sound of a soft breath

Listen to Exodus Chapter 1 and 2 or Read "Aware"

The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.

Sometimes the way I read something like reading between the lines interferes with my understanding of the passage. Most translations I have read use a phrase like "he (God) remembered his covenant with Abraham ...". When I read this it kinda suggests that God has forgotten about his promise and is distant from his people. But I have to remind myself (with other passages from the bible and my own experience) that this is not what I know about God and is not what is being said here, it is just the way I have interpeted the wording. The wording used could easily sugget that God has NOT forgot. I think this is written from a point of amazement that God remembers us at all. Look at Psalm 8:

O LORD , our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! ... When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? (New International Version)

I think the emphasis could easily be put on God not forgetting instead. The "Contemporary English Translation" translates it this way.

He did not forget the promise he had made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ...

This small issue aside looking at it from a larger view we see God heard their cries, was concerned, and understood. God was aware of his people's pain. He was already at work preparing a leader to save his people from slavery - a savior.

Enjoy the beginning of "The Prince of Egypt" showing the slavery in Egypt and the birth of Moses.