Sharon Reformed Presbyterian Church · Sermon study sheet

Where is God?

Dr. John Wiers · August 8, 2026

Exodus 1

sharonrpc.org/sermons/where-is-god

Summary

Exodus 1 may seem to place God in the background, but the growth and preservation of Israel show that he is faithfully keeping his covenant promises.
God's plan of redemption cannot be stopped: he preserves the covenant line that leads to Christ even through slavery, political hostility, and satanic opposition.
Israel's fruitfulness shows God's continuing care for his creation; even in a groaning world, ordinary life and new birth testify that he has not abandoned what he made.
God's blessings do not guarantee freedom from opposition. Pharaoh attacks Israel precisely because the people are multiplying, yet his supposedly shrewd plans cannot outwit God's providence.
Christ's death and resurrection give believers their strongest assurance that God will not finally abandon his people and that nothing can separate them from his love.
God often displays his presence through ordinary faithfulness: the Hebrew midwives fear God, protect life, and quietly defeat the designs of a powerful ruler.
When God seems absent, believers are called to trust his promises, obey him in their daily callings, and look for his providential work even under severe pressure.

When have you been tempted to ask, 'Where is God?' and what promises of Scripture help you ask that question in faith?
What evidence of God's covenant faithfulness can you see in Exodus 1 even before his mighty acts become visible?
How does Israel's multiplication under oppression show the limits of Pharaoh's power and the certainty of God's saving purpose?
Why should Christians not assume that God's blessing will remove opposition or suffering?
How do Christ's cross and resurrection assure believers that God has not abandoned them?
What ordinary responsibilities has God placed before you in which faithful obedience may display trust in him?
What does the example of Shiphrah and Puah teach about fearing God when human authorities command evil?
How does Romans 8:31-39 strengthen the sermon’s conclusion that nothing can separate God's people from his love?

Presence of God: God's active nearness to his people, sometimes displayed openly through mighty acts and sometimes discerned through his quiet providence.
Covenant: God's binding promise by which he commits himself to a people and carries forward his saving purpose, ultimately through Christ.
Providence: God's wise and sovereign preservation and government of his creation, including events that may look ordinary or even hostile.
Plan of redemption: God's unfolding work to defeat sin and Satan and to save a people through the promised offspring who is fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
Fear of God: Reverent trust and allegiance to God that leads his people to obey him above human rulers, as the Hebrew midwives did.
Perseverance: God's faithful preservation of believers so that hardship and opposition cannot finally separate them from his love in Christ.
Cry of dereliction: Jesus' words from Psalm 22, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?', expressing the real suffering of the curse he bore for his people without breaking the unity of the Trinity.