God Provides
Notes
Transcript
Advent Theme: Joy - God provides
God has brought his people out of Egypt. He showed his authority and power by using plagues which showed the Egyptians and the Israelites that the gods they Egyptians worshiped were nothing when compared to him.
God showed his people that there was a way to not be impacted to death, the passover, where a lamb was the substitute that died in place of the firstborn so that no one who was in the house, covered by the blood would die.
God showed the Egyptians and Pharaoh that he alone is God, and used Pharaoh’s pride to do so.
God brought the Israelites out of bondage, out of slavery, and in Exodus 14 led them through the sea on dry ground. He then destroyed Pharaoh’s army by having the sea come back down upon them.
And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.
Then in Exodus 15, Moses leads Israel in a song of praise to the Lord, and Miriam then leads the women in praising the Lord.
Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord: “I will sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. Both horse and driver he has hurled into the sea.
“The Lord is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is his name.
Pharaoh’s chariots and his army he has hurled into the sea. The best of Pharaoh’s officers are drowned in the Red Sea.
The deep waters have covered them; they sank to the depths like a stone.
Your right hand, Lord, was majestic in power. Your right hand, Lord, shattered the enemy.
“In the greatness of your majesty you threw down those who opposed you. You unleashed your burning anger; it consumed them like stubble.
By the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up. The surging waters stood up like a wall; the deep waters congealed in the heart of the sea.
The enemy boasted, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake them. I will divide the spoils; I will gorge myself on them. I will draw my sword and my hand will destroy them.’
But you blew with your breath, and the sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters.
Who among the gods is like you, Lord? Who is like you— majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?
“You stretch out your right hand, and the earth swallows your enemies.
In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling.
The nations will hear and tremble; anguish will grip the people of Philistia.
The chiefs of Edom will be terrified, the leaders of Moab will be seized with trembling, the people of Canaan will melt away;
terror and dread will fall on them. By the power of your arm they will be as still as a stone— until your people pass by, Lord, until the people you bought pass by.
You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your inheritance— the place, Lord, you made for your dwelling, the sanctuary, Lord, your hands established.
“The Lord reigns for ever and ever.”
What do we see about man?
What do we see about man?
Pride
Self-reliant and Impatient
Disobedient to God
Self-centered and self-gratifying
What do we see about God?
What do we see about God?
Faithfulness
Patience
Mercy
Grace
Desires for everyone to know He is the LORD
Where is hope?
Where is hope?
God works all things for His purpose
God always does what He says
God shows people who He is so that they might know Him
God provides a way to escape the punishment due to sin
God provides a way out of the bondage of sin
Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water.
When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah.)
So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?”
Then Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became fit to drink. There the Lord issued a ruling and instruction for them and put them to the test.
He said, “If you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.”
Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water.
What do we see about man?
What do we see about man?
Pride
Self-reliant and Impatient
Disobedient to God
Self-centered and self-gratifying
++Forget God’s blessings and provision
++Blame, accuse, and attack others
Why did they act the way they did? Was it because the water was bitter? Was the circumstance the cause of their bitterness?
No, their bitterness came from their hearts.
They forgot God’s power
They forgot God’s blessings
They forgot God’s promises
They forgot God’s leading them
They forgot God has a purpose, and he is always faithful.
They turned their eyes to Moses, and accused him. They blamed him. They argued against him.
Thankfully Moses did not act like them. Moses shows that the circumstance was not the cause of the bitterness, because of how he handled himself.
What did Moses do?
Moses cried to the Lord.
Moses remembered it was the LORD—the One who is faithful, the One who promised to take them out of Egypt and on to the promised land, the One who has been showing his great authority and power over creation—who was leading them.
What do we see about God?
What do we see about God?
Faithfulness
Patience
Mercy
Grace
Desires for everyone to know He is the LORD
Where is hope?
Where is hope?
God works all things for His purpose
God always does what He says
God shows people who He is so that they might know Him
God provides a way to escape the punishment due to sin
God provides a way out of the bondage of sin
++God brings healing to those who have faith—trust and obey
God wanted to not only deliver them from the punishment of sin—death, to not only deliver them from the bondage of sin, but to also bring healing to their hearts that were so forgetful, so prone to bitterness, so prone to self, and so prone to leave the God who loves and provides for them.
God loved them enough to lead them through the wilderness, to lead them to a place where they would see their need for him, and then to put up with their bitterness and sinful reactions to show them again, he is their provider. He is their provider for their physical needs, but more importantly, for healing them spiritually.
The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt.
In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron.
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.”
Did they truly not have any meat?
In Exodus 17.3, they mention their livestock. We will get there and see it shortly.
The point is that they did have meat, just not other than their livestock. Ah, they did not want to use their own, which was a source of wealth and status. They wanted other meat. They wanted other food.
Granted, they were in a desert wilderness. There was not a lot of other food around. There was no Walmart. No Weis. No Giant. No Gerrity’s. They were likely getting low on provisions.
They wanted… not needed...
But more importantly, how did they respond? Did they learn how God provides? Were they looking to the Lord?
What does this show us about the heart of man?
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.
This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Everyone is to gather as much as they need. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent.’ ”
The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little.
And when they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little. Everyone had gathered just as much as they needed.
Then Moses said to them, “No one is to keep any of it until morning.”
However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them.
Each morning everyone gathered as much as they needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away.
On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much—two omers for each person—and the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses.
He said to them, “This is what the Lord commanded: ‘Tomorrow is to be a day of sabbath rest, a holy sabbath to the Lord. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.’ ”
So they saved it until morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink or get maggots in it.
“Eat it today,” Moses said, “because today is a sabbath to the Lord. You will not find any of it on the ground today.
Six days you are to gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any.”
Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather it, but they found none.
Then the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions?
Bear in mind that the Lord has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where they are on the seventh day; no one is to go out.”
So the people rested on the seventh day.
The people of Israel called the bread manna. It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey.
What does this show us about God?
Why would he provide food for these people?
What was the purpose for him leading them through this wilderness?
To know that He is the LORD.
To know that He is their provider.
To know and trust Him alone.
The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.
So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?”
But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?”
Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.”
The Lord answered Moses, “Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go.
I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.
And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
What do we see about man?
What do we see about man?
Pride
Self-reliant and Impatient
Disobedient to God
Self-centered and self-gratifying
Forget God’s blessings and provision
Blame, accuse, and attack others
What do we see about God?
What do we see about God?
Faithfulness
Patience
Mercy
Grace
Desires for everyone to know He is the LORD
Where is hope?
Where is hope?
God works all things for His purpose
God always does what He says
God shows people who He is so that they might know Him
God provides a way to escape the punishment due to sin
God provides a way out of the bondage of sin
God brings healing to those who have faith—trust and obey
What about us today?
What about us today?
Israel coming out of Egypt is the story of our salvation.
We were under the punishment of sin-death.
We were in bondage to sin.
God provided a lamb to die so that we would not have to die.
God provided a way out of bondage.
We crossed over from death to life when we were saved, like Israel crossing the sea.
And now we are in the wilderness, knowing his promise to be with us, like God was with Israel in the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night.
We struggle with our hearts, with bitterness, with self-centered thinking, with desires for what we want and do not have. We struggle in this wilderness as God leads us daily toward our promised land, our eternal home with him.
Difficult circumstances come daily. How are we responding?
Do we realize that our response shows what is in our heart?
We want to blame others. We want to accuse leaders. We want to point the finger anywhere else, but the real problem is in our hearts.
The problem is that we forget. We forget the LORD. We forget all he has done in the past. We forget his leading today. We forget his presence and his faithfulness.
We need to remember. We need to know that He is the LORD.
We need to walk in faith, trusting and obeying. Then, the plagues—which really were the consequence of pride, were they not?—will not strike us, but we will find healing from him.
He said, “If you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.”
Where do we find the healing? From Jesus. The bread from heaven.
The one who said,
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.
and who said...
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
I encourage you to read Exodus 15-17 this week, and also John 6. Study it. Meditate upon it. See what you learn about Man, about God, and where we find our only hope: God’s provision, the bread of life, Jesus.
