Believe אָמַן

We are rolling into Exodus chapter four with our word for today six times in our chapter. אָמַן wearing, prove to be firm, reliable, faithful, confirm, support, believe. It is used 95 times in the Old Testament. Psalm 106:10-12 He saved them from the hand of the foe; from the hand of the enemy he redeemed them. The waters covered their adversaries; not one of them survived. Then they וַיַּאֲמִ֥ינוּ believed his promises and sang his praise. Notice that it was after they saw the evidence they believed. This is how belief works. God gives us enough evidence to believe in him. This is how we see our word used in our chapter today. Exodus 4:1-5 Then Moses answered, “But behold, they will not יַאֲמִ֣ינוּ believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you.’” The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A staff.” And he said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses ran from it. But the Lord said to Moses, “Put out your hand and catch it by the tail”—so he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand— “that they may יַאֲמִ֔ינוּ believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.” There are two aspects of faith or belief one is what can be verified and the other is what cannot be verified. So Moses just assumed that the people would not believe him without any evidence. God already said he would be successful but Moses didn’t trust God yet. So God needed to give Moses evidence that he could verify to show that Moses could trust God with what couldn’t be verified. This concept of God giving us more than enough evidence to believe in him in the areas that we can’t verify is seen throughout the Bible. Mark 2:9-12 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!” Again it is easy to say something that can not be verified but very different to say something that can be verified. Jesus proves that he can and will do what he says he will do by healing the man in front of everyone to see. The gospel of John was written to give us evidence to believe. John 30:30-31 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. I’ll close with Abraham who is a great example to us as the father of our faith. Genesis 15:6 Abram וְהֶאֱמִ֖ן believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.