The Guiding Light Of Fire - God Is Our Provider #3 Series

Introduction

The Lord Provides

By SermonCentral

Copied from Sermon Central

You’ve probably heard the story about an elderly Christian lady, who lived next to an affirmed atheist. She didn’t have much as received a meager social security survivor’s benefit.

Although, she had enough money only for most basic meal plans, daily she would open her windows to give thanks in prayer to God.

Once month the social security check was over two weeks late, putting her in a real tight situation. But no matter what, she still praised God for taking care of this need.

Her neighbor, sitting on his porch, overheard her praying, “Lord although I don’t have any food but you will provide.”

Well, her neighbor thought this was great opportunity to prove to her there no God. So, he hurried to store, bought a carload of groceries.

When he got home, he put the groceries on her porch, rang doorbell hid in bushes in order to be able to jump out and surprise her when she opened the door and saw the groceries.

The elderly woman made her way to door. She opened door, saw all groceries and praised God.

Her neighbor jumped out of the bushes and said, “See, God is not real. I bought those groceries” to which the old woman replied, “I knew God would supply my needs, but I didn’t know he would make the devil pay for them.”

The Lord provides.

Jehovah - jirah.

A phrase first spoken in Scripture when Abraham was taking Isaac to be sacrificed. Instead God provided a ram, caught in a thicket.

God is our provider.

God provides.

Always does. Always will.

God provided for His people as they were leaving Egypt on their way to their new home.

And it started with fire.

We read about this in Exodus 13, starting with verse 20:

20 The Israelites left Succoth and camped at Etham on the edge of the wilderness. 21 The Lord went ahead of them. He guided them during the day with a pillar of cloud, and he provided light at night with a pillar of fire. This allowed them to travel by day or by night. 22 And the Lord did not remove the pillar of cloud or pillar of fire from its place in front of the people. (Exodus 13, NLT)

A pillar of fire. Now that had to be a sight to behold. I’ve seen some pretty big bonfires, but this would outshine them all. After all, it is estimated that there were around 1 million Israelites leaving Egypt and traveling East.

You’d have to have a pretty big flashlight for all of them to see the way at night.

But then again, God knows exactly what we need and that’s what He always provides.

The Psalmist, almost reminiscent of the travels in the wilderness, writes:

1 I look up to the mountains—

does my help come from there?

2 My help comes from the Lord,

who made heaven and earth!

3 He will not let you stumble;

the one who watches over you will not

slumber.

4 Indeed, he who watches over Israel

never slumbers or sleeps.

5 The Lord himself watches over you!

The Lord stands beside you as your

protective shade.

6 The sun will not harm you by day,

nor the moon at night.

7 The Lord keeps you from all harm

and watches over your life.

8 The Lord keeps watch over you as you

come and go,

both now and forever.

(Psalm 121, NLT)

So let’s look at the travels of the Israelites this morning, briefly, and see what and how God provides.

1. First, we see that through the fire God provided light by which they could travel.

It was the exactly what the Israelites needed to travel through the wilderness at night.

And there were advantages for traveling at night, like:

• Cooler temperatures

• Moving 1 million people through the wilderness without being noticed

Armies today know the benefits of moving stealthily at night — having the benefit of night vision goggles.

Each step of the way, God lit their path.

A Mother Was Putting Her Little Four-year-old ...

By Lynn Malone

Copied from Sermon Central

A mom was putting her little four-year-old daughter to bed for the night. The child was afraid of the dark, and the mother, on this particular occasion, with her husband away, was a little afraid too.

When the light was out, the little girl caught a glimpse of the moon outside the window. “Mommy,” she asked, “is the moon God’s light?”

“Yes,” the mother said.

Then the child asked, “Will God put out his light and go to sleep?”

The mother replied, “No, dear, God never goes to sleep.”

Then, out of the simplicity of a child’s faith, the little girl said something which gave reassurance even to her mother: “Well, as long as God is awake, there is no sense both of us staying awake.” And off to sleep she went.