Jehovah Jireh

We work hard for it… really hard.

In fact, much of how our society operates is in response to it.

Throughout childhood, we are educated and schooled on the basic skills we will need in the future days to come.

Throughout our adult life, we work tireless hours working and earning, saving and spending.

Throughout our final years, we hope we have saved enough to make sure we will be able to take care of ourselves.

All of this… is in the name of… provision - the need to provide not only for ourselves, but for our families as well.

We work to provide in order to meet the daily needs we all know so well.

The need to make sure we have enough food in the cabinets to feed our families accordingly.

The need for electricity or fuel to keep our homes warm in these cold months.

The need for clothing, coats, shoes, and other attire for all those within our homes.

The need for medical care when sickness hits or injury occurs.

The need to keep the cars running, the plumbing flowing, and the lights glowing.

We could create a huge list of needs tonight that everyone can relate to. Why? Because we all share the same basic needs… and we do the best we can to make sure we can provide for the needs we have.

But what happens… when our ability to provide… becomes jumbled up? What would happen if… you lost the farm, lost the job, lost the ability, lost the mobility, lost the location, or lost the inventory? What would happen if suddenly, you had no way to provide for your needs or for your families needs?

It’s something that we don’t even want to think about! I can’t imagine what it would be like to have the desire and the drive to provide… but lack the opportunity or placement to make it happen.

And I realize this might seem as a strange way to open a sermon up this evening… but this is where we find the Israelites shortly after their deliverance from the Egyptians. God brings them safely through the Red Sea while crushing their enemy with the weight of the water.

The threat of Egypt is now completely behind them… but so is life as they had known it. Yes… it would be incredible to be out from under the weight of the oppression… but they now found themselves in the desert. God had great things ahead… but the people were struggling a bit in the journey.

How many know tonight that God has great things ahead?

If anything else… all believers have the incredible hope and promise of eternal life! That’s a pretty dog gone good thing to look forward to!

We know what lies ahead is good… but sometimes the journey can become taxing… sometimes the journey will… test our faith.

The people of Israel were facing a great need… they didn’t know how they would provide for themselves in the desert… but God had a plan… and in this plan God reveals that He is the ultimate source of our provision. All good things come from God… do you believe that tonight?

With that knowledge, I hope we understand that when it comes to provision, it’s not so much about what we can… as much as it is about what HE can do and what He has done.

WATCH VIDEO: Listen Volume 3, Session 2.

Exodus 16:2–3 NIV

2 In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. 3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”

The people were facing a real problem… they now found themselves in a place where they could not provide for themselves.

The desert lacked the resources they needed to to survive. Deserts are lifeless… barren wastelands… It would be hard to see any hope of survival in such a place… especially for an entire nation of people.

So grumbling and complaining began to set in and once again… the people longed for what used to be instead of dreaming for what God had in store.

The reality was… they had forgotten that God had provided...

God is in the habit of providing for His people. And even in this moment… He had miraculously provided for the Israelites.

God provided the deliverance from slavery in Egypt.

God provided a pillar of cloud and fire to guide them away from Egypt.

God provided safe passage for the people through the sea that shut down the pursuit of their enemy.

God provided, and provided some more, and provided again.

But it can be hard to see His provision… through pity. Instead of giving God praise… they were pouting. As if freedom wasn’t enough… as if deliverance… wasn’t enough.

I get it… grumbling bellies and barren landscape might be a hard reality to find any joy in… but God had not brought them this far to perish in the desert… God was aware of their situation… and God had a plan… to provide.

What I want us to understand tonight is that our God truly is Jehovah Jireh… our provider. Do you remember the old chorus?

“Jehovah Jireh, our provider, His grace is sufficient for me, for me, for me. My God shall supply all my needs, according to His riches and glory. He will give His angels charge over me. Jehovah Jireh cares for me, for me, for me. Jehovah Jireh cares for me.”

That chorus is based off the truth found in Philippians 4:19.

Philippians 4:19 NIV

19 And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

Yet how often and how quickly can we forget this truth when things get jumbled up? Church, when pouting takes the place of praise, we can find ourselves in the same position of distrust and no faith that the Israelites found themselves in. It is essential, then, to remember that our provision comes from the Lord.

Yes… it is up to us to take part in the work laid out before us. God provides opportunities for us to make a living… and the “living” is received as we go to work and do what is required… but God supplies this opportunity.

We know the story in Exodus… God provides a miracle for the people… meat in the evening and manna in the morning. But the people still had to go and collect it.

This evening, I want us to take a brief look at how God has provided tim and time again throughout Scripture… and how God continues to provide for us today.

As things are getting more and more tight… as the economy feels unstable and the future uncertain… this we can be certain of: God IS Jehovah Jireh - He IS our provider.

God SEES the Needs of His People

First what I want us to understand is God is not blind regarding our struggles and needs. Going back to the story in Exodus, God responds to the need the people were facing. Look at what Moses tells the people in Exodus 16:6-8

Exodus 16:6–8 NIV

6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “In the evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt, 7 and in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we, that you should grumble against us?” 8 Moses also said, “You will know that it was the Lord when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the Lord.”

God responds and he people would in fact see the glory of the Lord. God would show them that He sees the need and has the power to meet their need.

God was not ignoring the situation of the people… how could He? It was God who had led them to this place. God was leading them to an amazing new reality but the people began to doubt… as they faced needs along the journey.

Instead of remembering that it was God who had provided… they began to doubt in their grumbling and complacency… and Moses makes it clear, the people were not coming against his leadership, they were coming against God Himself.

The people began to doubt… they doubted that God saw them in their current circumstance. And by doubting God, their heart began to turn away from Him.

Remember, the people were unable to deliver themselves from the Egyptians. The people were unable to make their own way through the sea. God was providing on a level the people could not do on their own. God sees the need… and He knows best how to answer that need.

Think about, church… from the moment we became a people in need, God has been providing for us.

In the beginning, God provided an amazing paradise for us to enjoy. Humanity had all we could have wanted or hoped for.

But the moment the enemy planted a seed on doubt in the minds of Adam and Eve, humanity began to crave what God said would bring destruction. The enemy convinced Eve that God was not providing… but in fact God was withholding.

And Satan plays that same card today. The devil wants you to think that God is not providing. Satan wants you to believe God does not see your need. He wants you to doubt God’s provision and believe God is withholding.

Such doubt is central to the most asked question… why? The Israelites wondered in their doubt why God had brought them to this place to die?

First, the doubt led them to jump to conclusions… they were going to die in the desert.

Second, the doubt led them to grumble against God… they lost sight of God’s provisional power.

They were grumbling as if freedom wasn’t enough… as if deliverance wasn’t enough!

Maybe you find yourself in a position of wondering tonight… maybe you’ve been facing hardships… maybe you’ve been through a series of difficult events that have brought you down… maybe… the enemy has been trying to convince you that God is withholding His provision.

Maybe the enemy wants you to believe that God is withholding his healing from you, or financial blessing from you, or spiritual deliverance from you. Maybe the enemy wants you to believe God has turned a blind eye toward your situation.

Church, God sees you and knows your every need! God will provide… the question is will we praise instead of pout? Will we give Him glory instead of grumble?

God sees our every need.

Going back to the Garden of Eden, God met the need of His creation even after they sinned against Him. After disobeying the Lord, Adam and Eve tried to provide for themselves by making a covering out of fig leaves… and then when they heard God coming, they hid from His presence.

They were unsuccessful in covering their nakedness and shame. They could not undo what they had done. So they only thing they could do for themselves was… hide. RUN from God.

But God did not create us to run from Him, He created us to run toward Him. Thus, He called them out of hiding and did something for them they could not do on their own - He made new coverings for them.

God saw their need caused by their sin… and did something that foreshadowed His universal answer to this new universal problem.

Church, we are celebrating the Christmas season which is all about the arrival of our Savior - God’s answer to our BIGGEST need.

This need was IMPOSSIBLE for us to overcome on our own and it did something for us that is truly remarkable. God saw our brokenness and Jesus was the answer. Christ took on our brokenness that we might be made whole again.

Our healing, our deliverance, our forgiveness and freedom has all been provided through God’s greatest gift to this world! The next time the enemy tries to convince you that God is holding out on you… REMEMBER JESUS!

HIS FREEDOM IS ENOUGH! HIS DELIVERANCE IS ENOUGH! HIS GRACE IS SUFFICIENT!

God has seen and has answered our greatest need. And God continues to provide in ways only He can.

God CONTINUES to provide for His people to this day. He truly is Jehovah Jireh!

The PROMISE of God’s Provision

The problem that people face… is a problem of misplaced faith - people tend to place their faith in the wrong places when it comes to provision.

Take what I said in the introduction for a moment… we tend to place a tremendous amount of faith in the processes we know in this world: get educated, get a job, provide for a family, save for retirement, live final years on what you saved.

The people of Israel did this same thing. The root of their grumbling came from a disrupted process. Look at Exodus 16:3 again

Exodus 16:3 NIV

3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”

Now, in no way am I trying to devalue work or diminish the importance of working. Work has ALWAYS been a part of God’s design… but so has the fact that it is GOD who provides for our needs. God is the one that provided our job and the ability to do our job!

Jesus Himself gives us reminders of this truth. While talking to a crowd of people regarding believing in Him, we see a very interesting revelation given.

John 6:30–35 NIV

30 So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” 32 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.” 35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

God had given the people manna… and God had given the people the Son. Church… every good gift truly comes from above! And we need to give God praise regarding these gifts!

In another account, Jesus talks about how our needs will be met

Matthew 6:25–34 NIV

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? 28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Church… these are NOT empty words! They are words of promise given that we would not worry about our needs. Instead, it is instruction to SEEK GOD FIRST - His kingdom and righteousness. KEEP focused on the One who has PROMISED - say that word with me - PROMISED - He has promised to provide for you!

Closing

Tonight, I believe God is wanting to change some minds. I believe God is wanting to remove some doubt.

Some of us may be looking for a sign… similar to those who were questioning Jesus. “If God really is my provider, what sign do I have to believe that?”

God has given us a sign… and it is in front of us all the time. It is a sign that our world has seen for a couple of thousand years. It is a sign that calls us out of the pattern of this world and back into the grace of God.

That sign… is the cross. Once a symbol of suffering and shame… now a sign and a showing of God’s provisional love for a people who didn’t deserve it.

God has supplied for our greatest need through the gift of His Son, Jesus.

Is Freedom enough? Is Deliverance enough?

Sometimes we can get into a grumbling mode… a complacent mode… a doubtful attitude. I get it… the world can wear a person out.

But never forget the truth of your freedom and the power of God’s deliverance. God is still providing for us today. REJECT any seed of doubt the enemy might try to plant in your mind. Do not allow for grumbling and pouting to take the place of giving glory and praise!

The Israelites received the sign of meat and manna… today… we have been given Jesus… and the cross at Calvary.

And I believe tonight, that God is going to provide for some big needs… but first, faith must be replaced in the One who is Jehovah Jireh.

It’s time to cast out all doubt and to remember who it is that is our provider.

Prayer

Pray over the needs of the church

Pray for faith in our provider.

Give glory and praise for what He has done.