The God Who Provides

When we moved here to Michigan several years back, we were just talking about that in the back of the room with some of the ladies, we saw God's hand involved in many of the details, one which is our home. To be just open with you, I don't know if I've ever shared this story or any of these accounts with the congregation here, but you can, anyone who's moved from one area to another, you know what that's like to go looking for a house and when you maybe even had one that you enjoyed and had to make that transition, there's a lot of uncertainties.

Am I gonna find a house that fits our needs? Are we gonna be able to be comfortable? Is it gonna be in a good area? All these questions come up and then where do you start to look? And a whole bunch of things that were just kind of daunting when we were asked by the home office to make our way up to Michigan and they said, well we're gonna send you on a trip so you can go look for homes.

A lot comes on to you suddenly for this and a lot of just wondering how is this all gonna work out? And so we prayed about it of course. We had kind of our short list of some of the things we really wanted.

So we wanted a fireplace. I mean we're coming to Michigan right? We didn't have a fireplace in our last house but she wanted that. Kelce wanted a two-story home. We had kind of a buy level in our last house. She wanted to be on the second floor and have us be on the first floor because she was 12, about to become a teenager.

So she wanted her space and but because of some health issues as well we kind of needed a first floor master bedroom and also a first floor laundry. So finding that in a two-story home, we'll have to see how it goes. And what we didn't know is Kelce was praying for a willow tree in the backyard. Never knew that until after we signed on our house, moved in, and then Kelce told us that the willow tree in our backyard she had been praying for.

And that was just so touching because we wasn't on war in my radar but it was on God's radar. And there's so many things that we can go through even beyond this. So many other details about something as simple as our home that we saw how God was in those details. How God was working and going before us. We make our desires known and God wants us to do that. He wants that relationship with us but then He goes so much so many times.

So much further above and beyond what we even ask because He knows our heart and He knows the things that bring us joy and brings us peace and fills our heart. I share this illustration to open because we serve a God who provides in such an amazing and abundant way in our lives. Scripture records that God is able to do exceedingly abundantly. I love those two words together.

Exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us. And like the example I shared, I think we can all think of a time when God provided above and beyond what we probably expected He would do. Maybe it was something to do with our health, a healing, or even direction, guidance. How many times they hear people talk about when they have a health emergency or a health trial but God sent them to just the perfect doctor?

Or just the perfect timing of finding a place that they could get into? Or calling and they have one opening and it's just these types of things that are beyond just time and chance. Or maybe providing a job or a type of employment. We take our steps towards looking for work. We go out on a kind of a limit times, even not sure if this is the best company or the best role. And then afterwards we see the way that God has engineered and guided our path to that job.

Or maybe it's something as simple as asking God to change the weather. I'll ask how many people have ever prayed that God would change the weather? Good, because I have too many times and I've seen that happen many times. Something as simple to God as changing the weather because for our benefit or because of a need that we have, I've seen that and I think that's one of the fun things to talk about is the times where He has done that because of a desire in our heart or something that we needed to be able to accomplish.

And I've seen it as soon as we were done with the project or it was time to go inside maybe at camp, then the skies open up and they just pour. But now we're done with our outside project. We're under shelter and it's these those types of things. In a previous sermon I shared last year, we looked at the life of Abraham, Sarai, and Sarai's maidservant Hagar.

In the life of Abram, Sarai, and Hagar, God saw a mess of a situation that they had created because of a struggle in having faith that He would provide. You may remember that God had promised Abram and Sarai that they would have a son, but it was taking longer than they thought it should. They weren't sure if God was actually going to come through and so Sarai and Abram came up with a new plan, one that was not of God, one that led to a lot of other problems and struggles.

And when Hagar conceived a child from Abram, then it created even more difficulties. And Hagar felt the only option she had was to run away and to leave Sarai, her maidservant, who she served. And while she was running, the Lord intervened and He talked with her and in a conversation that they had, Hagar called and referred to God as El-Royi, which is, you are the God who sees. And she said to God, I have now seen the one who sees me.

Today in the time that we have together, I'd like to look at another part of the story of Abraham's life as we consider another characteristic of the great God that we serve. And so today we're going to talk about the God who provides because Hagar saw a God who saw her challenges, a God who sees the things that we go through in life, a God who is intimately aware of everything that you and I deal with. And there's another aspect that we will look at and dive into because God is also the one who provides, whether it's a home when you move into a new area, whether it's a doctor at the right time when you need that person or a job. There's so many ways that God provides for His people. Let's open our Bible to Genesis 22 in verse one.

So thankful God has inspired these stories and these accounts to be recorded.

Even the challenging ones when people did things that they weren't supposed to or they were having their doubts, they were having their difficulties, they're recorded for our benefit as well. But here we're going to dive into another account from Abraham's life, a time where he saw how God provided in a way that no one else probably expected. And at least he didn't. Probably he and his son didn't. Genesis 22 in verse one says, now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham, Abraham, and he said, here I am. So I want to pause for a second and dive into the context because we need to understand some of the challenges that are would be in this this man's life. Right. We some translations say that God tempted Abraham. It might be something that you have in your Bible. This does not imply that God tempted Abraham to do evil or to sin. That's not what they're talking about. But many translations translate the word test or one might ask, why would God need to test Abraham? Wasn't he the father of the faith? Wasn't he the one who was going to go through his air and through his son? The world would be blessed. Why would Abraham Abraham need to be tested? Our UCG Bible commentary shares this about the account says Genesis weaves together several reoccurring themes. Two of the themes are the sovereignty of God and our submission to him. Did Abraham really have a proper fear of God, which is respect for who God was, his divine power and awesome purpose? Did he really believe in trust in God from his innermost being? Or was Abraham merely obedient because of some instant gratification that was in it for him? Would Abraham obey when it appeared greatly to his present disadvantage to do so? It goes on to say obedience of and by itself is is not near and necessarily a sign of love and submission. One can obey out of terror or pursuit of material gain. How would God know a test was required? Again, that's from our Bible commentary.

And in the midst of this amazing test, Abraham Abraham said, here I am.

An amazing response from his growth and faith and trust in God that regardless what God was going to ask or put the situation he was going to put Abraham into, Abraham's response was I'm right here. What can I do? Let's continue in verse two. Then he said, take now your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I shall tell you.

I'm not sure Abraham when he said, here I am, Lord, was thinking that this was what was going to be asked of him.

Going back to verse one for a moment, scripture says after these things, and then it goes on with the account, this indicates an unspecified number of years since Isaac's birth had passed. The commentaries are all across the board on how old Isaac would have been at this could have been at this time in his life. Often when we think through and we see portraits or paintings done or things made to resemble and to again, portrayed this account, we see Abraham as an old man, which he was, but we see this child carrying the wood or this child accompanying him.

A lot of the commentaries are all over the board, but most of them go are focusing in on that he was not necessarily a youth that he could have been a teenager. He could have been in his early twenties based on the time. And from the teacher study Bible, it shares this. It says Abraham was a hundred years old when Isaac was born and now Isaac was old enough to carry on a conversation and to carry wood. Despite common perceptions that Isaac was a boy, some speculate that Isaac could have been a young man through though, without clear support in scripture. Some speculate that Isaac could have been the same age as Jesus was when his father was willing to sacrifice his only son. Again, that's from the teacher study Bible. That is speculation of course, of being as old as Christ was when he died. But from most accounts, when we consider that this is someone who was escorting their father, someone who could carry enough wood to offer a burnt sacrifice, this was not a child. This was not a weak teen even. This would have been most likely someone who was older, someone who would have been at least around upper teenage, 1920, young adult age, maybe even a little bit older. And so this is someone who could, once he hears the plan, fight back. This is someone who could say, listen, this is your God, but I'm not sure this is my God. If he's wanting you to sacrifice me as a burnt offering, don't we know that this goes against God's teachings and things? This is someone who could have had an intelligent conversation with his father about the things that were being asked. But we don't see that recorded here. Let's continue in verse three. So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey and took two of his young men with him and Isaac, his son. And he split the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day, there's an interesting connection to the third day, which we can make to the rising of Jesus Christ on the third day as well. I'll save that for maybe another sermon. But it says then on the third day, Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place of far off. I can't help but put myself in Abraham's shoes for a moment and consider what would be like for God to ask this of me.

Not only to ask it, but now to take three days of going on a journey, three days of talking with your son and with your servants, three days wondering how is God going to provide?

Is he really going to ask me to do this, to go to the degree of this unthinkable act?

Yet, Abram was willing to trust God and go as far as God was going to ask him to go. But I can't imagine the just the thoughts that would have went through his head on this three day journey. And Abram, in verse five, said to Abraham, said to his young men, stay here with the donkey. The lad and I will go yonder and worship and notice and we not I, we will come back to you.

Abraham had so much faith and so much trust in God that and believing in his promises that through Isaac, there would be an innumerable multitude of descendants that he knew that Isaac would have to come back with him to join up with these men. He didn't know how he didn't know what was a plan. He didn't know to what extreme God would intervene and provide, but he knew that God would have to do that. His faith was so strong. And so it says, so Abram took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac, his son. So Isaac carried all of this wood and he took the fire in his hand and a knife and the two of them went together. But Isaac spoke to Abraham, his father and said, my father, and he said to him, here I am, my son. Then he said, look, the fire in the wood, but where's the lamb for a burnt offering? So fair question.

Very fair question. And Abram said, my son and notice God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering. So the two of them went together.

Going back to some of the accounts we've read previously and in our own individual studies, we recognize that Abraham had failed some of the previous tests that God had put before him. He lied about Sarah, being his sister. Remember that twice he did that.

He also agreed to take Sarah's maidservant as in his own wife and he had a son through her. There were things where we look at Abraham's track record and God has recorded in scripture, some times where his faith wasn't as strong as it should have been times where he didn't follow God as close as he should have.

But Abraham's faith and trust in God had grown from these previous missteps. He obviously did not want to sacrifice his son, his and Sarah's only son. He knew the promises God had made with him about his descendants being innumerable. And Abraham fully trusted God's plan and promise would be fulfilled regardless of what was right in front of him in this instance.

Question for us today. Has there been times when our faith has been strongly tested?

Maybe it's mental testing that we've gone through. Maybe it's physical testing or even very extreme or severe emotional stress that we have been under at different times.

Has our faith been strongly tested? Let's continue in verse nine says, then they came to the place of which God had told him and Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood on in order and he bound Isaac, his son and laid him on the altar upon the wood. I can't imagine again putting yourself into the shoes of Abraham, even if his son submitted and said, Father, I trust you, you're my dad. I'll do what you've asked me to do, but I can't imagine going through the process of binding your son, knowing what that's going to lead to.

And it says going on in verse 10 and Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to sway his son. But the but the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. And so he said, here I am. That same response that he said earlier when not knowing what was God was going to ask him. But this time I'm sure there's a little bit more fervor. Here I am.

Please tell me there's another option here. And there was. And he said, do not lay your hand on the ladder, do anything to him. For now, I know that you fear God since you have not withheld your son, your only son from me.

At the last moment, the last opportunity for life to continue on, God intervened and stopped Abraham.

It's really hard to be completely in the mind of Abraham leading up to this very moment. But Hebrews 11 verse 17 and 19 shares some insight to what he was thinking at this time. Hold your finger here, but let's go to Hebrews 11.

We often refer to Hebrews 11 as the faith chapter, and it accounts for many of the men and women who've gone before us who remain faithful to the end of their lives, who had endear a lot of hardships and trials. And it shines some light on Abraham here in this moment with Isaac. Hebrews 11 verse 17 says by faith, Abraham, Abraham, when he was tested, offered offered up Isaac and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son of whom it was said in Isaac, your seed shall be called. And notice 19 concluding that God was able to raise him up even from the dead from which he also received him in a figurative sense.

Abraham himself knew that there was no other way in which the promise of having innumerable descendants could be fulfilled than through Isaac. He had received the promise from God multiple times that he would be a father of a countless multitude. And in Isaac, God had already shown how he works in miracles. There was no way that Sarah should be able to have children at her age, but yet she had Isaac. So Abraham knew that miracles exist and was willing to see another one performed if God asked this of him. By all accounts we have, Abraham went with the full expectation that if God allowed him to sacrifice his son, God would also raise him up immediately from the dead. It's an amazing faith and trust that Abraham had in his God.

Let's continue back in Genesis 22 and verse 13.

Verse 13, it says, the neighbor ham lifted his eyes and looked and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of the place the Lord will provide as it is said to this day in the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.

Jehovah Jairu is Hebrew for the Lord will provide. And this is the only time that it is used throughout scripture.

From the complete word study dictionary, it shares this about Jehovah Jairu, a name given to designate the Lord by Abraham meaning the Lord will see to it in a literal sense, but also means the Lord will provide. Adam Clark's commentary says literally interpreted the Lord will see that is God will take care that everything shall be done that is necessary for the comfort and support of them who trust in him. Hence the words are usually translated the Lord will provide. And then from the Treasury of scriptural knowledge, it says this, the meaning is that God in the greatest difficulties when all human assistance is vain, he will make a suitable provision for the deliverance of those who trust in him.

Again, the Lord will provide is what Abraham named the place and in turn provided one of the scriptural names of God. We know that the Bible was full of account after account after account of the ways that God has intervened for his people and the way that he has provided.

In one way, we could argue the entirety of scripture is to support this fact. We've been looking at and some of the more recent sermons, the covenants of God, this this backbone that we see that runs through scriptures of God providing. A savior for the world, the biggest help, the biggest support that we could ever ask for in this life has been given by God as a gift.

Then we know that he gives the spirit to act as a helper support for those who follow after him.

And so we could go all through the accounts. We could even argue that the entirety of scriptures for achieving this very fact. The God of the universe loves mankind with such a perfect love. He continually provides and offers care over the entirety of mankind.

But he does all of this according to his purpose and the way that he wills for mankind. This is the challenge that all believers have in their faithful walk with God to truly fully and completely trust the God who provides. Philippians four verse 19 tells us this and my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus.

That God shall supply all your needs. The life application study Bible shares this about Philippians four 19. We can trust that God will always meet our needs. Whatever we need on earth, he will always supply. Even if it's the courage to be a God of the universe. Whatever we need on earth, he will always supply. Even if it's the courage to face death as Paul did. We must remember, however, the difference between our wants and our needs. Most people want to feel good and to avoid discomfort and pain. We may not get all that we want by trusting in God. Our attitudes and appetites can change from wanting everything to accepting his provision and power to live for him. The life application study Bible.

Going back to Abraham, everything that he had gone through up to this point in his life, up to this moment of potentially offering Isaac as a sacrifice, had prepared him for this interaction with God. Was that was this an easy road that Abraham had walked over the years? It was not easy. Did he foresee that everything that had happened previously was preparing him for this exact moment? He didn't have that insight, but it was the walk that God had been with Abraham on and the walk that would lead to this exact moment to test Abraham's faith to see if he fully trusted God.

In many of life's events, we do not see clearly the long term impact that that event will have on our spiritual walk.

But God does.

He is also the God, as we looked at who sees, right? He saw Hagar when she felt there was no other option but to run away when she had the hurt in her heart, the uncertainty of her future.

He was the God who saw her in that in her plate. God takes notice and he sees everything that is happening all over the world. He knows the events of life and he sees the big picture.

But on the flip side, are we ever afraid of what a certain circumstance will bring?

Do we go through life recognizing?

I've got an option here. I've got I'm at a crossroad.

And I'm afraid to make a choice.

Are we ever afraid to trust God with and you can fill in your own blank, right? Maybe it's possessions.

Maybe you're afraid to trust God with your dreams or a relationship or maybe even your own family.

Similar to Abraham, what we go through and what we receive back is not always immediate nor in the form we might expect.

But we can never lose sight that God sees much bigger. God sees much more broadly than we can even imagine. I like to use the illustration because God brought it to me and hit me right across the forehead a couple years back as a camp director. But often we look through life, I believe, through kind of like, you know, your paper towel roll that you have to use all the towels. You have that little roll. Kids love to play with it. I still remember thinking I was a pirate and running around looking through the paper towel holder. But if we imagine and walk through it with me and you hold it up to your eye, there's only very little that you can see at the other end that that your eye is able to see the light and to pick up an image. And as you move it around the room or outside, you get different views of it, right?

That's the limited view that we often have in what God is doing in our life. It's just that little vision at the end of the paper towel roll.

Yet God sees everything.

His vision is not limited. His understanding does not have a cap on it. And so we look through life saying, God, I don't understand what you're doing. And we look left for a little bit and we look right for a little bit. It doesn't make sense. What are you doing here? And he says, trust me, I can see everything. I know what's going on here and I know what's going on with you right now. And I know the hardships that you're facing. I know the uncertainty, but I need you to trust me. I need you to walk with me.

And as God sees more clearly our lives, he sees more clearly the things that impact us.

And he also sees the opportunity for us to overcome and to succeed at the end of this journey. I want to pivot and look at another account where God provides. And this is in Exodus 13 and verse 21.

Again, I'm so thankful that God has given us these different accounts, allowing us to build the connections and to see deeper into scripture things that we can take away. And there's quite a few things that we can take away when Israel was at their Red Sea moment. That's all I like to refer to it. I think we've all been at a Red Sea moment in our life.

The future is blocked. It does not look good.

Pressure is coming from another angle behind us.

And we don't see a way of escape. We don't see a way to go through.

And then God provides.

Exodus 13 verse 21, we pick up the story that Israel has come out of Egypt through God's mighty hand. They have gone through the wilderness to a certain point and they found themselves at the shore of the Red Sea and they camped there thinking that they were in peace, thinking that things would be OK in this journey so far. But what they didn't know is that Pharaoh was going to be coming after them in just a short amount of time. And this is where we pick up the story again. Exodus 13 and verse 21.

It says in the Lord, let me make sure because I'm in Exodus 30. It's not where I'm supposed to be. Let me make sure I'm in the right place.

Exodus 13 verse 21. It says in the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light so as to go by day and night. He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people and in a spiritual sense, that's what God does for us. He leads us through his spirit. He leads us through his word and we have this guidance that goes before us. Both day and night, both when we can see out the windows and see things clearly and at night when the darkness clouds our judgment or clouds the reality of what is going on around us. God is still there in the times that we can easily see in the times when things are more difficult to recognize.

God is right there with us through everything. The only thing that can come between this relationship is if we choose to walk away from God. It's kind of like if the Israelites chose not to follow this pillar.

God didn't force them to. He didn't say that because they could look to the left or right and see that there was no pillar there. They could maybe look at the mountain or look at the trees and say, well, that looks like a nice place to go. They had an opportunity to wander away from the pillar that was before them.

Just like we have an opportunity. If we do not want to walk with God, we can go our own direction.

But what happens next here?

The Israelites again encounter their Red Sea moment. Let's look at Exodus 14 now in verse one.

It says, now the Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak to the children of Israel that they turn and camp before Fihiroth between Migdah and the sea opposite of Baal Zephon. And you shall camp before it by the sea, for Pharaoh will say to the children of Israel, they are bewildered by the land. The wilderness has closed them in. Then I will harden Pharaoh's heart so that he will pursue them and notice that I will gain honor over Pharaoh and overall his army, that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord. And they did so.

Now, it was told the king of Egypt that the people had fled in the heart of Pharaoh and his servants was turned against the people. And they said, why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us? So he made ready his chariot and took all of his people with him. And he took 600 choice chariots and all the chariots of Egypt with captains over every one of them.

This is an army. This is all the boys that the that Pharaoh had around him. He got all of his friends together. He got all of everything he could scrape up. And he's bringing this people back as slaves to serve him and to serve the country.

And we see in verse eight and the Lord harden the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he pursued the children of Israel and the children of Israel went out with boldness. So the Egyptians pursued them and all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army and overtook them camping by the sea beside Faihiroth and before Baal Zephan. And when Pharaoh drew near the children of Israel lifted their eyes and behold.

I pause here because again, going back to this account, put yourself in the Israelite shoes before this moment.

God has been leading them. They had seen the 10 plagues in Egypt. They had seen how God shepherded and protected them from some of the plagues while the other plagues attacked Egypt specifically, but in their camp, their area, they were saved from some of those plagues. He'd say they had seen how with the blood on the doorpost, he had spared their firstborns when Egypt was bearing their firstborn as they left Egypt.

They had seen how God allowed them to plunder and to take plenty of food, gold, all kinds of things from the Egyptians. They went out with a strong hand and they had seen this pillar of fire, which you got to think they'd never seen a pillar of fire or a pillar of cloud ever lead them anywhere. This was another miracle that God had provided.

And as they follow Moses and as they continue to go forward, they're brought to this place. Unbeknownst them that Pharaoh was hot on their trail.

And then we see their response.

They lifted their eyes, verse 10 again, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord.

Even though they had witnessed all these miracles, all these accounts, even though you and I have seen God's hand work so intimately in our lives, touch things that we cannot will never say that wasn't of him till the day we die, we will say that God did this in my life.

Can we become afraid at times like Israel did here? Because in this moment, it all became too much.

And sometimes the same happens to us. And this is understandable.

This is life.

Notice verse 11. Then they said to Moses, because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt? Why have you so dealt with us to bring us up out of Egypt? So they're they're now just grasping for straws. I can't believe you did this. I can't believe they're looking for excuses someone to blame. I told you this was going to happen.

Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt saying, let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians, for it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians that we should die and then die in the wilderness.

So many times when this pressure comes, this overwhelming flow of emotions, we look for someone to blame. We look for a way out. We look for an excuse. We anger, fear, all these emotions start to come up.

And it clouds our ability to just trust God.

This is what we always say, right? Where the rubber meets the road in life, right? Every single one of us at times have responded like Abraham, where we said, I have faith, God. I'm OK.

And every single one of us at times has acted in this way, too, where we're overwhelmed with the emotions and the fears. And we may accuse someone or point the finger, say, this is not fair. This is too much.

This is our plight in life. This is reality.

But notice what Moses says in Exodus 14 and verse 13. And Moses said to the people, do not be afraid.

Now, this is like kind of one of those silly kind of statements, right? Because here's Pharaoh with his army coming down. They're taking you over. You have no chariots. You have no horses that you can really use to build an army. You don't even have implements of warfare. You don't have swords. You don't have the stuff to fight back. Fear is natural. Fear is going to come in. But what happens with us when these life events occur today?

Is fear one of the emotions that comes forward? What is it that we are afraid of that causes doubt to enter into our minds? I mean, we often want to maybe be critical of Israel because, well, can then they remember these miracles? Didn't they remember seeing God's hand? Do they not think that he was going to do this? Do they not think that he was going to do this and not provide now? Like we can be critical of Israel because of their lack of faith as we want to put quotes around it.

But what causes us to be afraid?

What causes doubt to enter into our minds when these things occur?

Thinking back to the account with Abraham, did he have a reason to be afraid of following God's command to sacrifice Isaac from a human sense? I would hope that a loving father would 100% have fear in that moment. Am I really going to be asked to do this?

Can I go forward and do this? Do I have enough faith to trust God?

I believe fear could have easily been in Abraham's mind.

But over Abraham overcame the fear by having faith in God's promises and in his promise. provision back to Exodus verse 14 verse 13 again at the beginning and says, and Moses said to the people, do not be afraid. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will accomplish for you today for the Egyptians, whom you see today, you shall see again. No more forever. The Lord will fight for you and you shall hold your peace. Now I can read this and I can say God inspired it and God gave it to us. And this is the approach we should take. But me standing still in an instant when I feel like I need to make decisions is one of the hardest things that I've ever tried to do in my life. Right. I think many of us feel that way. We feel like we have to fix something. We have to go forward. I have to investigate. I have to make phone calls. I have to do internet research. I've got to figure this out. There's a lot of eyes in my statements, right?

And I think that's natural from a human perspective, but God wants us to overcome ourselves. He wants us to grow in our faith. He wants us to trust him more.

The Lord will fight for you in verse 14 and you shall hold your peace. And the Lord said to Moses, why do you cry to me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. Go forward where God?

But lift up your rod and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. And I indeed will harden the hearts of the Egyptians and they shall follow them. So I will gain honor over Pharaoh. Not that Moses will gain honor, not that the Israelites will gain honor. When you and I battle through these challenges of life. And when we walk in faith and we stand still and we say, God, you're going to have to figure this one out. Who gets the glory in that? Because we've not done a lot, right? We're standing still waiting for God's salvation.

God is the one who provides. He's the one who gets the glory just in this account here. So I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all of his army, his chariots and his horsemen. Then the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord. When I have gained honor for myself over Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.

The account could end here and be complete and be appropriate.

But God does something miraculous in this account as a reminder for us today to continue to look for his support and his care as well.

Notice verse 19 and the angel of God who went before the camp of Israel moved and went behind them and the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them. So it came where between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel, thus it was a cloud and darkness to the one and it gave light by night to the other so that the one did not come near the other all there that night.

To me, this is one of the most amazing and encouraging scriptures passages that we have in scripture.

God in his wisdom and in his love and his care brought this pillar of cloud and fire behind his people to only protect them from Pharaoh's army. He put Pharaoh in darkness and he put his people in the light so that they would be able to go forward under his care and his direction because there would be no way, no way possible for Israel to fight back against Pharaoh's army. The odds are stacked against. It's never going to work.

They're done. They are absolutely done, but we do not have a God that deals only in the physical as we do. We have a God that time is nothing for him that day and night are alike. Darkness does not slow him down or keep him from seeing what he wants us to see and where he wants us to go. And there is nothing that separates us from the love and the care of God.

In this very moment, the Israelites saw again that God is a God who provides times in our life, more times than we can count. God has gone behind us to have our back and he does that. I view it as like this loving parent, this loving aunt or uncle who comes alongside and puts their hand on a child's back. The child is nervous to go forward. Maybe it's to pet a big dog or something like that. And the child's looking at him almost eye level. Have you seen some of those big dogs and they're looking at the dog eye level and the parents like, no, it's a friendly dog. And they're like, you go pet him. If he's so friendly, you go pet him. And then a parent puts her hand on the child's back and says, I'm right here.

And then the child goes and does it. Or maybe it's afraid to jump off the edge of a pool. Right? How many I've I love that thinking back to Kelce, she's not here so I can tell stories.

Like that, that trepidation to like, I'm in the pool. I'll catch you because she doesn't know how to swim yet. And those little legs, they back up and they go to the edge and they stop and they back back up and they go to the edge and the stop. Or they do the little hop thing, like where they're like, I'm about to jump, but I'm not going to jump. And you're like, I'm in the pool. I'm ready to catch you. I'm not going to let you fall.

And sometimes it's another parent or someone else who's encouraging him. He's going to catch you.

How many times has God come around behind us in life? To give us that support that we need to go forward in certain circumstances.

Times where we don't know what the outcome is going to be. Times that maybe even we're certain the outcome is not going to be good.

But God sees bigger, right? God sees much greater than we do.

There are countless examples that we could look at. I'm running out of time where God provides for his people.

Accounts like Jesus walking on the water to his disciples in the midst of a storm. And then he calms the storm time when Peter was delivered from prison chains and was delivered from certain death. And God allowed him to just walk out of the prison.

There are countless times where God has provided for his people.

Let's wrap up. Begin to wrap up in Romans chapter four.

As you continue to read through God's word, and maybe this is something you already focus on or is already on your mind.

But if you approach God's word from the standpoint of recognizing that he is a God who provides, and you look at that as you read through these accounts, it's amazing how things just can maybe jump out at you that hadn't jumped out before.

Because from the I believe from the beginning of scripture to the very end, this theme of God providing for his people and ultimately for all of humanity runs as a backbone to all of scripture as well. God has done it through his covenants. He's done it through his plan for salvation. He's done it through giving of his own son.

That our sins could be forgiven and we could be considered children of his so much of scripture is about how God provides. And on the flip side, some of those negative examples are where mankind didn't have the faith to trust God would provide.

And then God records for us a lot of negative examples as well.

But as we begin to wrap up, let's look at Romans chapter four and verse 13.

Again, this passage is going to reference Abraham.

And notice it says for the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. It was through Abraham's faith.

And notice verse 19 and not being weakened faith, speaking of Abraham, he did not consider his own body already dead since it was about 100 years old. And the deadness of Sarah's womb, he did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief. But what what what but notice the but but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God.

Abraham didn't consider his own body.

He didn't get caught up in unbelief like we often do. But he was fully convinced that what God had promised he would provide, he was strengthened in his faith through his walk with God.

Verse 22, and therefore it was accounted to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us.

It shall be imputed to us who believe in him who raised up Jesus, our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses and was raised because of our justification.

It's a beautiful passage there could be a whole sermon in itself.

God has given everything to you and me to allow us to be his sons and daughters in his kingdom forever. Do we not think that God's going to provide for our needs and these other areas of this physical life? I'm going to raise my hand and say the first one that I've struggled with this more times than I can count. So don't think that I'm preaching to you today. I'm preaching to myself, right? God has held nothing back, not even his own son, to ensure that we have an avenue to be one with him, to have our sins forgiven and to be called his children.

Is he not going to provide as we go forward in this physical life?

Albert Barnes' commentary when considering the life of Abraham and Isaac shares this, the grand crisis, the crowning event in the history of Abraham now takes place. Every needful preparation has been made for it. He has been called to a high and singular destiny with the expectant acquiescence or agreement he has obeyed the call. Again, referencing this moment with Isaac. By the delay and the fulfillment of the promise, he had been taught to believe in the Lord and his simple word. He had been commanded to walk in holiness and circumcised in tokens of his possession, the faith which purifies the heart. And he has at length become the parent of the child of promise. He has now something of unspeakable worth by which his spiritual character may be thoroughly tested. Since the hour in which he believed in the Lord, the features of his resemblance to God has been shining more and more through the darkness of his fallen nature, freedom of resolve, holiness of walk, inter possessing benevolence or kindness and paternal affection. The last prepares the way for the highest point of moral likeness.

God had brought Abraham on this journey of life to see if he can encounter and handle this moment and Abraham did. God is bringing us along this path of life as well. The highlights, the challenges, as he continues to refine us, he wants us to become in the likeness of his son.

We are to put on Christ. We are to let Christ live within us. We are to resemble Christ as we mature and as God refines us and as we grow in the fruits of his spirit. God wants us to at the end of our life resemble more and more day away Jesus Christ as he lives within us. And just like Abraham was able to resemble more and more of God as he walked with him, this is what God wants for you and me as well. Each of us in faith in the God who sees and the God who provides has walked away from our past to begin a journey to a new land and to a new kingdom in a very similar way to what Abraham did. We are on a journey that is fraught again with highs and lows, successes and challenges, overachieving and at times taking a couple steps backwards. Abraham and Sarah were not perfect people nor did God ever expect them to be perfect. What he wanted was someone who would revere him to give their life to him and never quit the journey he has placed in front of them.

And they did that. Abraham and Sarah stand as an amazing example of God's people who never lost faith and God's provision over their lives stands as a testament to God's eternal and everlasting love. This is the God who provides.