Hear these words of David from the depths of despair: “My soul also is greatly troubled…return O Lord, deliver me! Oh, save me for Your mercies’ sake! I am weary with my groaning; all night I make my bed swim; I drench my couch with my tears” (Psa. 6:3-5). Have you ever been at this same place? If not, some day you may be. The trials of life come upon us, and we groan and seek for God. At times like this, rest assured that He hears more than our prayers. He hears our groaning.
When Hagar had been sent away from Abraham’s household, she took her son, Ishmael, and fled into the wilderness. It was not long before they ran out of water and were dying of thirst. She was watching her own son as he was dying. Read the text carefully as it describes her prayer for death and deliverance from watching her child die. “Let me not see the death of the boy…And God heard the voice of the lad…and said to her, ‘What ails you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is’” (Gen. 21:16-17). God heard the voice of Hagar and even the voice of Ishmael as death approached.
God heard the groanings of the Jews in Egyptian bondage as their taskmasters oppressed them. “Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage…So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” (Ex. 2:23-24). They cried out and God heard both their groanings and their prayers! Stephen reminded the Jews of the events at the burning bush. God said to Moses, “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt; I have heard their groaning and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt” (Acts 7:34).
The trials in Egypt began with the oppression of evil men and this brought about the agony and groaning of the slaves in bondage. It was so severe that they first groaned. Then they cried out, and God responded. But note that even before they prayed, God heard the groaning. Before He heard them pray, He heard them groaning.
What does this have to do with us? God is eternal, and He never changes. These verses do not describe how God was. It describes how He is—the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb. 13:8). Remember His name given at this burning bush: He is I AM.
A small child wakes in the middle of the night with pain. He is hurting and begins to sob. He hurts and feels so alone in the darkness. Unknown to him, his mom hears him crying and is rushing to his side, even before he calls out to her. Remember He hears both our groanings and prayers.