NOVEMBER 5, 2026
Scripture Readings: Exodus 1–2 • Judges 8–10 • Psalms 40–42 • Isaiah 32–34 • Luke 7–8 • Galatians 6–Ephesians 1
Key Thought
God’s silence does not mean He is absent. Even when His people cannot see what He is doing, He is still faithfully working out His purposes. These purposes ultimately find their fulfillment in Jesus.
Seeing the Story
Sometimes, God seems unusually quiet. Prayers may go unanswered, suffering continues, and our circumstances seem to go against His promises. We know what God has said, but we struggle to understand what He is doing.
Today’s readings remind us that God’s work is not limited to what we can see.
In Exodus 1–2, Israel is suffering under the oppression of Pharaoh. Generations have passed since God made His promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Instead of enjoying the blessings of those promises, Abraham’s descendants are enslaved in Egypt. Pharaoh orders the death of their sons, and Israel cries out under the weight of its suffering.
Yet God is already working.
A Hebrew baby is saved because of his mother’s courage, his family’s faith, and the surprising kindness of Pharaoh’s daughter. Moses will one day deliver Israel, but for now, he is just a child floating in a basket on the Nile.
The chapter ends with four remarkable statements:
“And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.” (Exodus 2:24–25, ESV)
God heard. God remembered. God saw. God knew.
God noticed all of Israel’s suffering. He did not forget His covenant, and His promises still stood.
But God’s people could not yet see the deliverance He was preparing.
The same tension appears in Judges 8–10. Gideon delivers Israel from Midian, but his story ends with compromise. After his death, Israel once again turns to idols. Abimelech’s violent ambition produces destruction rather than peace.
The problem is not just that Israel needs another judge. Israel needs a different kind of deliverer, a King whose righteousness will not fail because of human pride and sin.
Isaiah 32 points forward to that hope:
“Behold, a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule in justice.” (Isaiah 32:1, ESV)
The prophet describes a kingdom filled with righteousness, justice, peace, and security. But these blessings do not come from people trying to change themselves. Isaiah points to the real source of transformation:
“Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high.” (Isaiah 32:15, ESV)
God Himself must accomplish what His people cannot.
And that brings us to Luke 7–8.
Here we meet the One to whom the entire story has been moving.
A Roman centurion trusts Jesus’ authority to heal with a word. A grieving widow receives her son back from the dead. A sinful woman discovers forgiveness at Jesus’ feet. A terrified group of disciples watches Jesus command the wind and waves. A demon-possessed man is restored, a suffering woman is healed, and Jairus’s daughter is raised to life.
What Israel could not do through its judges, and what people could never do on their own, Jesus begins to show through His words and actions.
The God who heard Israel’s cries in Egypt is the same God who has come close to us in Jesus.
Luke 7:13 offers a particularly beautiful glimpse of His heart. When Jesus sees the widow mourning her only son, Luke tells us that He “had compassion on her.”
He not only has the power to save, but also the compassion that moves Him to help.
But the story grows even bigger when we get to Ephesians 1.
Paul pulls back the curtain on God’s eternal purposes. Long before Israel groaned in Egypt, long before Gideon failed, and long before the widow encountered Jesus outside Nain, God was working toward the fulfillment of His plan in Jesus.
Paul describes that plan as:
“A plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.” (Ephesians 1:10, ESV)
This is the bigger story.
God’s purpose is not just to rescue Israel from Egypt, save His people from their enemies, or help a few people in need. These acts of deliverance show us something even greater.
Through Jesus, God is redeeming a people for Himself and bringing His creation toward its appointed fulfillment.
The journey from Exodus to Ephesians is not just a group of separate religious stories. It is one divine purpose unfolding, all focused on one Savior.
For Today
One of the hardest parts of trusting God is accepting that His timing is often different from what we expect.
Israel had to wait for deliverance. The psalmist knew what it meant to cry out from the depths of discouragement:
“Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.” (Psalm 42:11, ESV)
Notice that the psalmist does not hide his discouragement. He is honest about it, but he does not let his situation have the last word.
He directs his soul back to God.
That difference matters. Biblical faith does not ask us to pretend suffering does not hurt or that waiting is simple. It calls us to trust God’s character even when we do not understand His ways.
Psalm 40 teaches us that waiting is not wasted:
“I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry.” (Psalm 40:1, ESV)
And Galatians 6:9 encourages us not to grow weary in doing good, reminding us that a harvest comes in God’s appointed time. These passages do not promise that every problem will be solved when we want. They teach us that God’s faithfulness does not depend on our ability to see what He is doing.
Even when we cannot see what God is doing, we can still trust His promises.
And we have something Israel could only anticipate.
We can look back at the cross and the empty tomb.
The cross looked like evil had won and hope was lost. But through that event, God was bringing about the redemption of His people.
If God could bring salvation through the suffering and death of His Son, we have every reason to trust Him when our own circumstances seem impossible to understand.
The resurrection shows us that suffering, sin, and death will not have the last word. Jesus will.
Something to Think About
Is there an area of your life where God’s silence has caused you to question His presence?
Consider the difference between these two statements:
I cannot see what God is doing. God is not doing anything.
The first statement admits our limits. The second assumes that what we see is all there is.
Israel could not see God’s purposes unfolding through the life of an infant named Moses. The disciples could not yet comprehend the full meaning of Jesus’ coming. And we cannot always recognize what God is accomplishing through the circumstances of our lives.
But Ephesians 1 teaches us that God’s purposes are much bigger than the moments we find hard to understand.
Where might you need to replace the demand for an explanation with renewed confidence in God’s character?
Prayer
Father, when You seem silent, help me trust that You are near. Thank You for hearing me, even when I cannot see Your work.
Forgive my doubts. Help me wait with faith, keep doing good, and rest in Your promises.
Thank You for Jesus, my Savior. Whatever today brings, help me place my life in Your hands.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Closing Thought
Israel’s cries in Egypt were heard. The failures of Israel’s judges did not cancel God’s promises. The psalmist’s tears did not mean God left him. And the suffering Jesus faced did not put anyone beyond His compassion or power.
All these passages point us toward a God who remains faithful to His purposes, even when His people struggle to understand His ways.
We may not always know what God is doing in every part of our lives. But we do know where His great story is heading.
One Story—One Savior—Seeing Jesus in ALL of Scripture.
By Ebenezer Wayfarer
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