Exodus - Week 1: Faithfulness
BY BRITTANY SHICK
FAITHFULNESS
There’s a part of faith we don’t talk about enough and that is the part where nothing seems to be happening.
Not the breakthrough.
Not the miracle.
Not the “God showed up in an undeniable way” moment.
Just … waiting.
That’s where the book of Book of Exodus begins. Not with deliverance, but with groaning.
“The Israelites groaned under their burden of slavery… they cried out for help, and their cry rose up to God.”
It’s not polished or faith-filled language. It’s just honest. Maybe that’s what makes it so familiar.
WHEN GOD FEELS SILENT
Years had passed. Not days. Not months. Years.
Generations had lived and died in slavery by the time we arrive in Exodus 2. Somewhere in that stretch of time, you have to imagine the questions started forming:
Has God forgotten us?
Does He still see us?
Was the promise even real?
Because that’s what prolonged waiting does—it doesn’t just test your circumstances. It tests your understanding of who God is. Yet, in just a few quiet lines, Scripture pulls back the curtain:
God heard.
God remembered.
God saw.
God knew.
Not one cry missed or one moment overlooked. Even when it felt like silence, heaven wasn’t disengaged.
THE KIND OF FAITHFULNESS THAT DOESN'T RUSH
We tend to define faithfulness by outcomes.
Did God fix it?
Did He answer it?
Did He change it?
But Exodus invites us to see something deeper:
Faithfulness isn’t proven in speed. It’s revealed in consistency. God wasn’t late. He was working on a timeline bigger than immediate relief. If we’re honest, that’s uncomfortable. Because we don’t just want God to be faithful. We want Him to be fast.
CRYING OUT IS STILL FAITH
One of the most repeated actions in these early chapters is simple:
They cried out.
Moses cried out.
The people cried out.
Again and again.
What’s striking is this: Scripture never rebukes them for it. Crying out wasn’t weakness or failure. It was faith refusing to shut down. It was the decision to keep turning toward God, even when things didn’t make sense.
Maybe that’s a needed reminder: faith doesn’t always look like confidence. Sometimes it looks like honesty.
GOD REMEMBERS—EVEN WHEN WE LOSE TRACK
Long before Egypt, God made a promise in Book of Genesis 12.
A promise to Abraham. A future that didn’t match the present reality at all. By the time we get to Exodus, that promise probably felt distant—if not completely disconnected from what people were experiencing.
But God hadn’t moved on. He doesn’t forget what He speaks.
Even when generations pass.
Even when circumstances contradict it.
Even when people lose sight of it.
As Second Epistle to Timothy 2:13 says:
“If we are faithless, He remains faithful.”
That’s not a small statement. That’s the truth. God’s faithfulness is not fragile. It doesn’t depend on how steady we feel.
SEEN, KNOWN, AND NOT OVERLOOKED
In Exodus 3:7, God says:
“I have seen… I have heard… I am aware…”
That word aware carries weight. It means nothing about their suffering was hidden from Him. If we’re honest, one of the deepest fears we carry is not just pain itself, it’s the fear of being unseen in it.
Exodus answers that quietly but clearly: You are not overlooked. Not in the big moments. Not in the quiet ones either.
BEFORE THE RESCUE
God declares that He has come down to rescue His people. But rescue doesn’t unfold all at once. It comes step by step. Through conversations, resistance, uncertainty, and stretching.
This is where this first week leaves us—not at the Red Sea, not in freedom, but right at the beginning of movement. Where God is stirring, but not yet finished. Where something is shifting, but not yet complete.
SITTING IN THE MIDDLE
Faithfulness is not just about the ending. It’s about the middle.
The middle where:
- prayers are still being prayed
- answers are still unfolding
- trust is still being formed
The invitation this week isn’t to fix anything or rush ahead. I think it’s simply this:
Pay attention to where you’re waiting.
Because that might be the exact place where God is already at work—hearing, remembering, seeing, and preparing to respond.
FINAL REFLECTION
We don’t like the slow parts of the story. But they’re the parts that shape us. Because anyone can celebrate deliverance when it arrives, but trust is built long before it does. If God is faithful in the middle, then we can trust Him with the end.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
Take a few moments this week to sit with these—don’t rush past them:
- Where in my life do I feel like I’ve been waiting longer than I expected?
- When God feels silent, what assumptions do I tend to make about Him?
- Do I believe that God truly hears me—even when I don’t see immediate change?
- What does it look like for me to honestly “cry out” to God right now instead of holding it in or pushing through alone?
- Where might God be working beneath the surface that I haven’t been paying attention to?
- Am I trusting God’s timing—or quietly trying to rush Him?
A PRAYER FOR THE WAITING
God,
If I’m honest, waiting is hard. It stretches me in ways I don’t always like, and there are moments where I wonder if You’re really listening. But Your Word reminds me that You hear every cry, You see every burden, and You have not forgotten what You’ve promised.
So in the places where I feel stuck, teach me to trust You. In the silence, remind me that You are not absent. In the waiting, remind me that You are working. In the uncertainty, remind me that You are faithful.
Give me the courage to be honest with You, the patience to trust Your timing, and the faith to believe that even now, You are moving in ways I cannot yet see. Help me to hold onto who You are until I see what You will do.
Amen.