Provision in the Wilderness: Trusting God Beyond Our Complaints
Exodus: From Bondage to Freedom • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 3 viewsBig Idea of the Message: God provides for his people, even when they struggle to understand him. Application Point: We will be thankful for a God who provides for every need.
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
This is week 5. On first week we talked about “When God Fights: Trusting His Plan in Times of Trouble” We covered: God’s Sovereignty Is Greater Than Our Seasons. Evil Cannot Outmaneuver God’s Plan. God Raises Up the Courageous to Resist Injustice.
On week 2: “No More Excuses: Embracing God's Call Despite Our Weaknesses.” We covered: God’s Deliverer Born in Weakness but Preserve By Providence God; that God Calls from the Midst of His Holiness and that God Confronts Excuses With His Presence.
On week 3: “Humbled Before God: The Downfall of Pride and Power” And covered: God’s Sovereignty is Displayed Through Obedient Servants; Human Pride Resists God’s Authority; God’s Power Confronts and Exposes False Strength.
Last week: “No Other God: Yahweh's Victory Over Idols & False Powers.” And covered: God Reveals His Supremacy Through Power and Purpose; God Exposes Egypt’s Idols as Impotent; God Secures Victory Through Judgment and Deliverance; God Establishes His People for Worship and Witness.
Today: Provision in the Wilderness: Trusting God beyond Our Complaints. No outline, we will read through chapter 14 expounding through key verses, culminating in the verses we read of chapter 16.
Exposition:
Exposition:
After the devastation of the death of all of the the first borns of Egypt. Pharaoh and all of Egypt through Israel out. They left Egypt guided by God. We are told that Yahweh was,
“going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to guide them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light” (13:21)
They would travel by day but the pillar of fire at night would give them light, heat but more importantly and assurance of His presence. It is the very job that the Holy Spirit does in our hearts. He assures us of His presence. Take a look:
14 For as many as are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
Just as the pillar visibly reminded Israel that God was with them, the Spirit invisibly assures believers of that same reality.
“Having believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance…” (Ephesians 1:13-14)
God’s plan of salvation is unmovable. His ultimate objectives are established. what we see from Israel to now is how the Lord moves from types and shadows to the reality, from symbolism to substance
From the visible to the invisible, from what was external and temporary to what is internal and eternal. What Israel experienced through signs and symbols, we now experience through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit
The cloud and fire were outward manifestation of God’s nearness; the Spirit within us is the inward manifestation of that same nearness guiding, assuring, and sustaining us on our journey to the true promise land.
The entire history of redemption has been God among us to Emmanuel, God with us and now, God, within us.
Now let’s continue our narrative:
1 Now Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
2 “Speak to the sons of Israel so that they turn back and camp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea; you shall camp in front of Baal-zephon, opposite it, by the sea.
3 “And Pharaoh will say of the sons of Israel, ‘They are wandering in confusion in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’
4 “Thus I will harden Pharaoh’s heart with strength, and he will pursue them; and I will be glorified through Pharaoh and all his army, so that the Egyptians will know that I am Yahweh.” And they did so.
5 Then the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, and the heart of Pharaoh and his servants was changed toward the people, and they said, “What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?”
The evidence concerning the strength, majesty, the holiness, and the sovereignty of God has not changed. The Egyptians have no new information that would counter what they themselves have discovered about Yahweh.
And yet they have changed their mind. What is the basis for the mind change? Is Egypt not still in ruin? have your gods not failed you in a mighty way? This demonstrates that unbelief is not based on ignorance. Yet you are not allowed not to attempt to reason with people
15 but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and fear,
So we are obligated to reason with people and to logically guide them to truth thinking. Even God says, “come let us reason together” (Isa 1:18). Because the Spirit moves through the lines of reasoning
However, the root is not an issue of logic and reasoning, it is the nature of the human heart. That anyone believes is an absolute miracle:
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.
Continue
6 So he made his chariot ready and took his people with him;
7 and he took six hundred choice chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them.
8 And Yahweh hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, with strength, and he pursued the sons of Israel as the sons of Israel were going out with an exalted hand.
Pay attention to “exalted hands” it is the Hebrew word “yād” which means boldness or confidently, with determination and defiantly with no fear or hesitation.
9 Then the Egyptians pursued them with all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and they overtook them camping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.
10 Now Pharaoh drew near, and the sons of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they became very afraid; so the sons of Israel cried out to Yahweh.
11 Then they said to Moses, “Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What is this you have done against us in bringing us out of Egypt?
12 “Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than for us to die in the wilderness.”
A few verses down we read how they departed with an exalted hand. But now they have a trembling heart. What started as confidence ends up in fear and complaint. Israel now stands in front of waves that mirror their own instability.
Fear distorts memory and unbelief romanticizes bondage.
6 But he must ask in faith, doubting nothing, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.
7 For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,
8 being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
By this Israel demonstrates that they were as bad as the Egyptians. Their lack of faith and unbelief, and instability was the same.
So Israel too, forgets evidence. Both Egypt and Israel display hearts dulled by unbelief—proof that revelation alone does not produce faith.
The difference being that God chose to give them mercy and grace. Why them?
15 For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
16 So then it does not depend on the one who wills or the one who runs, but on God who has mercy.
So if you have heard the voice of the Lord and are being transformed day by day by His sanctifying power, it is because he chose to show you mercy and compassion and know that you deserved neither. Let’s continue,
13 But Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of Yahweh which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever.
14 “Yahweh will fight for you, and you will keep silent.”
Moses tells them to keep silence, meaning stop grumbling and complaining. Not to be confused with seeking and pleading with the Lord. Look at the following verses
15 For thus Lord Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, has said, “In repentance and rest you will be saved, In quietness and trust is your might.” But you were not willing,
18 Therefore Yahweh waits with longing to be gracious to you, And therefore He is on high to have compassion on you. For Yahweh is a God of justice; How blessed are all those who wait for Him.
This is what I call faith’s silence. We have two responsibilities, to repent and rest. There lays your salvation. Your strength is found in quiet trust. This is surrendered confidence.
God works most clearly when His people stop thrashing in panic and start trusting His promise. Israel lacked this.
15 Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to Me? Speak to the sons of Israel so that they go forward.
16 “As for you, raise up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and split it, and the sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land.
17 “As for Me, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians with strength so that they will go in after them; and I will be glorified through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen.
18 “Then the Egyptians will know that I am Yahweh, when I am glorified through Pharaoh, through his chariots and his horsemen.”
We have very little understanding of what brings glory to God. God is glorified in deliverance, but God is also glorified in calamity. Because God is glorified by all of the works of His hands.
7 The One forming light and creating darkness, Producing peace and creating calamity; I am Yahweh who does all these.
God derives glory from all His works, not just the pleasant ones. He is Lord of both rescue and ruin.
Because it is God who orchestrated what is about to happen to Pharaohs army, that action glorifies the Lord. And we as His people should always seek to glorify Him by the work or our hands,
31 Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
The apostle uses the most mundane things like eating and drinking to illustrate the point. All that we do must be done with the express purpose of glorifying Him.
19 Then the angel of God, who had been going before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them.
20 So it came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel; and there was the cloud along with the darkness, yet it gave light at night. Thus the one did not come near the other all night.
The same presence that brought light to Israel brought darkness to Egypt. God did not change—their standing before Him did. What illuminated one side obscured the other. It is like 1 Cor 1:18 says,
18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.
Even Jesus’ parables functioned this way. He said to His disciples,
“To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given” (Matt 13:11)
Let us continue to the great and mighty miracle.
21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and Yahweh swept the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea into dry ground, so the waters were split.
22 So the sons of Israel went through the midst of the sea on the dry land, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
23 Then the Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots and his horsemen went in after them into the midst of the sea.
24 Then at the morning watch, Yahweh looked down on the camp of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud and brought the camp of the Egyptians into confusion.
25 And He caused [or removed] their chariot wheels to swerve, and He made them drive with difficulty; so the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from Israel, for Yahweh is fighting for them against the Egyptians.”
The Israelites walked through the red see on dry land. This goes beyond just the walls of water on either side. There is water under the seabed itself. But neither Israel nor the chariots encountered any mud.
The text emphasizes that the waters “divided.” The Hebrew term bāqaʿ (בָּקַע) means “to split or cleave apart.” It implies not only the walls seen above but the deep layers beneath (tehōm, the subterranean deep).
So even before Moses waved his staff again the subterranean waters returned causing mud, extreme mud as it should. Chariot wheels where design for desert sand. They got stuck and came off creating panic.
Finally finally the dumb ones realize again, that God is behind all of this and that their battle was not against flesh and blood but against a God, the real one, the only one. They attempt to run back the way they came, on foot.
26 Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may come back over the Egyptians, over their chariots and their horsemen.”
27 So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal state at daybreak while the Egyptians were fleeing right into it; then Yahweh overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.
28 And the waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen, even Pharaoh’s entire army that had gone into the sea after them; not even one of them remained.
29 But the sons of Israel walked on dry land through the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
Thus, the miracle was total: the visible sea and the hidden waters below were both restrained.
God’s deliverance is never partial. He controls what is seen and unseen to accomplish His purpose.
The writer of Hebrews later reflects on this moment by saying,
29 By faith they passed through the Red Sea as though they were passing through dry land, and the Egyptians, when they attempted it, were drowned.
30 Thus Yahweh saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.
31 Then Israel saw the great hand which Yahweh had used against the Egyptians; and the people feared Yahweh, and they believed in Yahweh and in His servant Moses.
The people “feared the LORD, and they believed.” Faith is often born out of awe, not comfort.
Yet their faith, like ours, is not linear—it will waver again.
God does not despise immature faith; He develops it. Deliverance begins a process, not an endpoint.
Chapter 15’s song of Moses bursts from this moment—the first hymn of redeemed people celebrating grace. But it will be short lived.
3 And the sons of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of Yahweh in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to put this whole assembly to death with hunger.”
Barely weeks before the greatest miracle any of them had ever seen, there long singing in chapter 15 turns to grumbling.
Our lesson, gratitude fades quickly when trust is shallow yet look at how God responds.
4 Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether or not they will walk in My law.
God promises bread from heaven—not to pamper them but to test obedience. Each day’s portion would train daily dependence.
Jesus said just as much when he was teaching His disciples how to pray. All you have to do is ask,
“Give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11).
And God fed them bread in the morning and quail in the evenings.
God’s people learned that the same hand that parts seas also provides bread.
The wilderness is not proof of God’s absence—it is the classroom of trust.
Deliverance is never God’s finish line—it’s the starting point of dependence. He saves not to abandon but to preserve. Gratitude, not grumbling, becomes the language of the redeemed.
