What's the Point of the Promise When Nothing Changes?

Introduction

The book of Exodus opens with a family that has become a nation, and with a question you may be asking yourself today: what's the point of the promise when nothing changes? The God of the covenant is advancing his plan of salvation at the very moment you're reading these lines. But the people of Israel, crushed by Egypt for 430 years, had good reason to doubt it, and maybe you do too, in your current situation.

The text of Exodus 1:1 to 2:25 invites you to face two things head on: a situation so desperate that no way out seems in sight, and a savior who looks so hopeless you doubt he can change anything. And yet, quietly, underneath it all, God remembers.

Article Outline

1. The situation is so desperate (Exodus 1:8-22)

In verse 7, the Israelites multiply and fill the land. Where does that leave the promise made to Abraham? Things seem to be moving along well. Then, in verse 8, everything turns: "Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who didn't know Joseph." History matters. When it's forgotten, terrible things happen.

This pharaoh, whom the author doesn't even name, grows afraid. A conspiracy theory, a decision to oppress, forced labor, harsh slavery. Not content with that, he orders the Hebrew midwives Shiphrah and Puah to kill every baby boy at birth. Then, in verse 22, he commands his whole people to throw every boy into the Nile.

The situation is dire. It's oppression at its darkest: an entire people reduced to slavery, then to a planned genocide. And the question you might ask yourself at this point: which would you rather be, part of the Hebrew people or on the Egyptian side?

And yet, quietly underneath it all, pharaoh's measures don't succeed. Verse 12: "The more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out." Facing the fearsome king of Egypt, whose name we never learn, the author names two ordinary women: Shiphrah and Puah. Why name them? Because they feared God and refused to obey the king. Verse 21: "Because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own."

The great, glorious king who wanted no rivals ends up humiliated: an enslaved people that keeps growing, and two ordinary women who manage to protect the children.

2. The savior looks so hopeless (Exodus 2:1-22)

Chapter 2 opens like a story guided by an unseen hand. Call it, plainly, God's sense of humor: in his sovereignty, God turns circumstances and the powerful's desire for control into the very means of advancing his plan.

Pharaoh had said: "You shall cast every son who is born into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive" (Exodus 1:22). And what happens next? A boy thrown into the Nile survives. His mother, his sister, pharaoh's daughter, her attendants: God uses every one of these women, the very ones pharaoh wanted to keep under control, to save this little boy. At the exact place where the powerful man gave his order, God turns it on its head with irony to raise up his savior, drawn out of the water. And that boy ends up in pharaoh's own household, under pharaoh's own protection, likely benefiting from his education.

Moses means "to draw out," Mashah in Hebrew. Once grown, in verse 11, Moses goes out to his people. He has the temperament of a savior: he defends a Hebrew against an Egyptian, he defends mistreated girls at the well.

But to what result? What follows is disappointing. The two Hebrews who are fighting reject him: "Who made you a prince and a judge over us?" (Exodus 2:14). Moses flees, far from pharaoh. He eventually marries Zipporah, and names his first son Gershom, saying: "I have lived as a foreigner in a foreign land" (Exodus 2:22). An immigrant. Far from home. Mistaken for an Egyptian even though he had defended the Hebrews. A hopeless savior, at this point.

3. God remembers (Exodus 2:23-25)

Verse 23: "After many days, the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up to God." The slavery lasted 430 years. On the scale of our own history, that would be like a people crying "deliver us" all the way from the days before the American Revolution until today. A very, very long time.

Then four verbs that change everything, verses 24-25: "God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the children of Israel, and God was concerned about them."

God hears. God remembers. God sees. God takes notice. The God of the promise is reliable because he is the God of the covenant. He has committed himself. And when he intervenes, he will overturn the powers and humble the greatest forces.

4. From Moses to Jesus, the true Deliverer

This deliverance that God is preparing points forward to Moses preparing the way for Jesus. Much later, another powerful and cruel king (Herod) could do nothing to prevent the birth of the perfect savior, the new Moses. Herod was humiliated.

Like Moses, Jesus identified himself with his people. He could have stayed in the comfort of being the Father's Son. Instead, he came to identify with his brothers and sisters and to go ahead of them on the road. Just as Moses was drawn out of the water, the people would pass through the waters of the Red Sea. Just as Moses became a stranger and an immigrant, the people would be strangers journeying toward the promised land.

But there is one fundamental difference from Israel's situation. Your deliverance, even if it's delayed, will come. Why? Not because your savior is hiding somewhere tending sheep, waiting for his moment. No: because Jesus has already conquered evil and death. Jesus has already been crucified. Jesus has already risen. Jesus is already seated at the right hand of God. Jesus has already brought you into a perfect relationship with the Father.

Your cries, your doubts, your pain when a hopeless situation hits you full force in a hopeless world: they can't carry the same weight as those of the ancient people of Israel. For one simple reason: you're walking in the reality of Jesus' "it is finished." The victory doesn't need to be won. It's already sealed.

Key Takeaways

• The promise holds even when the situation looks desperate and the savior looks hopeless.
• God outmaneuvers the powerful. In his sovereignty, he uses the very tools his adversaries set up to advance his own plan.
• The fear of the Lord changes everything. Shiphrah and Puah don't wrestle with pharaoh; they choose to please God and save children instead.
• God hears, remembers, sees, takes notice. These four verbs sustain your hope when everything seems frozen in place.
• Moses points forward to Jesus, the true Deliverer who has already won the victory for you.

Personal Application

• In your current situation, where does the promise stand? Does it feel like nothing is moving forward?
• What do you prefer today: to keep belonging to God's people, even with plenty of unanswered questions, or to walk away toward a life without God?
• Is there a courageous decision, like the one Shiphrah and Puah made, that you need to make out of fear of God rather than fear of the powerful?
• When you cry out to God and nothing changes, do you remember that Jesus has already accomplished everything, and that your deliverance is sealed?
• How can you live this week with both feet in a hard reality and your eyes fixed on the hope found in Jesus?

Scriptures Referenced

• Exodus 1 · The people multiply, pharaoh's oppression, the midwives' courage.
• Exodus 2 · Moses' birth, his flight to Midian, the people's groaning, God remembers.
• Genesis 12:1-3 · The promise to Abraham of a great nation.
• Acts 7 · Stephen's speech, which recalls Moses' age (40 years).
• John 19:30 · "It is finished": Jesus' victory is sealed.
• Romans 15:4 · The Scriptures give us patience, comfort, and hope.

FAQ

Why does God wait 430 years before acting in Exodus?

The text doesn't give a theoretical answer. Instead, it shows that from the human side, those 430 years can feel like abandonment, but from God's side, the covenant was never forgotten. God is quietly preparing the deliverance: through the midwives' faithfulness, through Moses' birth and upbringing, through the very circumstances pharaoh had decreed to stop his plan. God's apparent silence is not his absence.

In what way is Moses a "hopeless savior"?

Because by the end of Exodus 2, everything has gone wrong for him: he has killed an Egyptian, he is rejected by his own people, he flees far from pharaoh, he becomes an immigrant in Midian, he's even mistaken for an Egyptian by Reuel's daughters. Nothing checks the boxes you'd expect of a deliverer. And that's exactly where the text becomes prophetic: it points forward to Jesus, another savior who will also look hopeless in the world's eyes, but who will accomplish deliverance perfectly.

How do I live out my faith when my situation doesn't change?

By remembering that you're not walking toward a victory still to be won, but living inside a victory already sealed. Jesus died, rose again, and is seated at the Father's right hand. Your deliverance will come, not because some potential savior is hiding somewhere, but because the true Savior has already accomplished everything. That doesn't erase the hardship, but it plants your hope somewhere other than in the immediate change of your circumstances.