When we understand God’s Providence it changes how we live.

3 Truths about Gods Providence

then What it means for our life…

3 truths about providence in this passage….

The Providence of God in Moses’ Preservation

In this story we see the providence of God clearly put on display in preserving Moses through his birth and childhood.

Exodus 2:1–2 (ESV)

1 Now a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a Levite woman.

2 The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months.

When we read in this story that Moses’ mother saw that he was a fine child, we should not think that this simply means that he was a pretty baby. It is not as if, had Moses been an ugly baby that things would have been different. That’s not the case at all.

There is something deeper going on in this passage than the mere reality that a mother thought her newborn was beautiful. In fact, the Hebrew phrase that is used in this passage is the same phrase that is used in the creation story. For example if you read the account of creation you will see this same patter on each of the seven days. First, God speaks. And when he speaks things happen. He speaks and light is formed. He speaks and land appears. He speaks and the waters separate. He speaks…and things are created…and then once He creates something, he stands back and he examines it, to see that it is good. So for example, when God creates light, this is what we read in Genesis 1:3-4 “3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good...”

This phrase, “God saw that it was good...” repeated seven different times in Genesis 1, is the same phrase that we see in Exodus 2:2 when Moses mother looks at this child that had come from her womb. She stands back, looks at her baby, and sees that he is good. Moses’ mother understood that this was no ordinary child…he was marked by God in some way and therefore she chose faith over fear. This is exactly what we are told about both of the parents in this situation in Hebrews 11:23

Hebrews 11:23 (ESV)

23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.

...She had faith in the Providence of God...

And so she hid the child for as long as she could...three whole months…the actual Hebrew word here is one that you might find familiar, the word is “treasured.” Moses mother treasured him for three months…just as Marry treasured up the promises of God in her heart upon hearing the prophetic word that she would give birth to the savior (no doubt, an illusion harkening back to this first savior who would be born in Egypt). and you might be wondering what changed after three months…well, for the first three months of a babies life they are asleep. But around the 3rd month, that’s when babies start to have an opinion…

So to avoid the child being found and taken away…this mother constructs a plan.

Exodus 2:3 (ESV)

3 When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank.

Moses mother builds what is called here a basket in the ESV…but the word that is used here is interesting. It is the same word used to describe what Noah built…it’s the word “TEVAH” or Ark. So instead of Noah’s Arc…we have Moses’ Arc..and just like in the story of Noah, she coats it with bitumen (a type of asphault) and pitch. No doubt, this is a sign that she was believing that just as God protected Noah from the dangers of the flood, He would protect her baby boy from the waves of the Nile.

Then she places the little cozy arc by the some reeds by the Nile river.

Now, there is something in particular about this scene that is noteworthy...

Why in the world would they have taken the kid to the Nile? After all…wasnt the Nile River the very place that the Pharaoh had instructed the Hebrew children be drowned? Put yourself in their shoes…if you had this little boy…and you knew that the Nile was the place where Hebrew boys were being drowned, then where is the one place you for sure wouldnt have taken him? You would have taken him anywhere else but the Nile!

This mother, probably anxious as she was, knew that this child was marked by God, and therefore, she trusted her little baby boy into His providential care. She let go of her boy, in order to let God preserve his life.

And this is exactly what God did....He providentially appointed the most unlikely of characters to find the little boy. The daughter of the very Pharoah that had instituted the decree to kill the children.

Exodus 2:5–10 (ESV)

5 Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it.

6 When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.”

7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?”

8 And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother.

9 And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him.

10 When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, “Because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”

All throughout this story, we see the providential hand of God over the life of little baby Moses. He was a child that had been marked by God, he had been protected and kept in the Arc just like a little Noah, and he had been providentially found, given back over to be raised by his mother, and then ultimately adopted into the house of the very Pharaoh that had attempted to take his life.

All of this has one single theme…God’s Providential Preservation of Moses’ life...

God decided that he would preserve the life of this child…and therefore nothing else would happen…God would move heaven and earth if he had to…but this child was his…and therefore in his provtential care…Moses’ life was saved…he was preserved.

But we dont Just see the providence of God put on display through Moses’ preservation....we also see the Providence of God in Moses’ preperation...

The Providence of God in Moses’ Preparation

God uses Moses’ Failure

Exodus 2:11–12 (ESV)

11 One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people.

12 He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

Moses sins…and it isnt just any old sin…he murders.

Some argue that Moses had the right to do this because he was a son of Pharoah and therefore above the law.

But we know that Moses himself understood the depravity of this act…he looks this was and that…to make sure nobody is around…and seeing no one…he strikes the Egyptian and then buries him in the desert sand to try to cover up his tracks...

But God…in his providence…doesnt allow Moses to get away with his sin...

Sometimes the most gracious thing that God can do when we fail is to allow us to get caught…and thats exactly what happens here...

Exodus 2:13–22 (ESV)

13 When he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together. And he said to the man in the wrong, “Why do you strike your companion?”

14 He answered, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, and thought, “Surely the thing is known.”

15 When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian. And he sat down by a well.

16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock.

17 The shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and saved them, and watered their flock.

18 When they came home to their father Reuel, he said, “How is it that you have come home so soon today?”

19 They said, “An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds and even drew water for us and watered the flock.”

20 He said to his daughters, “Then where is he? Why have you left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.”

21 And Moses was content to dwell with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah.

22 She gave birth to a son, and he called his name Gershom, for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.”

In Preparing Moses God used every single event in his life...

He used Pharaoh’s plots...

He used a mother’s mercy...

He used a Princess’ pity...

He used Moses’ murder...

He used Pharoah’s pursuit...

He used Moses’ fleeing into the desert...

And in all of it…he delivers Moses...

He gives him a wife and a family...

He gives him a job as a shepherd...

And in all of it…God was working providentially…preparing Moses for the life that God had planned for him...

I.M. Haldeman once wrote,

“Moses is a character of antithesis...

He was the child of a slave, and the son of a queen.

He was born in a hut, yet lived in a palace.

He inherited poverty, and enjoyed unlimited wealth.

He was the leader of armies, and the keeper of flocks,

He was the mightest of warriors, and the meekest of men.

He was educated in the court, and dwelt in the desert.

He had the wisdom of Egypt, and the faith of a child.

He was fitted for the city, and wandered in the wilderness.

He was tempted with the pleasures of sin, and endured the hardship of virtue.

He was backward in speech, and talked with God.

He had the rod of a shepherd, and the power of the infinite.

He was the fugative from Pharaoh, and the ambassador from heaven.

He was the giver of the Law, and the forerunner of grace.

He died alone on Mount Moab, and appeared with Christ in Judea.

God’s providence is seen in the presevation of Moses…and in the preperation of Moses...

And lastly it is seen in the Prayers of His people

The Providence of God in the Prayers of His People

Have you ever had this thought: If God is in control, then what is the point in praying?

-It is a good question...

-But this is why I love this passage....

Exodus 2:23–25 (ESV)

23 During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God.

24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

25 God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.

The people groan...

It is the prayers of the Israelites that causes God to providentially act...

God hears their groanings…and he remembers his covenant...

He sees…and he knows...

The providence of God and the prayer of his people are not at odds with each other.

It is a divine mystery…the fact that God is Sovereignly Providential…but also able to respond to the prayers of His people…but it is try…Providence and Prayer go hand in hand...

God providentially responds to the prayer of his people...

What This Means for Us:

God’s Providence Means that Nothing in our Lives is Random or Pointless.

The point of Moses being born in the midst of persecution was not a mere chance...

You see, from the very first moment of Moses’ life, God gave him a story…call it a testimony if you will...

And that story was that he had been born, destined to die before his life had even started…but instead…He was rescued.

Do you see the wise providence of God? Before God called Moses to go be the Rescuer of His people…he had to be rescued first. Moses was marked by God, placed in the Nile and preserved by the supernatural hand of God…and then he was called to go on a rescue

Everything in Moses’ life had a purpose. From the situation of his birth, to God protecting and preserving his life in the face of death. To the fact that God used the most unlikely of hero’s to be the means by which he was preserved…all of it was according to a divine plan and for God’s good purposes. Nothing in his life was random…and nothing in his life was pointless.

And just like it was true for Moses…it is true for us as well. Nothing in my life, and nothing in your life is random or pointless.

God’s providence is what led Paul to write in Romans 8:28 “28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

Do you want to know how to tell if you have really started trusting in the Providence of God? It’s when you stop wishing that anything in your life was any different than it already is…Its when you stop wishing to understand everything and you just start trusting God for exactly what you have.

A global pandemic—is part of the gracious providence of God.

Your frustrations in your job—is part of the gracious providence of God.

Your struggles in parenting—are part of the gracious providence of God.

The exact amount of money you have in your bank account—is a gift from the providential hand of God.

From sickness, to cancer diagnoses, to death…none of this is wasted in the providential care of God.

All of it is a gift…all of it is of grace…all of it is for your good. You may not see how, you may never understand why…But God does…He knows exactly why…and he knows precisely how He is working all things for your good, if you are his child.

I love what Charles Spurgeon once said about this, “God works all things together for your good. If the waves roll against you, it only speeds your ship towards the port.”

So what is it for you?

What is it in your life right now that you need to entrust to providential care of God?

What is it in your life that you have been trying to fix or accomplish or manage in your own wisdom and power that you need to turn over to the Lord?

Is it your marriage?

Is it your children?

Is it your job?

Is it your finances?

Is it your status in the community?

Is it some mistake youve made?

Is it some sin struggle that you have?

Is it an addiction?

Is it your busy schedule?

Maybe for you its your salvation...

What is it?

Whatever it is…I want to invite you to do something for me.

I want you to commit…Commit yourself to trust in God’s Providential Care

And then I want to invite you to pray...

Prayer is the result of Providence.

Without providence there is no point in prayer…without God having the ability to intervene in our circumstances, prayer is useless.

The Providence of God though guarantees that our prayer matters.

And so this morning…I want to invite you to pray...

Pray because God sees and God hears…and God knows.

Pray because God works His providence through the prayers of his people...

Jesus said it this way, in Matthew 7:7-12

Matthew 7:7–8 (ESV)

7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

James reiterates this point by saying in James 4:8… You have not because you ask not....

In fact…often God waits for our prayers to providentially intervene

And so Im going to ask you again...what is it for you...

What is it that you need to trust God with?

This morning I want to invite you to trust in the Providence of God…and to do that by responding in prayer...

Do you need God to help you? Pray.

Do you need God to intervene in a situation you are facing? Pray.

Do you need God to provide? Pray.

Do you need God to save you? Pray.

Nothing is wasted in the economy of God…nothing is random…nothing is pointless…nothing is significant…all of it…everything in your life is for your good and for His glory…But God works through the prayers of his people.

This alter is open…im inviting you to come and trust in the providence of God…come and pray.