Passover’s urgent prayer for freedom

And the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried; and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. And 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 took heed of them. (Exodus 2:23-25)

For the Hebrew people the episode called “The Exodus” began with prayer, the people “cried out to God.” Prayer has always been a marker of their success. The prayer that is seen as uttered by enslaved Israel is only an outward evidence of something far deeper inside the people. The true success of the nation of Israel is found in their relationship with God.

The Bible, the official book of the Jewish people, and specifically the Torah, or the first five books of the collection of Holy Scriptures begins with the words, “In the beginning God.” That is all that there is, the fact that there is a (one) God that desired and formed a relationship with Israel that has lasted through the ages. 

A Prayer to God Alone

The Bible tells us, “The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.” (Deut 7:7-9)

For most of their existence it has been of necessity that the Jewish people relied on God. It is a fact that for most of the 4,000 years of their existence as a nation, this people called Israel, had nothing except their God to hold them together. Many kingdoms rely on great kings, great riches, or a marked out territory to hold them together. Israel did indeed have all three. But as for their sojourn in the land of Israel lasted but 1,200 years, markedly less than half of their existence.

The only reason that Israel exists and can be known as a nation today is because they found their identity in God. No other people group has maintained their national identity for so long without a land. Israel’s connection with God has made them unique.

The Spiritual Temperature

Now, it should be understood that the people of Israel were not always the most spiritual people on the planet, because they were not. Like any other group that holds to a particular religion, the group wavers in their faith. The Jewish people probably waver more than anyone else. There is a peculiarity though, even when the people turn from God and proclaim they are atheists, they still pray and identified by their belief in the One True God.

And so it was in the land of Egypt. The traditional story tells us seventy members of the family of Jacob went down to Egypt during a time of famine. While the Hebrew people lived in exile (400 years), a change occurred in the Egyptian government. The new regime was not accepting of this privileged class of foreign people, and actually feared the Hebrew people, who had grown in population. So they put them into slavery.

     For a period of time the Hebrew people went along with their enslavement. At first they were in shock at how fast their status had changed under the new regime whom they feared. They prayed . Then as generations passed their status became “normal” and they saw no way out but to accept their “lot in life.” 

This does not mean that the people were always religious. Over the four hundred year period, their faith almost certainly wavered. But inside the people knew there was a God and that they belonged to this Divine Being. That is the way it is. The people could be totally secular outside, but they could never escape who they were inside.

Live in Egypt 430 Years

With the passage of time, new generations arose, and with the passing of years these slaves began to observe how the rest of the world lived, especially their independence and freedom. The expected tasks assigned to them by their Egyptian taskmasters wore on them, and the people became sad.. They wanted what they saw in others, and they began to cry out in pain. They knew it would do no good to cry out to each other, so they cried in unison to God because they needed someone who was not only mightier than them, but also who was stronger than the Egyptian army.

     Nowhere in the story does the Bible tell us that God forgot His people. To the contrary, the Bible teaches us God loved His people then, and God loves his people today. The topic of this devotion is relationship and prayer. God’s people accepted life as it came, dwelling in the normality of daily life, and in the routine of this schedule they forgot to pray. Perhaps they were busy (because their taskmasters demanded it); but the point is they were not praying daily and gaining the strength from the relationship with God as His people.

When Israel left Egypt

When God’s people gained their freedom and left Egypt, they stopped crying out to God. They became like pack animals, following the pillar of cloud by day, the pillar of fire by night, and listening to the commands of Moses. They stopped using their minds to observe life and because things were going well, they did not talk to God. These people only understood the prayer of crisis.

The entire nation forgot how to pray! God tried to help them remember to pray by bringing them to lakes of bitter water and guiding them in the experience of other hardships. The people did not approach God in prayer. They complained to each other and then went to Moses, demanding he fix the problem. The people failed to recognize it was never Moses who solved their problems.

The solution to Israel’s crisis began in prayer. Once out of Egypt the people stopped speaking to God. The Lord desires conversation, and when good things happen to us, that means the prayer of thanksgiving. The people of Israel only knew how to complain. In Egypt they complained to God. They cried out in their pain, and God heard their cry.

But once Moses came, the people looked to a man, and forgot how to pray. God’s people must never forget to pray; when we lose this most important part of our relationship with God, and all of life becomes a crisis. If life ever becomes so routine that prayer becomes a rote item, we are asking for a crisis. 

The question is, how is your relationship with God? Do you pray daily? Do you read the Bible daily? The concept of faith begins with the continual presence of God. God desires us to seek, desire and acknowledge that relationship, and in the relationship to seek Him in His word (the Bible) and prayer. I share more about this in a book entitled Spring: Connecting With God.

The Passover season is drawing near, have you prepared? If you do not have a Haggadah, or need help, please look at two resources, The Psalmatic Seder and A Christian Passover in the Jewish Tradition.