God's Provision Series

INTRODUCTION

• The Israelites are free from the oppression of Egypt!

• God heard their cries and sent Moses to deliver the Israelites out of Egypt!

• All of a sudden, life seems great!

• Doesn’t it seem that way at times? God has done something great in your life; you are riding high, life is good.

• Then adversity hits.

• This is an important question for all of us to answer.

• Who provides for you?

• Does the provision for your life come from your boss?

• Your job?

• Your country?

• Are you your provider?

• Do you see God as your provider? When we view anything other than God as the source of our provision, we can make that thing or person god.

• Sometimes we even look to ourselves for provision, but it is hard to give God glory for the blessings we have if we think we earned them ourselves.

• When you forget who your provider is, it can cause problems for us in life.

• When prosperity comes, not knowing who provides for us can cause us to become entitled and arrogant, thinking we did it all on our own.

• If we do not know who provides for us, we tend to panic, blame God, whine, and complain when adversity hits.

• We will see this scenario play out in our text today.

• Big Idea of the Message: God provides for his people, even when they struggle to understand him.

• Let’s begin our trek by turning to Exodus 13:21 and Exodus 14:1-4.

Exodus 13:21 (CSB)

21 The LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to lead them on their way during the day and in a pillar of fire to give them light at night, so that they could travel day or night.

Exodus 14:1–4 (CSB)

1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses:

2 “Tell the Israelites to turn back and camp in front of Pi-hahiroth (PIA HYROTH), between Migdol (MIG DOLL) and the sea; you must camp in front of Baal-zephon (BAIL ZEEFON), facing it by the sea.

3 Pharaoh will say of the Israelites: They are wandering around the land in confusion; the wilderness has boxed them in.

4 I will harden Pharaoh’s heart so that he will pursue them. Then I will receive glory by means of Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD.” So the Israelites did this.

SERMON

I. God provides the path.

• The Israelites are free, but they need a path to follow, and God provides the path.

• Verse 31 tells us that God went ahead of the people in a pillar of cloud to lead them during the day and a pillar of fire by night.

• That had to be an awe-inspiring sight!

• Through Moses, God delivered the His people!

• The people saw and experienced the miracles; there could be no doubt who provided deliverance for the people!

• I cannot imagine how the people must have felt as they experienced the joy of freedom; however, when I was baptized into Christ, I too was released from bondage, the bondage of sin.

• So in some ways, I think those who have been baptized into Christ can understand how freedom felt.

• Today, we would like to receive an Apple map or a google map for life from God.

• God provides a path for us to follow today; we have to be open and humble to look for the cloud and light in our life to follow!

• As a point of emphasis, we typically call the Israelites' time in the wilderness as WANDERING in the wilderness.

• Make no mistake; these folks were not WANDERING; God was leading them.

• There was a quicker route from Egypt to Canaan, but God led his people toward the desert of Sinai first to teach them some important lessons.

• One of the things we need to be aware of is that God’s path for us is not always easy or direct.

• Look at verse three again.

Exodus 14:3 (CSB)

3 Pharaoh will say of the Israelites: They are wandering around the land in confusion; the wilderness has boxed them in.

• Sometimes the path God lights up for us will look crazy to us as well as others; however, God has a reason for the path He sets before us.

• For the Israelites, God had a plan for the path that He was leading them.

• God still wanted the Egyptians to know who the true God was!

• We see the phrase speaking God hardening the heart of Pharaoh in 14:4.

• The Hebrew word here is predictive in nature; God predicted that Pharaoh’s heart would be firm in his resolve to pursue the Israelites.