The Prayer That God Hears - Exodus 2:24-25

                               
So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them. - Exodus 2:24-25

    The Hebrew word for “groan” (neaqah) most closely matches synonymously the terms “moan, whimper, or cry.” In Ezekiel 30:24 it is actually used to describe the utterances of a gravely wounded man. So it should come as no surprise that when the Hebrews felt the crush of their Egyptian oppressors that they should cry out to their God. “Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage.” - Exodus 2:23.
    The groanings of these Hebrews were not rote prayers or supplications. The description of their circumstances indicates that these were the earnest prayers of a heavily oppressed and tortured people. These prayers did not issue from second thoughts or incidental reminders to pray. These prayers were the appeals and pleas of a people locked in the slavery of cruel and brutal persecution. And God sent them Moses.
    This brings up the subject of earnest and fervent prayer in our lives. Do we just go through the motions and sigh in frustration when our prayers remain unanswered or our greatest fears come to pass? Remember the words of the Apostle James? “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” - James 5:16. Our prayer life must reflect the fervency of our needs and desires if we are to hope for an answer from God. Half measures and trite prayers will not even catch the ear of our sovereign Lord. There are simply too many people in desperate need of salvation for God to lend His ear to the prayers of trite desires. And while we may not always be as articulate as we would like to be, God will hear a sincere need regardless if articulation fails us. “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” - Romans 8:26. God is not interested in clever semantics or long diatribes; He is interested in what is in our hearts! Should we fail to properly express ourselves and our needs with eloquent phrases, God will still know our deepest fears and needs. And He will acknowledge us. “Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come to You.” - Psalm 102:1. This is the prayer that God hears!
    We must bring our humble and contrite hearts to God and accept His will for us regardless of our situation. Then He will hear our prayers; then He will answer us according to His will. “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” - Matthew 6:10. Let us make no mistakes: we will not order à la carte from our Holy God. We will accept His will for us in its entirety. Regardless of our vain imaginations.
    The Hebrews of Exodus were seeking freedom from bondage. God did not send them a warrior super-hero; He sent them Moses, a man unsure of himself but certain that God had a plan. God has a plan for our lives as well. We must reverently ask His will for us, certain that it too shall come to pass according to His providence.