God Is Greater Than Our Problems Series

God is Greater Than Our Problems

Exodus 5:1-21

- We’re continuing our study through the book of Exodus, and as we study, we’re asking the question, “What can I learn from this passage about honoring God?”

- Last week, we looked at three ways in which we should be obedient to God.

- Our obedience must be bold and courageous, it must be complete, and it must be precise.

- We saw this as Moses took steps to obey God’s call on his life to return to Egypt and free His people.

- However, he had neglected to circumcise his own son, so God almost killed him for his negligence.

- When he finally made it to Egypt, he and Aaron spoke to the elders and showed them God’s signs as God had commanded, and now, they were ready to go before Pharaoh.

- That’s where we find them today, going forward in obedience to stand before Pharaoh, but as we’ll see, they’re going to face some problems.

- I’m reminded of a time years ago when I faced a problem, one that I thought was bigger than it actually was.

- When I graduated from my training as an Army Chaplain Assistant, I went home on leave to spend time with family before going to my first duty station.

- Well, things started out just fine.

- I had received my orders to go to Ft. Bliss, TX to work with an aerial reconnaissance unit that did work down in South America.

- I was looking forward to it, but then about a week into my leave, I received a phone call from a Sergeant Major who informed me that he was changing my orders.

- Instead of being assigned to Ft. Bliss, TX, they were reassigning me to Ft. Sam Houston, TX to a military intelligence interrogation unit.

- I found out later that this was because they were sending me to Iraq instead of South America, but that’s another story.

- Okay, no big deal, right?

- It’s not like I had already gone down to Ft. Bliss and gotten settled in…

- So I continued my leave, and then the day came to head to the airport and fly down to my duty station.

- I had a huge folder that was filled with my orders…

- The orders explained where I was supposed to report, who I was supposed to contact, and all sorts of other important paperwork that I needed to have with me.

- Well, my family drove me to the airport, and we said our goodbyes.

- Off I went, on my way to Texas.

- I was nervous, but I thought I’d read a book and enjoy my time on the plane.

- Then, about halfway through the flight, I realized something…

- I didn’t have my orders with me…they were all the way back in Portland, Maine…

- At that point, I started to panic because I couldn’t contact my family while on the plane, I couldn’t just fly back to Maine, and of course, I couldn’t snap my fingers and make them appear out of thin air.

- So I didn’t know what to do, and I was overwhelmed by this problem I was facing, but all I could do at the moment was stay seated and try to remain calm.

- I said a prayer, asking God to help me calm down and figure this out.

- When we made it to the next airport, I was going to stop at the ticket counter and ask the agent if she could reach out to the Portland airport and see if maybe I had left them at the airport somewhere.

- However, when exiting the plane and entering the airport, there was an agent greeting us, and she asked for me by name.

- I hoped that this was a good sign, and it was…

- After I left, my family left the airport and started on their way back to Washington County…

- Somewhere along the way, they realized that I had left my orders sitting in the car.

- Immediately, they turned around and went back to the airport, knowing I had already left, but hoping there was a way to somehow get them to me.

- Luckily, there was another flight headed my way, and the agent wrapped it up and sent it to me.

- I only had to wait about an hour in San Antonio before my orders arrived and I was so relieved to have them back in my hands.

- So the entire time I was being a worry wart, God was smiling down on me…

- While I was focusing on my problem, He was bringing to the attention of my family that I had forgotten my orders, He was getting them back to the airport in time to send my orders on the next flight, and He was making sure they arrived back in my hands.