in slavery in the land of Egypt for over 400 years and finally they received the above message. Their response of worship to the concern of God is commendable and worthy of emulation.

But I will be the first to admit that worship is not always my response. I confess it is sometimes something between worrying,complaining and an unfounded hopelessness. A closer look at the verse will help us understand how they arrived at their response.

Firstly they heard; what are we hearing and who are we giving our ears to? This is because what we hear will determine what we eventually believe and what we believe will be evidenced by either worshiping or complaining. And in hearing, we have to be selective to make sure that we do not allow the facts to confuse the truth. The fact of their situation was that they were still in slavery but the truth of the matter was that they had a promise of deliverance from a concerned God.

Secondly they believed; they believed the word of God concerning their situation. If we do not take the time to discover what the word of God says concerning an issue, we will not have a basis for believing.         

Finally the people bowed to worship; they were able to bow to worship because they believed. They worshiped him when he had not done anything for them yet. But they had heard enough of him to trust himWe do not worship sometimes because we do not believe or know him. Studying our Bibles on a regular basis will help us know God more.The more we know him, the more we will find it easier to worship him. The reality of the depth of our knowledge is made apparent when we go through storms.

As we mature in the Christian faith, it is imperative that our response to the storms of life is worship on a consistent basis. So these days when I find that my response is not worship, I check to ensure that I have been hearing and believing the right things.

My encouragement this week is that we continue to seek to know God, to go beyond our present circumstances and worship him because of who He is. One of my pastor’s wife put it nicely “He has a track record of a 100% satisfaction guarantee”.

God is concerned and deserves our worship.

Grace Tom-lawyer.