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132 illustrations
Their waiting hours—like languid summer days when aspen leaves refuse to quiver and shadows barely move on the dial—mirrored the anguish of deferred hope.
Isaiah records a sobering scene: "He shall come to his sanctuary to pray." Yet this prayer proves fruitless. The Victorian preacher W. F. Manning observed a pattern repeating across centuries—people who recognize idolatry's folly still approach Elohim's altar with hollow...
"Where are the gods of these places?" (Isaiah 36:19).
As the proverb reminds us, "The mills of God grind slowly, but they grind to powder." Sennacherib's parricides fled to Ararat in Central Armenia, where Armenian historians trace the Sassimian and Arzrunian tribes from them.
Had the Assyrian king conquered Jerusalem, Jewish nationhood would have perished—absorbed into heathenism like the ten northern tribes before them.
When you restrain prayer before God, you act in opposition to your own conscience and confession of what is right.
David was no ordinary supplicant—he was a Hebrew poet of the highest order, standing upon the pedestal of all preceding poetry to elevate his art to nobler heights.
The first clause appears personal—"Thou hast maintained my right"—as if Yahweh had chosen one man's cause over many.
If we are rooted elsewhere, our life will be stunted and unhealthy.
The Psalmist's exultation in verse 4 reveals how the Divine presence transforms desperation into joy, even before deliverance manifests physically.
save me, O my God!"—expresses this dependence completely.
Man, as a fallen being with alienated affections and distorted views, requires precise Divine direction.
The original Hebrew *musar* (discipline, instruction) paired with the rod establishes wisdom in a child; conversely, a child left to himself brings shame upon his mother.
Human history becomes one prolonged wrestling match with God's infinite riddle.
The seer beholds earth spread open to heaven like a vast cornfield beneath hovering clouds—clouds heavy with *tsedaqah* (righteousness), Jehovah's faithfulness throughout this prophetic book.
Yahweh, the Lord in His everlasting redemptive purpose, invites Israel to *ask*—not as suppliants begging scraps, but as covenant partners speaking into the Divine intention.
The phrase "in a dark place of the earth" references the pagan oracles and necromancers whose spirit-voices seemed to emerge from subterranean depths—shrouded, obscure, fundamentally deceptive.
Similarly, Adonai possesses many treasuries and secrets shut from carnal minds, yet he who walks in fellowship with Jesus holds the master-key admitting him to all covenant blessings—even to the very heart of God.
First, consider the *blessing* pronounced: believers are "filled with joy and peace in believing" — not by human effort, but by the God of hope Himself.
He visits rebellious generations with four gifts: the call—spoken through prophets, apostles, and conscience itself, articulated in earthquake and storm; the stretched hands—an open path to the Father with no obstruction, no forbidding, no upbraiding; the counsel—specifically directed at those...
To grasp its sweetest meaning, we must enter the spirit of Isaiah 24, which thunders with clouds, darkness, and judgment.
Proverbs 10:24 unveils two destinies: "The fear of the wicked, it shall come upon him; but the desire of the righteous shall be granted." Who are the wicked?
Had Elohim never vouchsafed positive revelation to mankind, we should feel after virtue as one groping in darkness.
Such prayer expresses profound need and longing desire after God Himself.