Evangel Books - Finding and following Jesus

Omer Count Day 47 — Expectation

“Behold, I am coming to you...” (Exodus 19:9 TLV)

I keep thinking about what the camp must have felt like at this point. The mountain standing there. The waiting. The stillness before something they could not fully see yet. Yehovah had said He was coming. And suddenly, ordinary time probably didn't feel ordinary anymore. People prepare differently when they know someone important is about to arrive. The atmosphere changes. Your attention changes. Things that normally distract you suddenly feel less important because your focus shifts toward what's ahead. Expectation does that.

I think somewhere along the way, many people lose "it" without realizing, not their belief, not their faith, but "expectation".

Things can easily become familiar. Prayer becomes routine. Worship becomes something you do instead of something you enter into. You read Scripture, but sometimes your heart no longer leans forward with the same hunger or anticipation it once had. You still know Yehovah is real... but you stop expecting Him to move closely, personally, deeply.

And maybe that's part of why this moment before Sinai matters so much. Israel wasn't just passing time until the next day arrived. There was awareness in the camp now. A sense that something holy was near. Something weighty. Something that demanded attention. Expectation keeps the heart awake. Not emotional hype. Not trying to force an experience. Just a real awareness that Yehovah is not distant or absent. That He still speaks. Still moves. Still draws near.

And I also think expectation changes the way you listen. You pray differently. You worship differently. You approach His Word differently. Because deep down, you are no longer just going through motions. You are waiting with awareness. Watching. Paying attention. And maybe this is part of what the Omer journey has been doing all along. Not just refining behavior... but waking the heart back up again. Because Sinai was drawing near. And the people knew Yehovah was coming.

Daily Devotional

Oswald Chambers

THE NEXT BEST THING TO DO

"Seek, and ye shall find." Luke 11:9

"Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss." If you ask for things from life instead of from God, you ask amiss, i.e., you ask from a desire for self-realization. The more you realize yourself the less will you seek God. "Seek, and ye shall find." Get to work, narrow your interests to this one. Have you ever sought God with your whole heart, or have you only given a languid cry to Him after a twinge of moral neuralgia? Seek, concentrate, and you will find.

"Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters." Are you thirsty, or smugly indifferent - so satisfied with your experience that you want nothing more of God? Experience is a gateway, not an end. Beware of building your faith on experience, the metallic note will come in at once, the censorious note. You can never give another person that which you have found, but you can make him homesick for what you have. "Knock, and it shall be opened unto you." "Draw nigh to God." Knock - the door is closed, and you suffer from palpitation as you knock.

"Cleanse your hands" - knock a bit louder, you begin to find you are dirty. "Purify your heart" - this is more personal still, you are desperately in earnest now - you will do anything. "Be afflicted" - have you ever been afflicted before God at the state of your inner life? There is no strand of self-pity left, but a heartbreaking affliction of amazement to find you are the kind of person that you are. "Humble yourself" - it is a humbling business to knock at God's door - you have to knock with the crucified thief.

"To him that knocketh, it shall be opened."

Verse of the Day

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