Exodus 2:24-25 — 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 had respect unto them.

This little passage caught my eye today. Another of those passages that the eye might pass over nine times out of ten. Today though it called out to me, and I had to dig into it. As I looked at it, it seemed to me that it’s a key moment in the Exodus narrative, and also a good description of how God cares for His people.
First, God heard. When His people cry out, God responds. It’s not that He was previously ignorant of Israel’s pain — an omniscient unchanging God knows everything. “In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.” (Psalm 18:6).
Next, God remembered his covenant. Not literally, of course. God does not forget, and does not remember. But in the eyes of the Hebrews, perhaps it seemed that God had forgotten them — but God does not forget. “This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord ‘s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:21-23).
Then, God looked upon the children of Israel. Matthew Henry quotes verse 11 of this chapter “And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting a Hebrew, one of his brethren.” (Exodus 2:11) and comments “Moses looked upon them and pitied them; but now God looked upon them and helped them“.
Finally, God had respect unto them. I think this is the phrase that caught my eye. In the version I was reading it was simply translated “and God knew”. The word is not a simple one to interpret, but I believe the suggestion is that God distinguished them among the peoples by the action he decided to take.
This is how God treats His people — He hears, is faithful, He sees and He acts. In the case of the people of Israel, it was a turning point. It was time for them to set out for the Promised Land, and He would act dramatically to shake them free …