Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God”? (Isaiah 40:27, ESV)
Sometimes, even though you’re boldly seeking the Lord and staying open to whatever fresh reminder of truth you can learn from His Word, the only thing you really want to know today, underneath it all, is that He sees you and understands what you’re going through. You simply want to know that your way is not “hidden from the LORD.”
Every so often when I’m preaching, I’ll recognize a certain look on people’s faces—maybe even tears in a lot of eyes. And though part of me is eager to hustle off to the next passage, I get the feeling He’s doing something special right here, where we are, and perhaps we should just linger in this one spot a little longer.
Today I believe that spot is centered on one statement God made in regard to the hardships that the children of Israel were enduring under Egyptian bondage. The Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings” (Exodus 3:7).
He knows you. He knows everything about you. It doesn’t matter that six billion other people currently occupy a seat on this planet, God’s knowledge is both infinite AND intimate. “I have engraved you on the palms of my hands,” He says (Isaiah 49:16). The One who knows you perfectly loves you completely, as much as if you were the only person here.
So receive this comforting truth from His Word today. “I have surely seen . . . and have heard their cry . . . I know their sufferings.” He has seen it—the hard week you’ve been having. He has heard it—the bad news you’ve recently received. He knows about it—the tough, perplexing decisions you’re facing.
As David said to Him, “You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?” (Psalm 56:8). “The LORD knows the way of the righteous” (Psalm 1:6). “For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him” (Psalm 22:24).
You may not yet have the solution you need to fix your situation. You may not yet be holding the provision you’ve been asking for. But “we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses” (Hebrews 4:15). He is fully aware of your difficult, dark seasons. And just as the God who saw and heard and knew the sufferings of Israel came “to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians” (Exodus 3:8), He who sees and hears and knows your suffering is moved by what is happening in your life and is coming to deliver you.
Your way is NOT hidden or disregarded by the Lord. He sees it, He hears it, He knows it, and He is on it!
This post originally appeared on Dr. James MacDonald’s daily devotional Our Journey and was republished with permission.
James MacDonald (D. Min. Phoenix Seminary) is the founding senior pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel, leads the church-planting ministry of Harvest Bible Fellowship, teaches the practical application of God’s Word on the Walk in the Word radio and television programs, and is a gifted author and speaker. You can find out more about James and his ministries at WalkintheWord.org.
