Our second illustration is found in Exodus 4, when God sent Moses to tell the children of Israel that He had visited them and would deliver them out of the bondage of Egypt. They would not have to fire bricks, the material used to build the tower of Babel. Verse 31 says, "And when [the people] heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel, and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped." Do we have a group of people worshipping God for His ways? Many times it seems as if God is leading us in just the same way as He led Abraham's servant. When our way is well-prospered, we cannot but worship God. Here, however, the situation is different. They worshipped here because God visited them and looked upon their affliction. God did nothing but tell the children of Israel through Moses and Aaron that He had remembered them despite the passage of four hundred thirty years. God had visited them and looked upon their affliction. The meaning of looked is "saw." God saw what happened to them. When the Israelites saw that God remembered, visited, and looked upon them, they bowed their heads and worshipped.
Many times our brothers and sisters suffer trials. They cannot worship God because they think God has forgotten them. Many people have domestic difficulties, but the difficulties never last for four hundred thirty years. How can we say that God has forgotten us? Perhaps the children of Israel said, "We have been slaves for so many years, God does not care," just as we may say, "I have been sick for so long, God would not heal me. I have been unemployed for years, but God will not make a way for me. My husband still does not believe; there are still problems in my family." It seems that God has forgotten us, our difficulties, and our sufferings. But if we say these things, our lips will be sealed and we will not worship God. We will have no way to offer a word of worship to God. But a day will come when we see God. We will know Him and understand His ways, and we will see that God has not forgotten our situation. We will tell God that everything we went through was for our benefit; we will bow our head to say, "God, I worship You." We will be unable to refrain from worshipping God because of our gratitude. We will say, "God, I worship You for all the grace and blessings You have given me."
In Exodus 12:27 God commanded the Israelites to teach their children about the meaning of the Passover: "It is the sacrifice of the Lord's passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses." How did the Israelites receive this message? "The people bowed the head and worshipped." The people worshipped God. Please remember that in the Old Testament the sacrifice of the Passover was not a sin offering but a memorial sacrifice. This memorial sacrifice caused the people to worship God. God destroyed the firstborn in all the houses of the Egyptians, but He passed over all the houses of the children of Israel. As they recalled the separation that God had made between His people and the worldly people and the different places to which each had been brought, they could not help but worship Him.
The Passover, like our Lord's table meeting, is a memorial sacrifice and feast to recall the Lord's work and our separation from the world, the recollection of which begets worship in our hearts. We wonder why God ever chose us! We are constrained to worship because of God's way in His selection. Many times God's grace only causes us to give thanks, but it cannot cause us to worship. When we see God's ways, however, we cannot refrain from worshipping. When the Israelites saw the ways of God, they seemingly could not help but say, "God, there are so many people in Egypt, why would You pass over the houses of Israel and strike the houses of the Egyptians? Every firstborn of the Egyptians was slain; how could the firstborn of the Israelites be spared? God, how did You do this?" When we see what God has done and how He has chosen us, we will worship Him. The methods by which God does things are His ways. God not only gives grace to us, but the ways in which He gives grace and chooses us cause us to worship God.
Have we thought about these matters? I often think about the time when I was saved as a student. There were more than four hundred other students in the school. God did not choose any of those other students. Why would He choose me? My father had twelve brothers and sisters. Among such a tribe, God did not choose another; He chose me. When we think of the way in which God chose us, we are not just thinking of the grace of God. We do not just give thanks; we also worship God for the way in which He works. Worshipping is acknowledging that God has given grace in such a way. This is not just a matter of God giving grace, but of the way in which grace is given. Since He has given grace in such a way, we should say, "God, I worship You. These are Your ways. You are God."
O brothers and sisters, these are the ways of God! We might ask why He saved us. Let me say that He saved us because it was His delight to choose us. He wanted this and ordained this. There is nothing for us to say. We can only bow our head and fall before Him, saying, "God, I worship You. You not only have grace, but also You take wonderful ways to dispense Your grace." The children of Israel did not merely give thanks to God upon seeing this; they also worshipped Him.
At the breaking of the bread, as we contemplate His grace in saving, justifying, and regenerating sinners like ourselves, and in making us become His children, we offer thanks to God. But when we think of the way in which He forgave our sins, the process He went through to justify us, and the pains He took to pull us out of the muck and mire from among the thousands of other people around us, and when we think of how we happened to be in a certain church and happened to hear a particular gospel message preached by just the right person, and how that enabled us to receive Him, we remember God's ways. We will offer not only thanks but also worship. We will worship the God who orders our way. When we know the ways of God, we cannot refrain from worshipping Him.
There is a marvelous point in this verse. When the children of Israel heard the word, they bowed their heads and worshipped. Moses did not teach them this; Moses did not tell them that they should worship. He just spoke the word of God to them, and they simply worshipped. Worship does not require instruction, exhortation, or mental exercise. When we see the ways of God, we spontaneously worship Him.