Moses – Page 16 – Praying Pint

41. “But behold”

Exodus 4:1 Then Moses answered, “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you.’”

It was good when Moses had no confidence in the flesh; but it was bad that he then lacked confidence in God. In view of the burning bush, the voice of God, and the divine encounter, there was no place for Moses to say, “But.” “We are ever prone, when God is calling us to some high service, to say ‘But,’ (Guzik)

It is very probable that the people would have said this if Moses had not had any credentials to produce. It is even possible that they did say it. There had been no appearance of Jehovah to any one for above four hundred years, and they might well think that the age of miracles was past. (Ellicott)

A “burning bush” and being “spoken” to by God in light of there being no visitation of God to man manifested for over 400 years. It is not as though God was absent, He was very much present. His plans and purposes were very much intact. We can sense the conflict of Moses 70-80 years old at this time. He has seen much of life and was surely not expecting the voice of God to call him to deliver the Israelites from bondage. We can see it in; “Who am I that I should go”, “What name should I tell them”, “They will not believe me”, and “They will not listen to me”. All of these comments and questions come from the heart of Moses who is humble for sure.

There are those who are humble and say, “How can God use me?”. There are those who are proud or lazy and say, “Not me!”. There are those who are overzealous and don’t even seek God’s calling but march headlong with their own ideas, purposes, and plans. There are those who, with attentive ears and expectant hearts, wait and listen for God’s quiet whispers, or loud shouts, and say, “Here am I send me.”

We are never too old, weak, overwhelmed, overpowered, alone, or a whole list of other reasons we allow ourselves to believe why God can’t or won’t use us. God does and will use us and gift us for His use, “EXPECT IT” and then with sincere humbleness and humility be ever ready to say, “Here and I send me”

40.y. “I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction”

Exodus 3:15 God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations. Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt, and I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey.”’ And they will listen to your voice, and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; and now, please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.

Psalms 72:17     May his name endure forever, his fame continue as long as the sun! May people be blessed in him, all nations call him blessed!

Psalms 72:19    Blessed be his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory! Amen and Amen!

Psalms 135:13    Your name, O LORD, endures forever, your renown, O LORD, throughout all ages.

Psalms 102:12     But you, O LORD, are enthroned forever; you are remembered throughout all generations.

Micah 4:5    For all the peoples walk each in the name of its god, but we will walk in the name of the LORD our God forever and ever.

“I AM WHO I AM.” “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” “This is my name forever”

After four hundred years in Egypt, Moses had the job of announcing that now was the time for the children of Israel to go back to Canaan, and to take the land God promised to their fathers. This was probably totally contrary to what the elders and people of Israel desired. In four hundred years, you set down roots. They probably had no desire to return to the Promised Land; all they wanted was to be made more comfortable in Egypt.

We don’t come close to understanding the purposes and plans of God. We like to think that we will be provided a land flowing with milk and honey, peace, trial, and trouble-free. Faith in God would be much easier and certainly more shallow if this were the case. Think about when your faith grew. Wasn’t it after you had walked in the valley of trials and troubles? Wasn’t it during a time when your situation was without answers? Wasn’t it during a time when you realized that self-reliance was not even close to being adequate? Wasn’t it a time when you realized your only hope of refuge, strength, and courage to face another day was in God – I Am?

Some of our paths in life will be less burdensome than others who will live in almost constant trials and troubles. It is the same God over all of us. We do not know God’s plans and purposes other than the promises given to us in His Word. I will never leave you or forsake you. I will give you peace and rest. I will be your refuge and strength. I will guide and lead you. For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

We may think we have been forgotten or our trials and troubles are unseen by God. Cast these thoughts from your heart and mind. Lay these in the hands of Him who is able to do more than we ask and much more than we can imagine. By faith, we can trust and rejoice in our Heavenly Father no matter what situation we find ourselves in. It is hard to release our burdens and trust God. It is not natural for us to rely on God when we desperately want to rely on ourselves.

Our purpose in life is to honor and glorify Jesus Christ in all we think, say, and do. By faith, we think, say, and do that which honors and glorifies Him. When we intentionally choose and commit to this every moment of every day, we will find reasons for hope and rejoice in Him alone.

40.w. “I AM WHO I AM.”

Exodus 3:13 Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

There are many names given to God in Genesis: God Most High, Almighty God, Everlasting God, The Lord will Provide, and the God Who Sees. When God answers Moses question, “The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?”, it might seem strange to refer to one’s self with the phrase, “I AM WHO I AM” I AM sent you. God has no equal. If we say God is Love we cannot say Love is God for He is greater than love.

God told Moses His name was I AM because God simply is; there was never a time when He did not exist, or a time when He will cease to exist. God told Moses His name was I AM because God simply is; there was never a time when He did not exist, or a time when He will cease to exist. I AM: This is a divine title that Jesus took upon Himself often, clearly identifying Himself with the voice from the burning bush.

i. Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I AM [He], you will die in your sins. (John 8:24)

ii. Then Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I AM [He], and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things.” (John 8:28)

iii. Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” (John 8:58)

iv. Now I tell you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe that I AM. (John 13:19)

v. Jesus therefore, knowing all things that would come upon Him, went forward and said to them, “Whom are you seeking?” They answered Him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I AM [He].” And Judas, who betrayed Him, also stood with them. Now when He said to them, “I am [He],” they drew back and fell to the ground. (John 18:4-6) (Guzik)

It is also connected with the idea that God is eternal and unchanging. “Strictly speaking, there is no past or future tense in the Divine Vocabulary. When God appears to employ them, it is by way of accommodation to our limited horizons.” (Meyer)

“I AM” is everything and so much more than we can imagine. We can fill in the blank “I AM “, and still understate who God is; “The Bread of Life, Living Water, Love, Grace, Mercy, Everlasting, Ever-present, All-knowing, All-Powerful, Creator of Heaven and Earth, Redeemer, Good Shepherd, Light in the darkness, All-Mighty, Heavenly Father, Author, and Finisher, etc…….”

With reverence and awe, we should live out our lives in such a way that brings honor and glory to “I AM”.

40.v. “A land flowing with milk and honey”

Exodus 3:8 I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

Deuteronomy 8:7-9    For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills,  a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey,  a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper.

Nehemiah 9:24  You multiplied their children as the stars of heaven, and you brought them into the land that you had told their fathers to enter and possess.

Jeremiah 2:7   And I brought you into a plentiful land to enjoy its fruits and its good things. But when you came in, you defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination.

Jeremiah 32:22   And you gave them this land, which you swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey.

Ezekiel 20:6   On that day I swore to them that I would bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the most glorious of all lands.

A good land and a large.—The land promised to Abraham (Genesis 15:18) well deserves this description. Besides Philistia, and Palestine on both sides of the Jordan, it included almost the whole of Syria from Galilee on the south, to Amanus, Taurus, and the Euphrates on the north and north-east. This tract of country is 450 miles long, and from sixty to a hundred and twenty miles broad. Its area is not much less than 50,000 square miles. Although some parts are unproductive, it is, on the whole, a region of great fertility. (Ellicott)

And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians,…. Which must be understood consistent with the omnipresence of God, who is everywhere, and strictly speaking cannot be said to remove from place to place, or to descend; but such a way of speaking is used, when he gives some eminent display of his power or goodness, as here in a wonderful manner he appeared in a burning bush, and manifested himself in a way of grace and kindness to his people, signifying that he would shortly save them: so Christ in our nature came down from heaven to earth, to save his spiritual Israel out of the hands of all their enemies and to bring them out of that land; the land of Egypt, where they were in bondage, and greatly oppressed. (Gill)

The purposes, plans, and will of God are at best a mystery which He exposes to whom He and when He chooses. He knows the beginning from the end. Everything in the future is known to Him. Nothing is hidden. Nothing is new. Nothing is beyond His knowing. He orchestrates His creation for His pleasure which is clothed in righteousness, holiness, justice, grace, mercy, and love. Paul, trying to explain this says; “we are the clay and He is the potter, who are we to question what He chooses to do with the creation of His hands”

His promises for His chosen people are clear. The timing of fulfilling these promises is not. However, the fact that God gave the promises means with no uncertain terms, they are already fulfilled if not seen by man. Eternal life is promised to those who believe. Eternal hell and torment are promised to those who do not. Though they are not yet realized, they are in fact already executed by the Promises given. Denying or rejecting promises does not make them void. They are sure to come because God has given them. You can know the promises of God but not believe them, just as you can know the commands of God and not follow or obey them. Belief and faith in God’s promises are essential for a person to come to repentance and salvation through Jesus Christ. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whosoever would believe in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” Belief and faith in this promise change a person. they are born again, a new creation, for the honor and glory of Jesus Christ in all they think, say, and do. Belief and faith in the promises of God change a person from a destination of eternal hell and torment to eternal life.

The promise of a land flowing with milk and honey in this life is but a small glimpse of what awaits us in heaven within the presence of the Holiness of God.

40.q. “God called to him out of the bush”

Exodus 3:1 Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

For 40 years Moses lived as an obscure shepherd in the desert of Midian. At this point his life was so humble that he didn’t even have a flock of sheep to call his own – the sheep belonged to his father-in-law. The bush burning but not being consumed was a magnetic sight to Moses – it drew him in for a closer examination. Some think the burning bush to be a symbol of Israel, or the people of God more generally – afflicted but not destroyed, because God is in the midst of them. The bush burning but not being consumed was a magnetic sight to Moses – it drew him in for a closer examination. Some think the burning bush to be a symbol of Israel, or the people of God more generally – afflicted but not destroyed, because God is in the midst of them. God didn’t speak to Moses until He had Moses’ attention. Often God’s Word doesn’t touch our heart the way that it might because we don’t give it our attention. The burning bush was a spectacular phenomenon that captured Moses’ attention; but it changed nothing until Moses received the Word of God that came to him there. God’s first words to Moses called him by name. This shows that even though Moses was now an obscure, forgotten shepherd on the backside of the desert, God knew who he was, and Moses was important to God. God told Moses to do two things to show special honor to this place because of the immediate presence of God. He told Moses to keep a distance (Do not draw near this place). He commanded Moses to show reverence for God’s presence (Take your sandals off your feet). God revealed Himself to Moses by declaring His relationship to the patriarchs. This reminded Moses that God is the God of the covenant, and His covenant with Israel was still valid and important. This wasn’t a “new God” meeting Moses, but the same God that dealt with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God would reveal Himself to Moses more intimately than He had to any of the patriarchs; yet it all began with God reminding Moses of the bridge of covenant they met on. Some in the days of Moses might have thought that God neglected or forgot His covenant in the 400 years of Israel’s slavery in Egypt, since the time of the patriarchs. Nevertheless, God was at work during that time, preserving and multiplying the nation. God told Moses to do what was appropriate for a creature before their Creator – to revere and recognize His holiness. Moses responded as a man who knew he was not only a creature, but also a sinful creature – he hid his face. (Guzik)

If our mind shuts out things of God and our eyes quit looking for God’s hands in things around us, and our ears quit listening for the quiet whispers of God’s Word into our lives, it is no wonder our lives have no peace and rest. Though a foundation may have been laid there is no continual building upon it. Such a waste of a life of a child of the King of Kings. “Turn your hearts to Jesus, look full into his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.”

40.o. “But Moses stood up and saved them”

Exodus 2:16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. The shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and saved them, and watered their flock. When they came home to their father Reuel, he said, “How is it that you have come home so soon today?” They said, “An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds and even drew water for us and watered the flock.” He said to his daughters, “Then where is he? Why have you left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.” And Moses was content to dwell with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah. She gave birth to a son, and he called his name Gershom, for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.”

Moses flees for his life and comes to a place where there happens to be an injustice being inflicted upon the daughters of the Midian priest. He intercedes and corrects the injustice, is invited to the home of the priest, is given a daughter in marriage, and has a son. We can surely see the hand of God in this, but the question of the sovereignty, plans, and purposes of God and the free will acts of man raises its head. I start down this path only to find myself at a crossroads that either gives too much credit to free will, and thereby limiting God, or places everything being done as the total work of God and thereby limiting man’s free will.

God has given mankind the free will to choose to honor and glorify Him or to go after their own way and dishonor and reject and deny Him. Mankind chooses to do good or bad, right or wrong, godly or ungodly things. God has given mankind a “free will” choice to trust in, cling to, rely on, follow, and obey Jesus Christ for their salvation and forgiveness of their sin. Eternal life is promised to all who repent, believe, and trust in the redemptive work on the cross through Jesus Christ. Eternal torment is promised to all who don’t. In these promises, there is God’s all-knowing “past, present, and future” purposes and plans, and mankind’s free will. God reaches out to the hearts of mankind and offers salvation, at the same time He knows who will repent, trust, and believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This mystery of God’s sovereignty and mankind’s free will is far above my understanding.

I do know this; repentance, trust, belief, obedience, and reliance on Jesus Christ changes a person. You are changed immediately and being changed continually for the honor and glory of Jesus Christ. Old things are past away and all things are new. You are a new creation, born again, and a light that shines for the honor and glory of Jesus Christ. Into this person will come to the Holy Spirit to guide, lead, and direct them in thought, words, and actions that honor and glorify Jesus Christ. To these, there is given a peace that passes all understanding though the world around them is in trials and troubles.

Commit this day to live in such a way that in all you think, say, and do will honor and glorify Jesus Christ.

40.m. “Surely the thing is known.”

Exodus 2:11 One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people. He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. When he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together. And he said to the man in the wrong, “Why do you strike your companion?” He answered, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, and thought, “Surely the thing is known.” When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian. And he sat down by a well.

Hebrews 11:23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.

Moses boldly owned the cause of God’s people. It is plain from Heb 11. that this was done in faith, with the full purpose of leaving the honours, wealth, and pleasures of his rank among the Egyptians. By the grace of God he was a partaker of faith in Christ, which overcomes the world. He was willing, not only to risk all, but to suffer for his sake; being assured that Israel were the people of God. By special warrant from Heaven, which makes no rule for other cases, Moses slew an Egyptian, and rescued an oppressed Israelites. Also, he tried to end a dispute between two Hebrews. The reproof Moses gave, may still be of use. May we not apply it to disputants, who, by their fierce debates, divide and weaken the Christian church? They forget that they are brethren. He that did wrong quarreled with Moses. It is a sign of guilt to be angry at reproof. Men know not what they do, nor what enemies they are to themselves, when they resist and despise faithful reproofs and reprovers. Moses might have said, if this be the spirit of the Hebrews, I will go to court again, and be the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. But we must take heed of being set against the ways and people of God, by the follies and peevishness of some persons that profess religion. Moses was obliged to flee into the land of Midian. God ordered this for wise and holy ends. (Henry)

We don’t always know the plans and purposes of God for our lives until we have lived long enough to see how His hand has guided, protected, placed, and like a great conductor, orchestrated our lives into a beautiful harmony with His plans and purposes.

40.l. “She named him Moses”

Exodus 2:1 Now a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a Levite woman. The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months. When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank. And his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him. Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it. When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.” Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him. When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, “Because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”

It is remarkable that all the persons in this narrative are anonymous. We know that the names of ‘the man of the house of Levi’ and his wife were Amram and Jochebed. Miriam was probably the anxious sister who watched. (Hebrews 11:23) By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. The writer of the Hebrews lifts the deed out of the category of instinctive maternal affection up to the higher level of faith. So we may believe that the aspect of her child woke some prophetic vision in the mother’s soul, and that she and her husband were of those who grasped the unseen God as their helper. Will it be thought too fanciful if we suggest that we are taught another lesson,-namely, that the faith which surrenders its earthly treasures to God, in confidence of His care, is generally rewarded and vindicated by receiving them back again, glorified and sanctified by the altar on which they have been laid?

The princesses of the royal house had separate households and abundant liberty of action. Still, it was bold to override the strict commands of such a monarch. But it was not a self-willed sense of power, but the beautiful daring of a compassionate woman, to which God committed the execution of His purposes. The great lesson of this incident, as of so much before, is the presence of God’s wonderful providence, working out its designs by all the play of human motives. Our story teaches us that God’s chosen instruments are immortal till their work is done. No matter how forlorn may seem their outlook, how small the probabilities in their favor, how divergent from the goal may seem the road He leads them, He watches them. Around that frail basket, half lost among the reeds, is cast the impregnable shield of His purpose. All things serve that Will. So ever His children are secure as long as He has work for them, and His mighty plan strides on to its accomplishment over all the barriers that men can raise. (MacLaren)

There is hope to be learned throughout scripture. Seeing the hand of God revealed through His word and through the actions of those whose hearts are focused and in reliance upon Him gives us hope, reliance, and peace for whatever the day, week, or months ahead of us. There is no bleak future in the heart that has placed its hope, faith, trust, and reliance on Jesus Christ.

39.w. “I wait for Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.”

Genesis 49:16 “Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be a serpent in the way, a viper by the path, that bites the horse’s heels so that his rider falls backward. I wait for your salvation, O LORD.

Judges 18:22-31    When they had gone a distance from the home of Micah, the men who were in the houses near Micah’s house were called out, and they overtook the people of Dan.  And they shouted to the people of Dan, who turned around and said to Micah, “What is the matter with you, that you come with such a company?”  And he said, “You take my gods that I made and the priest, and go away, and what have I left? How then do you ask me, ‘What is the matter with you?’”  And the people of Dan said to him, “Do not let your voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows fall upon you, and you lose your life with the lives of your household.”  Then the people of Dan went their way. And when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his home.  But the people of Dan took what Micah had made, and the priest who belonged to him, and they came to Laish, to a people quiet and unsuspecting, and struck them with the edge of the sword and burned the city with fire.  And there was no deliverer because it was far from Sidon, and they had no dealings with anyone. It was in the valley that belongs to Beth-rehob. Then they rebuilt the city and lived in it.  And they named the city Dan, after the name of Dan their ancestor, who was born to Israel; but the name of the city was Laish at the first.  And the people of Dan set up the carved image for themselves, and Jonathan the son of Gershom, son of Moses, and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the captivity of the land.  So they set up Micah’s carved image that he made, as long as the house of God was at Shiloh.

Psalms 14:7  Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion! When the LORD restores the fortunes of his people, let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.

Psalms 40:1   I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry.

Psalms 62:1  For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation.

Psalms 119:41 Let your steadfast love come to me, O LORD, your salvation according to your promise;

Psalms 119:166   I hope for your salvation, O LORD

Psalms 130:5   I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;

Isaiah 8:17    I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him.

Isaiah 25:9     It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”

Lamentations 3:25   The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.

Micah 7:7    But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.

Galatians 5:5    For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.

1 Thessalonians 1:10     and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. There is an elegant paronomasia, or an allusion to the name of Dan in those words, which signifies to judge, and the sense of them is, there should be heads, rulers, and judges of it. (GILL)

“Dan will procure his people justice as one of the tribes of Israel. Let Dan become a serpent by the way, a horned adder in the path, that biteth the horse’s heels, so that its rider falls back.” Although only the son of a maid-servant, Dan would not be behind the other tribes of Israel, but act according to his name (ידין דּן), and as much as any other of the tribes procure justice to his people (i.e., to the people of Israel; not to his own tribe, as Diestel supposes). There is no allusion in these words to the office of judge which was held by Samson; they merely describe the character of the tribe, although this character came out in the expedition of a portion of the Danites to Laish in the north of Canaan, a description of which is given in Judges 18, as well as in the “romantic chivalry of the brave, gigantic Samson, when the cunning of the serpent he overthrew the mightiest foes” (KEIL & DELITZSCH)

Jacob, almost spent, and ready to faint, relieves himself with those words, I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord! The salvation he waited for was Christ, the promised Seed; now that he was going to be gathered to his people, he breathes after Him to whom the gathering of the people shall be. He declared plainly that he sought heaven, the better country, Heb 11:13,14. Now he is going to enjoy the salvation, he comforts himself that he had waited for the salvation. Christ, as our way to heaven, is to be waited on; and heaven, as our rest in Christ, is to be waited for. It is the comfort of a dying saint thus to have waited for the salvation of the Lord; for then he shall have what he has been waiting for. (HENRY)

34.p. ” In spite of all this, they still sinned; despite his wonders, they did not believe”

Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

Hebrews 3:12     Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.

Hebrews 4:2    For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.

Hebrews 4:6   Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience,

Revelation 21:8   But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur

Numbers 14:11    And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them?

John 3:18-19   Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.  And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

Psalms 78:22   because they did not believe in God and did not trust his saving power.

Psalms 78:32    In spite of all this, they still sinned; despite his wonders, they did not believe.

Proverbs 11:18     The wicked earns deceptive wages, but one who sows righteousness gets a sure reward.

Jeremiah 29:13-14   You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.  I will be found by you, declares the LORD,

Brethren, we call ourselves Christians; let us be honest with ourselves, and rigid in the investigation of the thoughts of our own hearts. Is there a wish for God there? Is there an aching void in His absence, or do we shovel cartloads of earthly rubbish into our hearts, and thus dull desires that can be satisfied only with Him? These are not questions to which any one has a right to expect an answer from another; they are not questions that any Christian man can safely shirk answering to himself and to God. The measure of our seeking is actually settled by the measure of our desire. (MacLaren)

Having one eye of our hearts and minds tuned into and seeking and desiring what the world has to offer, and having the other eye turned toward heaven will not find a place for things of God. The things of earth will eat away any desire and seeking that our hearts and minds would have for things of God. Whatever this world may shout loud and strong into the ears of any who would listen will influence their path in life and hinder any things of God from being heard or seen. The heart of man must want to see and hear things of God above what this world has to offer or they will blindly and deafly follow after what seems right in their own eyes and social norms.

Seek to have God open His Word and give you understanding, knowledge, and wisdom of His grace, mercy and love.