The God Who sees me in My Need

Recap

In this series we have been going through the ways that the God of the universe sees us. We first find this name for God “EL ROI” the good who sees me in the book of Genesis in the story of Hagar and Ishmael. Hagar wanted nothing to do with God and what was happening in her life but God in his grate love made himself known to her and showed her that he saw her and provide for he in her NEED!

Last week Zack taught us how God sees us in our sin and how its important for us too see sin as God does, not just as an oopsie but as treason against the King of the universe. However God reacts to our sin differently if we are a child of God rather than a child of wrath. I really recommend that you guys go back and listen to last weeks lesson when you get the chance its good for us to be reminded of those things.

The God Who sees Me in My Need.

This week we are talking about how God sees us in our need and how He wants us to respond to the needs we face differently than the world and others around us. We will be looking at stories from the book of exodus that show us how God sees us in our needs and provides for them in powerful ways.

Gods Promises are powerful.

Exodus 6:1–8 NIV

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country.” God also said to Moses, “I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself fully known to them. I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they resided as foreigners. Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant. “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.’ ”

The first way we see God show up in this story is His promises to Moses that He will free the people of Israel despite the fact that they thought it imposable and their lack of trust. God reminds them of His faithfulness by calling back to the covenants He made with Abraham Isaac and Jacob and how He will accomplish these things. he also reveals to Moses His name as Yahweh. The words I am the Lord occur four times in 6:2–8. As the Lord, Yahweh, He is with His own and is always faithful and true to them.

We as followers of Christ can find great comfort in the promises that He has made to us in the word.

Psalm 85:8 (NIV): 8 I will listen to what God the Lord says; he promises peace to his people, his faithful servants

Psalm 139:5 You, Lord, are forgiving and good, abounding in love to all who call to you

Matthew 11:28-30

We can also find comfort in just as Hagar went out into the wilderness and God met her without her trying to find Him Gods promises are not dependent on us showing up but they are dependent on his unchanging character. in Exodus 3:14 God meant that now He was revealing Himself to Moses not only as Sustainer and Provider, but also as the Promise-Keeper, the One who was personally related to His people and would redeem them for His purposes. God doesn't put the responsibility on us to fulfill His Promises.

Later in the story we can see how God Keeps His promises and frees the people from captivity.

Exodus 14:10–29 NIV

As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!” Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.” Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. During the last watch of the night the Lord looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. He jammed the wheels of their chariots so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.” Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.” Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the Lord swept them into the sea. The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived. But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.

In the crossing of the red sea we can see the amazing provision of the Lord and that even though we might not see how His plans are working for our good we can trust that they are.

Even though this was an amazing feat of Gods great power the people still doubted God to provide for them in the wilderness when they faced new needs. This leads us to our next point.

Our needs our never-ending, but so is Gods faithfulness.

Even though God leads the people out of slavery and across the red sea they still doubt that He will be able to provide for them in the wilderness. But God displays His never ending faithfulness to them time and time again.

Exodus 16:4–15 NIV

Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.” 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, 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?” 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.” Then Moses told Aaron, “Say to the entire Israelite community, ‘Come before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.’ ” While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of the Lord appearing in the cloud. The Lord said to Moses, “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’ ” That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat.

God shows the people that He is deeply aware of their needs and wants them to fully rely on Him every single day no matter what they are facing. weather that my be the armies' of the Egyptians or starving in the desert. And just as God was deeply aware of the need of the people of Israel He is aware of out needs. God is aware or our need for Friends we can trust, he is aware or our need for help in math class, He is aware of our needs with our family life. He is aware of all our needs and want us to trust in Him and depend on Him.

Which leads to our last point.

God wants us to realize our Need for Him is grater than our Need for anything else.

God gives the People of Israel the Sabbath as a reminder that that their need for God is grater than anything else. The Sabbath has a couple different applications.

We as people are supposed to imitate God in how we rest just as He did in the creation story and it is supposed to be a reminder of our dependency for Him.

The sabbath was to remind the people of their dependency on God by commanding them to rest and relay that God would sustain them trough the day. the people were not supposed to work or labor on the sabbath and this didn't mean that life just stopped but instead that they needed to trust that God would be faithful to His promises to care for them.

In the same way we are to surrender our needs before God and trust that He is faithful to take care of us as his children. In Mathew 6 Jesus said that god even looks after that birds of the air and that he cares for you so much more and he will take care of you. What do you need to surrender to god?

And Just as god was providing for the people then He is providing for us even more right now through the person of Jesus Christ. God isnt concerned with our boldly needs nearly as much as he is concerned with our spiritual needs. He wants us to see our need for a savior and to trust that he will provided exactly what we need.

How does the story of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea illustrate God's faithfulness?