January 31
Exodus 5-6
Psalm 18:1-6
Proverbs 3:29-32
Matthew 21:1-17
Expectation
“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh. Because of my mighty hand, he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country…Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, who the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant. Therefore, say to the Israelites: I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.” Exodus 6:1, 5-6 NIV
“In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From His temple He heard my voice; my cry came before Him, into His ears.” Psalm 18:6 NIV
We serve a God who hears us. Throughout scripture, we see accounts of God hearing His people and answering their cries. He is not a far-off God who does not care about the concerns of His people. He listens for us. He hears us when we call. And when He hears us, He answers. The answer may be to do what we asked, it may be to tell us to wait a while until He has finished His work in and around us, or it may be no. We may not like the answer, but He will answer us. When we have presented our requests to God, we are to wait in hopeful anticipation of His answer. So often we present our requests to God and then we continue to hold on to the problem and try to fix it ourselves, or we wait anxiously and fearfully.
The Lord told Moses that now he would see what He would do to Pharaoh. Now he would see. They had suffered and labored under Pharaoh for many years and now it was time to see what God was going to do. We can have that same confidence when God has answered our prayer. Even when we can’t see the answer, we can wait in hopeful expectation knowing that God will hear from heaven and will act on our behalf. His timing is often different from what we want, but it is always what is best for us.
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