There are seasons in life where we feel stuck, where the pressure stays on long after we think things should have changed. We pray, we try, we push, but nothing moves. Then suddenly, almost without warning, the situation breaks open. A door that felt sealed opens. A burden loosens. A way forward appears. That kind of sudden change can feel unsettling, but Exodus 12 shows us that these moments rarely come out of nowhere. They are often the point where God finally acts after long years of quiet work.
Exodus 12:33–42 (ESV)
33 The Egyptians were urgent with the people to send them out of the land in haste. For they said, “We shall all be dead.” 34 So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up in their cloaks on their shoulders. 35 The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewellery and for clothing. 36 And the Lord had given the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians. 37 And the people of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. 38 A mixed multitude also went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds. 39 And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves. 40 The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years. 41 At the end of 430 years, on that very day, all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. 42 It was a night of watching by the Lord, to bring them out of the land of Egypt, so this same night is a night of watching kept to the Lord by all the people of Israel throughout their generations.
The speed of this moment catches you by surprise. Israel had been groaning for centuries. They had watched plague after plague fall on Egypt, but Pharaoh refused to change. You can imagine the doubts building. Would anything ever be different. Then, in one night, everything turns. The same Egyptians who had crushed them now push them out. Israel grabs whatever they can carry. Bread that has not risen. Bowls wrapped in cloaks. There is nothing tidy about it. It is the Lord stepping into history and bringing the story to its appointed end.
And the simple truth is this. Israel could never have done this. Not in four hundred and thirty years. Not with strength, organisation, or determination. What they could not accomplish in generations, God completes in hours. That should shape how we view our own long waits. God is not late. God is not slow. He acts when he chooses, and when he does, there is no question about who brought the change.
Then you have this remarkable detail. Israel walks out carrying Egyptian silver and gold. These people had been mistreated and crushed, but they leave with their hands full. God provides for them before they even understand what the wilderness will demand of them. He does not rescue his people halfway. He rescues and he supplies.
And over all of it sits this line, that it was a night of watching by the Lord. While Israel hurried and Egypt panicked, God watched. He kept his promise spoken generations earlier. Their rescue did not depend on their readiness or their power. It depended on the God who sees, who remembers, who acts at exactly the right time.
We often carry our own Egypts, the seasons where nothing seems to change. And we are tempted to think that God is distant or uninterested. This passage will not let us believe that. God may be quiet, but he is never absent. And when he moves, we see his hand clearly and we remember that he was watching the whole time.
Prayer
Father, teach us to trust you in the long waits and the slow years. Keep us from panic and from taking control when nothing seems to change. Help us remember that you watch over your people and that you act with perfect wisdom. Strengthen our faith so that when you bring change, we follow you with confidence. Amen.