God's Providence Series

Exodus 2 “9 Then 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 And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. So she called his name Moses, saying, “Because I drew him out of the water.”

On July 30, 2019, Luke Aikins became the first skydiver to jump from a plane without a parachute or wingsuit and live to tell the story. The 42-year-old daredevil leaped 25,000 feet to Earth — setting a world record. To accomplish this feat, Aikins had to direct his body in free fall using only the air currents around him to land safely on the high-tech 10,000-square-foot net (about a third the size of a football field) laid out to catch him.

Aikins is a safety and training adviser for the United States Parachute Association (USPA), where he provides advanced skydiving training to elite military special forces.

This event depended on months of planning and checking every detail.

What is Exodus? One of 39 books in the Old Testament. Second of the books in the Pentateuch ( first 5 books of the Bible – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) Exodus functions like a chapter in a book!

The Pentateuch is a Bigger Story – starts with Creation and then move to a person/Abraham. It then moves to a people/Israel and the end of Deuteronomy leaves them on the edge of the promised land. This is not multiple stories… it’s one glorious story ! God’s calling of & God’s caring for His people called Israel!

Exodus is a part of the story – it is the story of God’s deliverance. Why did they need deliverance? We find the answer to this question in Exodus 1:5 “All those who were descendants of Jacob were seventy persons…” This family – the children of Jacob/Israel - ends up in Egypt. That part of the story focuses on Joseph and takes up the last 13 chapters of Genesis.

In verse 7 we read that there was a population explosion in this family – “But the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them.” This is the same language used by God in Genesis 1:28 & 9:1 – “Be fruitful and multiply.”

The very next verse in Exodus 1 that explains why they need deliverance - there is a new Pharaoh who did not know of Joseph. He was afraid of these Israelites and seeks to stop them from increasing their numbers.

• Makes them slaves (they still multiply)

• Have midwives kill male children (they still multiply)

• Throw male children into the river

These are first battles in a great war – God vs Pharaoh (he is the human god that represents all the other gods of the Egyptians)

It’s into this battle/war that God sends Moses – Exodus 2:1-2 “And a man of the house of Levi went and took as wife a daughter of Levi. 2 So the woman conceived and bore a son. And when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him three months.”

This is evidence of God’s Providence. (What’s that?) Which is part of God’s governance of all things – the universe down to us. God makes plans and makes provision for those plans. Thus, God always accomplishes His Divine Will.

God’s Will can be accomplished because of us or in spite of us – it will happen either way. Things turn out better for us if we are helping God rather than working against His plans.

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In Genesis 22 we find Abraham taking his only son Isaac to a mountain. God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. At the last-minute God delivers Isaac and give a ram for the sacrifice. Abraham calls the place “Jehovah Jireh” or “The Lord Will Provide.” God delivered Moses. God delivered Israel. God will deliver you and me.

God’s deliverance is part of God’s provision. The problem is it’s hard for us to see. The founding of our nation was accomplished by men and women who trusted in the providence of God. “America’s Declaration of Independence is as much a declaration of dependence on Divine Providence as it is a declaration of independence from an oppressive monarch.” Pastor John Miller (ucg.org) The odd thing about today is that people have a view of God as the “oppressive monarch” and see beliefs like Rational Humanism as our only means of deliverance. It’s just more proof we live in an upside down world.

In the first 10 verses of Exodus 2 we see God working to put Moses in the house of Pharaoh: