"The Lord Provides"
By Sterling Franklin
Provide -> Pro = before, in advance; Vide = from Latin videre, to see.
So, basically...Provide comes from the basis of ’seeing in advance’. Tonight we will be discussing how He provided for Moses and Abraham in the past and how the Lord has provided and provides for us today.
I. Red Sea Parting - the Lord Provides for Moses
First off, you all probably have heard about the story of the Parting of the Red Sea before at some point in your life. :)
Because Pharaoh kept holding the Israelites captive and didn’t let them go, the Lord put a final plague upon Egypt, where a family’s firstborn son would be killed if the family didn’t have the blood of the Passover lamb upon the top and sides of the outside door.
Pharaoh, after losing his son to the plague, finally told Moses that his people could be free, FINALLY - after all the years of bondage they had suffered.
Exodus 13:21-22: "21 And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: 22 He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people."
So, they were led by the Lord - in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.
Exodus 14:4-6: "4 And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD. And they did so. 5 And it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled: and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people, and they said, Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us? 6 And he made ready his chariot, and took his people with him:"
The Lord said that he would harden Pharaoh’s heart, and He did, and it ended up for His Glory. Pharaoh, after telling Moses that he could be free with his people (the Israelites), Pharaoh changes his mind and gets ready to take them prisoner again.
Exodus 14:10-12: "10 And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the LORD. 11 And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? 12 Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness."
The Israelites panicked when they saw the Egyptians coming, so what does Moses do? Does he freak out like a chicken with its head cut off?
NOPE!
He keeps his cool
He stays in school!
well......maybe not the school part.
Exodus 14:13-14: "13 And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. 14 The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace."
He had total faith and trust in God’s Protection in this situation.
Exodus 14:15-20: "15 And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward: 16 But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. 17 And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. 18 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gotten me honour upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. 19 And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them: 20 And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night."
The Lord tells Moses what to do in verse 16 - to lift up his rod and stretch his hand over the sea, and divide it. Simple enough, eh? However, it takes a TON of faith to do that. In verse 21, that’s exactly what Moses did.
Exodus 14:21: "21 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided."
There was a wall of water to their left and right, and dry ground right in front of them. Pharaoh then, with his Egyptians, went in after them. All their horses & chariots were with them, too.
In verse 24, we see that the Lord looks at the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud, and we see in verse 25 that the Egyptians are terrified and want to turn back...
Exodus 14:24-25: "24 And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the LORD looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians, 25 And took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the LORD fighteth for them against the Egyptians."
God then tells Moses what to do again, and Moses obeys fully...
Exodus 14:26-28 - "26 And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen. 27 And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. 28 And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them."
The Israelites were fine, though. Unscathed, untouched, not drowned (I would say undrowned, but that ain’t a word).
Exodus 14:29-31: "29 But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. 30 Thus the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore. 31 And Israel saw that great work which the LORD did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD, and his servant Moses."
What does this ’feared the LORD’ mean? To fear the Lord doesn’t mean to be ’afraid’ of the Lord, but to revere Him, be in awe of Him, and in result, be obedient to Him in your actions.
Proverbs 14:26-27 tell about what the fear of the Lord carries with it: "26 In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge. 27 The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death."
II. Jehovah Jireh - the Lord our Provider
Abraham was a great man of faith, and he followed after the Lord. There was one time where the Lord tested him to really make sure Abraham was obedient to Him.
The Lord told Abraham to go up to Mount Moriah and sacrifice his son Isaac. Genesis 22 is our text. Abraham brought Isaac up with the wood and knife and fire to light the wood, and Isaac was a little surprised...
Genesis 22:7 - "7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?"
Abraham had faith, however, that the Lord would provide for him a lamb to sacrifice, as we see in verse 8:
Genesis 22:8 - "8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together."
So Abraham is about to stab his son Isaac for a sacrifice, but then an angel of the Lord calls out to him and stops him from slaughtering Isaac.
Genesis 22:11-12: "11 And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. 12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me."
Abraham must have been THRILLED, but must have been EVEN MORE THRILLED when he saw that the Lord had provided a sacrifice...
Genesis 22:13: "13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son."
...and appropriately enough, Abraham calls this place ’Jehovahjireh’, meaning ’the Lord Sees’ or ’the Lord Provides’!
Genesis 22:14: "14 And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen."
GOD IS GOOD! What also was really cool about this was that Abraham had faith that the Lord would provide a lamb. In this case, the RAM was not Random Access Memory, but a male sheep. (Haha, imagine Abraham sacrificing 1 Gig of RAM on the altar.)
III. The Sacrificial Lamb of God - Our Perfect Sacrifice - the Lord Providing for us...
Jesus is often called the ’Lamb of God’. Pretty cool, huh? :) God the Father sent down His Son, and He was the Sacrificial Lamb for the payment of our sins.
Romans 5:8 - "8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
He died on the cross, rose again on the third day, and is seated in Glory at the Right Hand of the Father...but He’ll be back!
I Corinthians 15:3-4: "3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:"
The Lord provides a way for us to not only escape sin’s curse: death.
Romans 6:23: "23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
John 10:10: "10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."
Jesus has come to give us life - and life more ABUNDANTLY! If you want Jesus Christ to be your Savior and have not done so already, it’s as simple as ABC.
A - Admit that you are a sinner, B - Believe that Jesus is God’s Son, rose from the dead and is the only way to Heaven, and C - Confess your sins to God, ask Him to be Your Savior.
Basically, if you want eternal life with Him and haven’t accepted Him yet as your Lord & Savior, pray this with me:
"Dear Lord Jesus, I am a sinner. Forgive me of my sins right now. Thank You for dying on the cross to pay for my sins. I ask You right now to become my Lord and Savior so that I might be with You in Heaven for eternity after life. Let me live a life pleasing to You and let me know You more. Thank You, in Jesus’ Name, Amen."
Salvation is EXTREMELY weighty in value, if you didn’t know already. Either eternal damnation or eternal love, joy, peace, etc!!!! No road rage in Heaven, either!
The Lord provides for us in so many ways, it’s AWESOME! He is Worthy of all our Praise, and He will bless us beyond measure for being obedient to His Word. He can take us out of the toughest situation, Praise Him, He will provide!
