(The God Who Sees and Hears His People)
(Nehemiah 9:9-11)

Text:
9 And didst see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heardest their cry by the Red sea;  10 And shewedst signs and wonders upon Pharaoh, and on all his servants, and on all the people of his land: for thou knewest that they dealt proudly against them. So didst thou get thee a name, as [it is] this day.  11 And thou didst divide the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land; and their persecutors thou threwest into the deeps, as a stone into the mighty waters. 
 



Some Initial Remarks

1)  We began our study by looking to Jehovah as the God of creation. We found that God is the reason, God is the source, and all things draw their life from Him.
2)  Last week we saw that Jehovah is the God who chooses His people.  We were reminded as Jesus reminded His disciples that, we did not choose God, but in reality God chose us.

This week we find ourselves again in Nehemiah chapter 9, with a new thought in this Levitical prayer.  A thought that is pristine and beneficial to our spiritual well being.  We see that Jehovah is the God Who Sees and Hears His People.  Now in His seeing and hearing Jehovah is not passive, but indeed active.  Regardless of what the human eye may behold, Jehovah is behind the scenes working all things after the counsel of His will, for His glory and our good, because God sees and hears His people.


The Names of our Great God:
The God Who Sees and Hears His People:
"And didst see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heardest their cry by the Red sea;" 

1)  First in verse 9 we see that Jehovah is the God who sees the afflictions of His people.  In this we mean not that God just stands in the heavens beholding the sorrows and struggles of His people, but that, as we will see later in this study, He is quite active.  Thus God sees what His people are going through and He reacts.  An important point ~ prayer is vital to our spiritual well being.  The vital importance of communion with our Heavenly Father in prayer cannot be understated, but never forget God knows what we are going through long before we ever mention it ot Him.  As this was true for God then, it is true for God now, for our God does not change.  No matter where you find yourself, no matter what you are going through, our God sees your affliction.

2)  Next in verse 9 we see that Jehovah is a God hears the cries of His people.  Again I must restate in this point we do not mean that God simply hears your cry, but that He responds, he bends heaven on your behalf.  Before proceeding, I must mention one important point; God rarely if ever answers prayers the way you and I would.  At times His response is immediate, at other times His response is delayed, while still at other times His response is the opposite of what one of His Saints asked to receive. Yet in every case our God is responding to the prayers of His saints, and that response is always for the benefit of His children.  Paul prayed three times for God to remove the "thorn in the flesh", yet God did not respond to the first two, and when He finally did, He told Paul that He intended not to take the thorn, but to leave it for Paul's good.  The thorn had a purpose that was not to Paul's destruction, but to his good.  Praise the Lord that we have a Father who hears our prayers and gives us exactly what we need.

3)  Next we see that at times God's answer to our prayers is quite dramatic and awe inspiring.  This was surely true in the case of Israel, when God "shewedst signs and wonders upon Pharaoh, and on all his servants, and on all the people of his land: for thou knewest that they dealt proudly against them."  It is equally true for you and I! Study the scriptures you will find plenty of cases where God's answers to the cries of His people was awesome and awe inspiring.  A point we must not overlook; our God will avenge the blood of His saints as surely as He will avenge the blood of His Son.  If not in this life, surely in the life to come.  This is a most comforting point, we need not worry about keeping score, that is God's job he will take care of us, and care of all things.

4)  We have talked about God seeing, God hearing, God responding, and God pouring judgment upon those who persecute the church.  Yet we must remember one important point.  God does all of this for the good of His Saints, but even more importantly for the glory of His name.  We see this in verse 10 "So didst thou get thee a name, as [it is] this day."  God is through the affliction of the church, getting a name for himself.  God is through answering the prayers of His saints, getting a name for Himself.  God is through the awesome judgments of those who persecute the church, getting a name for Himself.  So as surely as we can proclaim that all things work together for the good to those who love the Lord, we can equally proclaim that all things, are being used of our God to bring glory to His Great Name. 
 
 

Application

May we rest in the knowledge that Jesus Christ not only sees our afflictions, He not only hears our prayers, but He takes care of all our problems.  As Christians we should have no enemies, indeed we should love our enemies.  We should rest in the knowledge that our God will take care of all the details.  May we walk in the knowledge that our God is responding to our every need, maybe not as we thought, but surely as is best for us!