He Knew

It will be interesting to see the favorite verses we have as we share this week.  I realize that probably there is no one who picks much out of Leviticus as their favorite verse.  Although I do particularly like Leviticus chapter 19 which is the center of the Holiness Code.  I translated it from the Hebrew in class and did a word study on Holiness.  I still don't think I understand Holiness.  It is so rich with meaning and interpretation.  I grew up in a "holiness" tradition that was interpreted to mean how you dressed, whether you played cards or went to the movies.  It's so much more.

If I really understood holiness and its application, I'd share it today. But in spite of all my study, I still don't fully understand it.

I thought about verses in the New Testament.  One could camp on John 3:16 for a long time.  How wonderful it is that God loved the world and gave His son.  How wonderful that we have eternal life because of it.  How seriously we need to take John 3:16 implications.  We need to love as God loved and give.

However, as I thought and prayed over this blog I remembered an obscure verse at the end of Exodus chapter 2.  If you even read Exodus it's easy to gloss over.  In fact its never fully translated.  Exodus 2:25 in the NIV reads: So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.  The Message ends with God understood.  The Amplified:  concerned Himself about them [knowing all, understanding, remembering all].  In the Hebrew the verse ends rather abruptly, it simply says, Yada' - to know.  God knew.

That gives me great comfort.  While it is easy to wonder where God was during the years of oppression and slavery, still He knew.  There came a time when He remembered.  There came a time when He brought deliverance for His people.  He knew.

I have a story that is all too familiar.  I experienced the trauma of childhood sexual molestation.  If you want to read more about this horrific experience, I did blog about it on Sounds of Hope and you can read it here.  It wasn't until I was well into the healing process that I wondered where God was when I was 8.  I wondered did He know? I asked the question we all ask at times, where is God when horribly things happen, or where is He when people are oppressed and misused?  As I asked Jesus where were you when I was 8? He answered me.  He said I was there and I was weeping.  I was weeping and praying for you and your healing. He said, I knew.

That was enough for me.  Theologians much better than I don't really have perfect answers to these questions.    But God knew.  God heard the cries of oppression from His people.  He always hears them.  He always knows.  And in His time, He brings healing and deliverance.  He sees and knows you too!