Exodus - Trust and Obey
Heavenly father, we're just thankful for your goodness to us and for fellowship that you've brought here today. Lord, I pray that as we turn to open your word, Lord, that you would open our hearts, that your Holy Spirit would be active in the preaching of the word, that this morning you would bless the preparation of Cameron, that you would be speaking to his heart, Lord, that you would be directing him in what he says and what he doesn't say. Lord, I ask that you would make us attentive to your spirit's conviction and your spirit's leading. In Jesus name we pray, amen.
Speaker 2:Amen. Thank you, Pastor Luke. Good morning Conduit. How are you? Good.
Speaker 2:It's good to see you. I always appreciate having a week off here or there. Being gone last week was, like I said, it's a joy to be away. I was in Wyoming, which I now consider to be God's country. It was incredible.
Speaker 2:Spent a weekend out in the Gillette, Wyoming area and had just a beautiful time out there. But missed you all and, driving while you were at church. So I was praying for you as well. I'm glad to be back this morning though. And we're going to continue in our sermon series in the book of Exodus.
Speaker 2:Now so far in Exodus, the Israelites, we've seen the Israelites come through quite a lot. And by anyone's estimation, if the Israelites had their eyes opened, the things that they would have been witness to probably rivals pretty much anything that anyone could ever have witnessed to before, maybe save the apostles who saw the resurrected Christ. But if you think about the progression of like miraculous sovereignty power of God showing up manifestly for a group of people, bringing them clear deliverance. I don't know how you could say that there would be a group of people who would be more front and center to what God is doing in their life than the Israelites. They had seen mighty, mighty things from the hand of God in the presence of God.
Speaker 2:They saw the plagues. They saw the death of the firstborn still in Egypt. They came to the banks of the Red Sea after Pharaoh had let them go out of Egypt and faced with either walking themselves into the water or turning around to face the Egyptian army, the Lord parted the sea and allowed them to walk through on dry land. And then that wasn't just the end of it, but then the Lord covered the Egyptian army, Pharaoh's army with the sea, giving them free passage now onto the other side. There was just over and over and over and over again in these first like 14 chapters of the book of Exodus, the people cried out to the Lord, Save us, deliver us, show up on our behalf.
Speaker 2:And the Lord answered and the Lord answered and the Lord answered. And it feels to me reading it now and reflecting on it now that these are all what I would call like the big ticket spiritual things. Like you can all, I mean, I don't know. Sometimes there are things that happen in my life that seem pretty like, I will say miraculous. And I'm like, Well, could I maybe come up with some type of worldly explanation for why that happened, how it happened?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I could probably manufacture some type of logic or intellectual reasoning as to why X happened or why Y happened. But there just seems to be some things that happened in the Israelites' journey in Egypt and out of Egypt that were beyond any other explanation other than the presence of God came and showed up in a mighty way on their behalf. And so that's why I say things like parting of the Red Sea, the plagues, and the death of the firstborn that averted the Israelites are kind of like big ticket spiritual items. But it seems like, as you continue to read the story of the Israelites in the book of Exodus, that even though they were front and center to all of these huge miraculous signs, wonders, the presence of God, the miracle working power of God, the sovereignty of God, that they still was something in the heart of the people that tended towards, leaned towards, and maybe not even leaned towards, but maybe ran right into a lack of trust in the Lord. We see this very clearly in our scripture, right?
Speaker 2:That we'll read this morning. Like they had just, the Lord had literally just parted the sea and they had walked through it. And now they get to the point where like, Well, we don't have any water. I guess the Lord brought us here to die. So like the Lord clearly takes care of all these like big things, but seemed like the people's hearts still tended towards a lack of trust.
Speaker 2:It reminds me of the line in that song. We sometimes sing it here, Come Thou Fount. You know that, yeah, great old song of the church, Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. Right? That their hearts like ours sometimes, even in the midst of the obviously miraculous work and movement of God are prone to wander, prone to leave the God that we love.
Speaker 2:Now around chapter 15 of the book of Exodus and following, we see the next battle in the area of like, what will the Lord deliver the Israelite people from now? And it's not in one of these like big destroy an army type of things or lead them out of slavery types of things. It's now they are free from captivity in Egypt, but they are in the desert. They are in the wilderness and they have no food or water for a significant period of time, at least a few days as it reads. Now God has already proved himself in deliverance.
Speaker 2:He has proved himself in the Exodus. Would God now abandon the people in their need for something simple like food and water? That's certainly what the Israelites seemed to think was going to happen. God brought us through the Red Sea. He brought us out of Egypt.
Speaker 2:He brought us out of captivity. And now he's brought us in the desert simply to die of thirst and hunger. They accused God of such through Moses. Did you bring us out here into the desert just to die? At least in Egypt, we can sit around the fire and sit around a pot of stew.
Speaker 2:It's interesting here that, not too unlike, some of our habits, some of our prone to wander habits, is that in a moment of fear and a moment of perceived scarcity, the Israelites once again romanticized their past slavery and wanted to return there. How quickly we do the same, we romanticize our past slavery when our hearts get full of fear in the right now. We romanticize what we came from, who we were, the situation that we were in, the place that we were standing, the relationships that we had, the season of life where I just wish I could return to that. At least I wouldn't have to be here in this situation that I'm not, I'm in. Now forgetting that once when we were in that season, when we were praying for the Lord's deliverance from whatever wilderness we were experiencing then, Man, Lord, get me out of here.
Speaker 2:But now that I'm here, well, this is kind of hard too. Maybe going back is better. Because if you if we encourage the Israelites too, or we are honest with ourselves to be like, Yeah, but did you really have it better in Egypt? You really want to go back and sit around your pot and pot of stew, but live in abject bondage, slavery to the people of Egypt. But this does happen and does continue to happen.
Speaker 2:But listen, this part of the story here, and we're going to read a little bit of it here in just a moment, just be patient. This part of the story that we're going to read today is really not about whether or not God was going to provide the Israelites with food and water while they were in the wilderness. Certainly that was what existed on the surface. That was kind of like, if you will, the classroom that God was about to teach a lesson in, the environment of food and water. But underneath it, all the Israelites in the desert and us in this room this morning are asking the Lord in their need for food and in their need for water, and in our own need this morning are asking the same fundamental question of God, not about food or water, not about deliverance out of Egypt or victory over Pharaoh's army, but it's really this question.
Speaker 2:Can I trust? Can I trust God? Can I trust him? Or maybe if you were to talk, speaking specifically to Lord, can I trust you? Can I place my trust in you?
Speaker 2:Now what is really wild, and this is something that I've experienced in my, this is something that I have personally experienced in my own life, something that I have witnessed in probably hundreds of people's lives, is this really significant reality is that most of us have zero problem trusting in the Lord for our salvation. Like, Oh, yeah, no, I have placed my trust. I have placed my trust in God. I have believed by faith in his son, Jesus. God's grace has offered me so that he has forgiven me of my sins.
Speaker 2:He has cleansed me of my unrighteousness. I now have the righteousness of Christ in me. I have been adopted into the family of God. I am a son and a daughter, and I am destined for eternity with Him. The Holy Spirit indwelling in me as a mark and as a seal on the inheritance that is to await me in eternity.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Do I doubt? Not at all. Fully, like I am fully the Lord's. He is fully mine and I am fully him.
Speaker 2:But man, I don't know about tomorrow. Tomorrow's tough though. Like I got a lot of worries about what's going on tomorrow. I got a lot of trust issues with what's going on with my family. I got this relationship that I don't know what to do with.
Speaker 2:God, I will trust you for my salvation, for the eternal seal of your Holy Spirit upon my soul. That is easy, but God, I don't know if I can trust you for the future of my kids. I don't know if I can trust you with my resources, my money. I don't know if I can trust that you have good plans for me as I travel through this season of life. I don't know if I trust, Lord, that you see me, that you love me, that you call me a daughter, that you call me a son, that you have good things planned for me, or I don't know if I trust you in this.
Speaker 2:See, the story about God providing the Israelites food and water is not really about God providing the Israelites food and water as much as it is about, God, can we trust you, not just for the big deliverance out of Egypt, but can we trust you today? Can we trust you tomorrow? Can we trust you with the things that are seemingly small, but that have such a hold on our heart that we often live in fear and anxiety about them? Can we trust you now for life, not just for the future into eternity? The story is ultimately about trust.
Speaker 2:Do you trust God, not just for the big things, but the little things like your family, your money, your job, your future? This is the ultimate question of this text this morning, Exodus chapter 15. The thing is, is that, God's grace is God's grace is so deep. God's grace is so deep for us in our fear and in our lack of trust that even when our fear and our lack of trust is pointed at Him, God, why aren't you doing this? Why aren't you showing up?
Speaker 2:Why don't I have this? Where are you? When is this going to get better? I need these things. I need your assurance.
Speaker 2:I need your hope. I need your future. That God in His mercy for us, even sometimes in our lack of trust and our obstinacy, rushes in with miraculous provision when we seek Him. When you look in Exodus chapter 15, we look at the end of the chapter here. Pastor Luke preached on the beginning of the chapter, the songs of Moses and Miriam last week.
Speaker 2:If you look at verse 22 of Exodus 15, or starting at Exodus 15, verse 22, we'll see what happened here. Let me read like the first five or six verses here, the next five or six verses. Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and went into the Desert Of Shur. For about three days, they traveled in the desert without finding water. And when they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter.
Speaker 2: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 sweet. This is a really kind of a key portion or couple verses here in the Exodus narrative, because it's the first time that God is going to begin to introduce the concept of law or command or decree to the people as a response to their obedience and as a response to their covenant relationship with him. Then the Lord made a decree and a law for them. This is important.
Speaker 2:And there he tested them. He said, if you listen carefully to the voice of the Lord, your God, and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all of 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 12 springs and 70 palm trees, and they camped near the water. So they were in the desert for days without water. And the only water source that they could find was one that was, some say bitter, some translations say bitter, others say brackish, essentially unable be consumed.
Speaker 2:And so God in His mercy provides Moses the way in which to turn the water sweet. But this comes only after Moses does something specific on behalf of the people. Something that we've talked about before in the past. We talked about it a few weeks ago. It's a common theme of the Israelite people in their relationship with God.
Speaker 2:It says that Moses cries out to God on behalf of the people. We have no water. We don't have the very thing that we need to sustain our life in this moment. We do not have it. Lord, we need you to show up now.
Speaker 2:We are in the desert. Now remember when we see the phrase or the term crying out in scripture, it's particularly a term that's in the Old Testament. This was a way of communicating or saying not just prayer in general, but it was a type of prayer. A prayer that came down from the depths of a person's very soul, where there was no other option to move forward other than the miraculous provision of God showing up in that very moment. Remember, it was the Israelites who cried out to God when they turned around and saw the whole of the Egyptian army pursuing them at the banks of the Red Sea.
Speaker 2:They cried out to God, knowing that their only hope in this moment, the only way out, the only way that they were to survive was through the showing up of the Lord in that moment. And so it says that they cried out to Him. It was a deep guttural from the pit of my soul moan and groan that the Holy Spirit takes to the throne of heaven on my behalf. The only way out, Lord, is if you show up. We are in desperate, desperate need right now.
Speaker 2:And I can imagine that even after having been through all that they have been through, walking through these desert places without water, seemingly looking on the horizon, nothing there, nothing there, nothing there. They come to a place where there is water. They taste it, have to spit it right out, can't drink it. It escalates and deepens their sense of desperation as to what is going to happen next. And in that moment, the response of feeling like, Lord, where in the world are you?
Speaker 2:What is going on? Have you indeed brought us into the desert to die? There has been seasons in my life where I've been in a We'll call it a particularly parched season, a wilderness season, if you will, a desert season, if you will, traveling as somewhat of a wanderer, trying to find the place that God desires to take me. And it's in these moments, these moments where we are in need, when we feel like all we can do is cry out to God, when we are in the desert or the wilderness season, it's normal, I think, to feel far from God, in need of a crying out moment. You see what happens is we often, what happens a lot, I want you to hear this as a normal experience of one who is walking in holiness and seeking the Lord.
Speaker 2:Is that it is a relatively normal experience to associate different wilderness experiences or seasons as one where we feel as though God is absent from us. Man, I'm going through a difficult season. I feel like I just need some living water, but man, my throat is dry and there's nothing there. Man, God must God's not here. Clearly.
Speaker 2:Clearly, God Clearly, I'm all alone. If God was close to me or I was close to him, then this wouldn't be as hard as it is. That is the way that our flesh, sometimes our mind responds to difficult seasons is that, Oh, wow, I'm in a difficult season. It means that God isn't here. God has withdrawn His presence from us.
Speaker 2:But listen, there's no indication whatsoever that God has withdrawn His presence from the Israelite people. In fact, we know from a few chapters before that God promises His presence in the cloud and in the fire as they travel throughout the wilderness. And we have traced that presence all the way through to the end, the very last chapters in the book of Exodus recall or recount God being there in the pillar of fire and the pillar of the cloud. The reality is that God is present, that he is close, and that he is listening even in moments of desert wandering. The whole story of Exodus shows us that it is difficult, God is near.
Speaker 2:And God's presence is powerful and is manifestly activated by our faith. See, our faith is expressed when we cry out to Him in moments of desperation and dryness to the only one that can save, the only one that can answer, the only one who is powerful enough to deliver. And let me tell you what, it is almost always the last thing you feel like doing. It is almost always the last thing you feel like doing. Like, oh, why I think when I get in a desperate season, isn't it just natural to just like cry out to the Lord?
Speaker 2:We want to think that and believe that. But in seasons of prolonged wilderness or desert or dryness, typically the last thing we feel like doing is the very thing that we need to do is from the pit of our soul cry out to the one who can save. And when we do, it's clear. God shows up. God shows up on the banks of the Red Sea for the Israelite people.
Speaker 2:God shows up in the Desert Of Shur at the banks of Elam here in this moment. Because as Moses cries out for them, God answers and provides what begins or what is the beginning of the foundations of, like, later in the law, what we read already this morning, 15, verse 26. If you listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, If you pay attention to his commands and keep all of 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. And then in verse 27, it reads that God shows up not just with a reversal of the current circumstances that they're in, but it's a display of abundant provision as a measure of trusting covenant relationship between God and the people. It's not just like, Oh, and God made sure they had water.
Speaker 2:But in verse 27, it describes the like It's mentioned like, if you read 27, They came to Elim where there were 12 springs and 70 palm trees, and they camped there near the water. It was a way of saying, Were there exactly 12 springs? Well, maybe there were exactly 12 springs. Were there exactly 70 palm trees? Maybe there were exactly 70 palm trees.
Speaker 2:But typically when numbers like this were recorded, it was meant to describe or to declare something that was perfect or whole or complete in number. Right? So what the writer here is recording for us is not that God like knew, Oh, I'm going to give a spring for each one of the tribes or anything like that. It was meant to describe like God showed up to meet the need in its completion and its totality and its abundance. That when we cry out to the Lord with a prayer that is honest from the pit of our soul, that he listens, he hears, and he shows up.
Speaker 2:But that wasn't just the that wasn't the end of the cycle of provision. We go now into Exodus chapter 16, and we see this pretty popular story from the Exodus story, the popular part of the Exodus story, manna and quail. We read 16, chapter one, verse three, we see this. Actually, let's read one through four. The whole Israelite community set out Okay, so they were at Elim, they stayed there, they camped at the banks, they got filled up on water.
Speaker 2:They kind of restored and rejuvenated their souls, restored and rejuvenated their bodies. And now it's time apparently to set back out for the land that God had promised them, right? 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. Okay, we're back here again.
Speaker 2:Right? It's like it's not taking very long to move from a place of like, Oh Lord, thank you for this abundance, to, Hello, what about us again? Did you forget about like, just grumbling, always grumbling. 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.
Speaker 2:There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted. Did you, though? Did you? But you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death. Now listen.
Speaker 2:I'm gonna be honest with you. If, thank God, I am not God. Let's just be real about it, because I get angry at the ancient Israelites just reading this. Like how absolutely dense and obtuse could you possibly be? And I'm like, God, would you just, just like teach him a lesson, would you?
Speaker 2:Like, let him go a few more days without it. But man, the Lord is so merciful and so patient and so slow to anger and kind. Verse four, 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 or not they will follow my instructions. This is interesting here because what God is doing is not just providing for their the needs that they have in the moment.
Speaker 2:So I'm gonna I'm gonna rain that literally rain down bread from heaven. It's going to appear miraculously. We're going to see here in a few minutes. And in this way, I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. This is such a key part of this, of ultimately this story.
Speaker 2:Because the question really is here in a moment like this is, when God provides for you, what do you do with God's provision? What what do you do with God's provision in our life? Now it is clear that for the Israelites, that provision in this case was a teaching tool for their obedience to what God had said. That it wasn't just about meeting the needs of their physical stomachs. That there was a test associated with God's provision.
Speaker 2:That there was something more, something deeper that needed to be discovered or revealed or uncovered about the Israelites' relationship with the Lord. They're to go out and gather enough for that day. And in this way, I will test them and see whether or not they follow my instructions. You see provision, all forms which come from God is not for the provision in and of itself. When God provides something for us, it is also a test or an examination of how we receive that thing, how we steward that thing, and how we use that thing that he is providing.
Speaker 2:All of it is an examination. When God provides for us something, it is an examination of how we receive the things that he provides, how we steward or manage the things that he provides, and how we continue to use the things that he provides. Now what was the test for the Israelite people that God was giving them? Now was it as simple as was the test as simple as a let's see who can follow my instructions and only gather the things that they need for that day? Was it like a reading comprehension type of test?
Speaker 2:Like they wanted to see who knew what an omer of manna was and who didn't know what an omer of manna was? Or was there something maybe a little bit deeper, something a little bit different, something a little bit more significant that God was trying to reveal in their hearts through this test. Like maybe how about a test about the orientation of one's trust? The orientation of one's heart. Would God provide tomorrow like he provided today?
Speaker 2:Or do I kind of like need to hedge my bets against God's provision and gather maybe just a little bit for myself for tomorrow in case he doesn't. See the test here is not a test of reading comprehension or listening comprehension where God goes like, let's see who listens to my instructions about only gathering this much versus this much. This was a test of the heart. How do the things that I provide, how do they hit someone's heart? How do the material provisions of our lives shape our hearts, our attitudes, the things that we love and the things that we pursue?
Speaker 2:When God provides, how do the things that What happens to our hearts in the midst of receiving those provisions? How does it shape our hearts? How does it shape our affections? How does it shape our attitudes and our behaviors? See, God had and has a purpose to his provision for your life and his provision for mine.
Speaker 2:His purpose for the provision for the Israelites was not just that their bellies would be full with this thing called manna, which we're gonna read a little bit more about in a minute. See, God's purpose in provision is that our hearts would be filled with faith in the one that provides, not in the provision itself. God's desire I want you to hear that one more day. God's desire is that when he provides us something, when He provides us daily food and bread, when He provides us material resources, when He provides for our health, our intellect, our skill, our ability, when He provides for our health, God's desire or His purpose in providing all of those things for us is that our hearts then would be filled with faith, not in the things that He has given to us, but in the one who has given them to us. Because provision is always meant to point towards Lordship.
Speaker 2:Oh, God provided. God provided. God provided. God provided. When we receive provision, it should move us to understanding lordship.
Speaker 2:Who is lord of this thing? Who is lord of this thing? Who is lord of this thing? And that was the exact point that God was making here. Look in verse look in chapter 16.
Speaker 2:I want to point you to a few verses that display this. So like so we're in chapter 16, like starting at verse four. 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.
Speaker 2:On the sixth day, verse five, they are, they are able to prepare, they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days. Verse six, listen. 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 who has heard your grumbling because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we that you should grumble against us?
Speaker 2:Moses said, you will know that it was the Lord when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and 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, verse nine, say to the Israelite community, come before the Lord for he has heard your grumbling. And while Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked towards the desert and there it was, the glory of the Lord appearing in the clouds.
Speaker 2:Then 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. Why? Then you will know, I am the Lord your God. Three times, verse six, verse eight, and verse 11, God says, I will provide, then you will know that I am the Lord.
Speaker 2:I will provide, then you will know that I am the Lord. I will provide, then you will know that I am the Lord. The focus even of the Lord's provision was not that the Israelites would become in love with the quail, not that the Israelites would become in love with the manna that came from heaven. It's that they would see the provision and that they would fall in love with the one who has given to it. Then you will know that I am the Lord.
Speaker 2:Provision should always point us to a deeper appreciation for the Lordship of Jesus in our life. It is him and him alone. So in verse 13 of chapter 16, we see what actually is to come. We've heard rumblings of it, meat in the evening and bread in the mornings. Well, what kind of meat?
Speaker 2:I'm a meat eater. That'd be my question. What are we having, Lord? What's on the menu? In verse 13, That evening quail came and covered the camp.
Speaker 2: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.
Speaker 2:Each one of you is to gather as much as they need, Take an omer, which is like two quarts, for each person you have in your tent. Verse 17, the Israelites did as they were told. Some gathered much, some gathered little. And when they measured it by the omer, he who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little. Each one gathered as much as they needed.
Speaker 2: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. Quail was provided. That's about all we hear about the quail.
Speaker 2:Verse 13, You can be there at night. Yeah, quail's going to be there. Help yourself. No limits on how many you can have. Just quail, have it.
Speaker 2:Thumbs up, God. Thank you. Got it. But then when it comes to manna, verse fourteen and fifteen, it says that like the dew kind of burns off in the morning and what is left is this flaky, sweet smelling and looking and tasting bread that they have never seen before. And so they ask the question, what is that?
Speaker 2:What is it? And Moses has to answer the question because it's not just a rhetorical question, it's an actual question. And Moses answers the question and says, Well, that's the bread that the Lord has given to you. Listen, this is so interesting, so mysterious, and unlike anything that they had ever had before. They didn't even have a name for the thing that the Lord provided for it.
Speaker 2:And so they called the thing manna, which means what? What is it? Literally, that's the definition of the word manna. What is it? So outside the realm of being normal and typical was God's provision for them that they did not even have a name for it.
Speaker 2:So they're just like, ah, we'll call it, what is it? Provision comes in many, many, many ways. Sometimes mysterious ways, sometimes overtly miraculous ways. Sometimes the provision from the Lord looks a lot like hard work. Like, man, I've turned down five jobs this week.
Speaker 2:Just kind of waiting at home for the Lord to provide, you know? Just like waiting for my ship to come in. Hey man, you want to come? I got this job you can work on. You can do this, I'll pay you for a full day or a full week or whatever.
Speaker 2:Ah, sorry. I am waiting for the Lord to provide. I can't go anywhere. Sit here. It's like the old story.
Speaker 2:I don't know if you've heard it. It's a big flood. Guy gets to the roof of his house. Right? It's like, Lord, I need you to come and rescue.
Speaker 2:Lord, show up on my behalf. Please come and save me from this flood. Sitting there praying, praying, praying, praying, praying. This boat comes by. Like, Hey man, come on.
Speaker 2:Was like, Ah, I appreciate it. Appreciate it. I'm going to stay here. I'm praying that the Lord would come and get me. I know He's going to show up on my behalf.
Speaker 2:All right, man. We'll go to the next house and get the other people. Keeps praying, Lord, save me, Lord, save me, Lord, save me. Another boat comes. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2:Appreciate the offer, but I am so confident the Lord is going to show up on my behalf and come and save me. Boat finally takes off, not wasting any more time. A couple hours later, a helicopter comes down, you know, coast guard coming down the big rope, Hey, we're coming to get you a strap on. We'll take you up in the helicopter. We'll get you out of here.
Speaker 2:Appreciate the offer, but I am praying that the Lord comes and rescues me. Go say to the next person. You know the story probably. The floodwaters overtake the man. He ends up drowning, dying.
Speaker 2:He gets to heaven and he gets to the Lord. He's like, Lord, I prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed that you would come and rescue me. And here, and I died. What happened? And the Lord was like, Well, I sent you two boats and a helicopter.
Speaker 2:What more do you want? And often we live lives in a similar way where we are where we're like, Lord, I need you to provide. I need you to provide. I need you to provide. I need you to show up.
Speaker 2:I need you to show up. I need you to show up. And then the provision of the Lord or the presence of the Lord comes in such a worldly mysterious way that we sometimes fail to recognize what it really is. Provision does often look a lot like hard work, an employment opportunity. Sometimes the provision of the Lord looks like the proverbial fish and loaf situation, where the little that we do have, when offered in faith to Him, is expanded and multiplied to produce abundance and provision in our lives.
Speaker 2:Is like kind of funny, but also I'm like pretty serious about that. This, have shirts that I wore in high school. That was twenty five years ago I graduated. So I have shirts that I wore in high school. We're like, Well, what's that got to do with anything?
Speaker 2:And I will tell this to people when they ask, like, just look in the word of the Lord, provide and provide and provide. You know what? The Lord sustains my clothing so I don't got to buy more of it. You know, and I'm not really easy on stuff, but there are like miraculous ways in which the Lord provides for us that defy rationality. The Lord provides for us through the generosity of his church.
Speaker 2:One of the blessings and the purposes of the gospel community is mutual provision of others. That we are able to help and support and provide for one another because we are not separate individuals who just show up to the same building once a week. We are a family united by our faith in God, unified by one baptism, one Lord, one Spirit, one God and Father of us all. And what I have, you have. See, the Israelites needed reminded that it was the Lord that provided or provides for them.
Speaker 2:It is the bread from heaven that the Lord gives to you. And we often need the same types of reminders when we are tempted to believe that it is purely the work of our own hands that provides the things that we have. Now, I am as big an advocate of hard, laborious work as anyone. But this often is a difficult concept for us to understand, especially in the Western world and in The United States. Because we have been bathed and raised in the culture of hard work ethic.
Speaker 2:Get out there and earn everything. I've provided this for myself. I've provided this for my family. This thing is mine, and I will decide how to think about it and what to do with it. But listen, God is the one that gives us the strength.
Speaker 2:God is the one that gives us the opportunity. God is the one that gives us the ability. God is the one that gives us the skill. God is the one that gives us the intellect. God is the one that gives us health.
Speaker 2:All things make all the things that make it possible are the things that God provides for us. Are we to work hard? Absolutely. God enables our hard work. See, because when it is purely the work of our hands that earns us all of the things that we have, then our hearts retain ownership and retain control and retain affection, which easily turns into idolatry and greed.
Speaker 2:When all that I have is the work of my own hands and the work of my own effort. And because I have got it and I have done it and I have earned it and I have gone out there and got it, when all that I have is the work of my own hands, then it's easy for me to say, Well, this is mine. I will control it. I will decide what is done with it. I will decide how it's used.
Speaker 2:And that spirit easily turns into greed and idolatry. But when we understand that what we have, that when we understand what we have through the truth of God's gracious provision, that we are more easily moved towards a consecration of those resources and a generosity of those resources. What I have is not solely my own. What I have, God has entrusted me in order to be a blessing to others. What I have has been entrusted to me so that I can, yes, provide for my immediate needs in my family, but so that I can live in a heart and a spirit of generosity.
Speaker 2:God, how do I leverage the things that you have provided for me to point others towards you? How do I use provision to point to Lordship? This is core and central to God's desire, both for the Israelite people and for us. As we read here, there is a really in verses 16 through 20, we've read these already. Right?
Speaker 2:Some of how some of them, they were to they were to gather one jar or one omer for each person each day. There is a a significant danger of fostering a heart condition where we do not trust God to provide. We then live outside of obedience, turning to greed and resource idolatry rather than generosity, sacrifice, and consecrated living. And what happens then is we see the things that were or that could have been provision actually wrought before our very eyes. This is what happened with the Israelites when they tried to gather more than God commanded them to gather.
Speaker 2:Provision, something that was meant to be a blessing, they watched it rot before their very eyes and turn and be filled with maggots and turn a putrid smell. Listen, hear this very clearly. God will cause the provision in your life to rot if he sees it becomes a source of trust. God will let it rot right where it sits. If the provision that he has entrusted you with becomes the source of your trust, He will let it rot so that He can regain Lordship in your life.
Speaker 2:Now there's a touchy, not a touchy dynamic here, but a nuance dynamic that we must also understand. Because if you just take this kind of the story here and we stretch it beyond its reasonable point, we would say, Well, okay. Well, I guess the heart of obedience means that I save nothing for the future ever. Just for what I need today. Right?
Speaker 2:Just gather what I need. If I save anything for the future, then it's going to rot in my heart. But listen, this whole thing, again, was not about the amount of stuff or the amount of provision. It was about the quality of our hearts' trust in the Lord, right? It's clear in Proverbs, Proverbs thirteen eleven, Proverbs twenty-one 20, that there is a heart of wisdom that saves for the future.
Speaker 2:But that's not what we're talking about here. Why does the manna rot away when they gather too much in the first day? Why will it rot away? Again, because God's goal is to grow us in holiness, and a key part of that is trust. When our trust becomes what we have rather than who gave it to us, he will remove what we have so that we can see him more clearly.
Speaker 2:Can you hear that again? When our trust becomes what we have rather than who gave it to us, He will remove what we have so that we can see him more clearly. See, because equally as foolish as those who gathered more than they should on the first six days were the ones who didn't gather enough for when the Sabbath was to come. If you look here, look at verse 24 and on of Exodus chapter 16. So they saved it until morning as Moses had commanded, and it did not stink or get maggots in it.
Speaker 2:This is like Moses commanded them on the sixth day to gather enough for the seventh day, Because the seventh day was a Sabbath where none of it was going to come and they were to store it for the night, they had it for the Sabbath. So they saved it, until morning, verse 24, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink or get maggots in it. Eat it today, Moses said, because today is the Sabbath of 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 of the Sabbath, there will not be any.
Speaker 2:Nevertheless, he says in verse 27, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather it. Why? Why would they do that? But they found none. Why they go out to gather on the seventh day?
Speaker 2:Because they didn't gather enough on the sixth day, right? So there was very clear that there was no intentionality of saving for the future in the moment where God said to save for the future. And how did God respond to the people who didn't save enough for that next day? Verse 28, Then the Lord said to Moses, how long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions? Equally as foolish as those who gathered more than they should in the first six days were the ones who didn't gather enough for when the Sabbath was to come.
Speaker 2:This was not like a, oh, whoops, I forgot type of thing. God saw this as disobedience. Why have you broken my command? How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and instructions, he says. They didn't think ahead.
Speaker 2:They were not intentional. They did not keep his command, and it was a fairly simple command too. Listen. This is all, again, a heart issue. It isn't the person that saves that doesn't trust in God for tomorrow.
Speaker 2:And it isn't the person who lives day to day knowing that God will provide that has kind of the righteous or wisdom high ground on the issue of trust in God. We trust in God for every provision always, and it is also wise to save for the future. Both of those things are true at the same time. The issue is where does the trust of our heart lay? Where does it rest?
Speaker 2:Does it rest in the things that we have, or does it rest in the one who has given to them? Psalm chapter 20 verse seven says, some trust in chariots, some trust in horses. Right? But I trust in the Lord name of the Lord, my God. Finally, and this is our last point from this morning, is what Moses, is told to do with the manna.
Speaker 2:In verses let's see. Verse 31, the people of Israel called the bread manna. It was like it was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey. Moses said, this is what the Lord has commanded. Take an omer of manna and keep it for the generations to come so that they can see the bread I gave you to eat in the desert when I brought you out of Egypt.' So Moses said to Aaron, take a jar, put an omer of manna in it, and then place it before the Lord to be kept for the generations to come.
Speaker 2:This is a theme that we have seen in Exodus already, is it not? Remember that when they came out of Egypt, the Lord told the people, I want you to celebrate on this day every year, a week long festival, the festival of unleavened bread. And when you eat the meal in haste, and when you're tucking in your cloak, and when you're holding your staff, and when your kids are going to say, Why are we doing this? Why are we eating bread that's unleavened? Why are we roasting this lamb over a fire and then eating it like this?
Speaker 2:Why are we retelling the story? I want you to tell them what I have done for you in delivering you out of Egypt. So God is setting for them a pattern of remembrance of the things that He has done for them. Remember that the Lord continued to tell the people to do these things, to remember his deliverance for them. Chapter 12, chapter 13, and now here in chapter 16, that God's heart is for us to never travel very far away from the memory of his past deliverance, because past deliverance brings us into an attitude of faith for present and future deliverance.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, there's the jar of manna. Why are why are we getting all upset? Why why are we getting in our heads that God is going to provide for us or not provide for us? We see it very clearly right here. Thank you for the reminder, Lord.
Speaker 2:Yes, I do trust in you. Yes, I do have faith in you. God's stories, like retell the story of God's faithfulness to inspire trust and faith. I'm going end with this story and then invite the worship team back forward. When and I were first married, this is a story I will never forget in all my life.
Speaker 2:Never forget. When Sherry and I were first married, we, I was in seminary. I was working construction on the side. I was working full time, going to seminary full time. She was working full time.
Speaker 2:We live in a small little apartment above a garage. And man, I was making like $9 an hour. And she was making less than that. Right? And, we were on the struggle.
Speaker 2:And it was a really difficult season for us. We had like, we were full of joy and love for one another and being married and just like enjoying life together. But we were like, it was spaghetti and hamburger helper like four days, five days a week. And we loved it, but we're like, man, it is like even less than paycheck to paycheck. And we were very faithful in continuing to be generous with what the Lord did entrust to us, both as a tithe and to other places that we could be generous.
Speaker 2:Cried out to the Lord, Lord, we need your help. We need your help. One of the ways that the Lord showed us His faithfulness, and I will carry this story with us, with me for the rest of our life, is that we came home one night. I don't remember where we were, but we came home one night and we walked in the bottom door of the garage over to the stairs where we were where you walk up to our apartment. And at the bottom of our stairs was a brand new charcoal grill.
Speaker 2:And on the charcoal grill was an envelope, and taped to that envelope was our name. And we opened it up and in that envelope was a couple $100 of cash. And in that, and I think there was a little note, it was like Merry Christmas. Yeah, we love you. Listen, I know where it came from, and I know where it came from.
Speaker 2:All right? Like, I know the people that provided that. Very clearly, I know the people that provided that. And I said, Did you guys do that? No, no idea.
Speaker 2:And I think they might have even said, Must have been manna from heaven. Must be manna from heaven. The Lord provided for us in a significant season of difficulty a small gift that for us now has become a We've been married twenty one years this past weekend. It now has become for us a story of God's faithfulness and provision. Like God's like, I see you, I love you, I got you, that I will tell for the rest of my life.
Speaker 2:But in that moment, it was like, all fear, gone. All like, Are we going to make it? Are we going to have to move in with our parents? God forbid. Right?
Speaker 2:Lord, please help. Show up now. But God showed up in miraculous way. And like the manna stored in the jar to tell the generation of God's faithfulness was the grill and envelope of money at the bottom of our stairs that displayed, Trust me. I got you.
Speaker 2:Do not fear. Trust not in the riches of man. I am here. I see you. I will provide.
Speaker 2:Let that story maybe be an encouragement to you as you learn to build your trust in the heavenly Father. Let's pray. Lord, we certainly are grateful for the ways that you have provided for us and the things that you have provided for us. Lord, our primary desire is not that we would build our trust in the things that you provide for us. Lord, it has been our prayer all year long so far that you would show us, Lord, your face.
Speaker 2:You, your presence, your personhood, your character, your nature, your holiness, your glory. Lord, we want to see your face, not just to receive from your hands. Lord, increase our trust in you. Lord, let us see everything that we have as a provision that we have received that points to your Lordship. Lord, and let us consecrate every resource, every ability, every gift, every skill, every bit of intellect, every penny that we have, let us see it, Father, as something to leverage for your glory in our lives and in all creation.
Speaker 2:Lord, we trust you. You have provided for us in the past, and you will provide for us today. You will provide for us tomorrow, and you will provide for us into eternity. Make us fit to receive, Lord, the abundance of your provision every day. In Jesus' name.
Speaker 2:Amen. We sing of your praise. Lord, you indeed are the only one who is worthy of our praise, of the affection of our heart, the focus, Lord, of our gaze. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not into your own understanding.
Speaker 2:In all of your ways, acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Let it be so in our lives, Lord. We trust in you. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Speaker 2:Conduit, you are loved. Great to see you. Have a great week, and we'll see you next time.
