Exodus Going With God: Going In God’s Providence - Exodus 16

 

Exodus Going With God: Going In God’s Providence - Exodus 16

Three Texans and Providence

Three Texans go across the Rio Grande to Mexico one night, get knee-walking drunk, now I don’t know exactly what that means but it sounds pretty drunk. They wake up in jail the next morning...only to learn that they are to be executed that same day, but of the Texans can remember what they had did the night before to deserve execution in an electric chair.

The 1st Texan is strapped into the electric chair, and asked if he has any last words?  He says, "Yes, sir. I am a graduate of the Baylor University School of Divinity, and though I have backslidden far, I still believe in the providence of almighty God on behalf of the innocent." They throw the switch, and nothing happens, so the Mexican officials figure God must not want this man to die, and they set him free.

The second Texan is strapped-in, and in response to the same question replies, "I am a graduate of the University of Texas School of Law, and I believe that justice will prevail." Again, they throw the switch, and again nothing happens.  The jailers figure that the law is on this guy's side, so they let him go too.

The third guy is strapped-in, and he says, "Well, I am a Texas Aggie Electrical Engineer, and I'll tell y'all right now ...ain't nobody going to electrocute nobody if you don't reconnect them two little wires right there."

Now that pretty bad story, of providence which is the subject of our sermon this morning. Bad example but a great doctrine. Our modern age doesn’t really talk about the providence of God anymore. We are the fast food, microwave, 10 second attention span, Tik-Tok video generation. When it comes to spirituality, we want signs and miracles now not trust and faith for eternity. And yet the vast majority of time covered in the Bible contains no sign or miracles but only the people of God trusting in the providence of God. So, what is providence exactly and what does it have to do with Exodus 16 and the bread God rained from heaven? Let’s turn there and find out.

Providence and Need - Exodus 16:1-12

And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt.

Hebrew’s Need Met By God’s Provision

At this point in the Exodus narrative, the Hebrews have been on the road for 2 months. The supplies they had brough with them are running out and hunger is becoming a serious problem. There is no place to forage, hunt or fish. Even if they could do those things the logistics of hunting for over 2 million people would be impossible.

To feed 2.5 million people just two pounds of food and four pints of water per day would require around 2250 tons of food, and around 1.25 million gallons of water, per day! This does not take into account the fodder and water for their herds of sheep, goats, and cattle.

Over the forty years of the Exodus, it would have required at least 33 million tons of food and 18,000 million gallons of water just to sustain the people. In comparison, the miracle of parting the Red Sea doesn’t seem like that big a deal.

The Hebrews have not yet learned to put their full faith in God. They haven’t learned to be patient and wait on the Lord, but instead try to force their own will upon Him through Moses, to get what they need. They sound a lot like this generation.

Vs. 3 And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness:  And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.

They missed their fleshpots the Bible says. We would say they missed their crockpots and their instapots. The call out, complaining and wish that God had killed them back in Egypt, at least they would have died with a full belly. They fondly remember their slave food, but they conveniently forget their slave sorrow.

The LORD, despite their complaining, meets their need by sending bread from heaven in the morning and quails or partridges in the evening. Yet there is a condition, they must collect only as much as they can eat that day, except on Friday when they must collect twice the normal amount and most importantly they must not look for any manna on the Sabbath day. This is a test, God says, to see if the people will obey Him. Exodus 16:4 Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no. vss. 11–12 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak unto them, saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God.

The bread from heaven and the quails from the wind that God sent was not a last-minute solution to an unforeseen crisis but was always what God had planned for the Hebrews as they traveled across the wilderness. The manna and quail was to be the daily proof of God’s providence for His own people according to His plan.

Blessings In Our Need

Today we also have needs as important as those of the Hebrews, needs in our family, our church, our finances, our health, or our future. We need to understand that God meets our needs according to His providence and that His providence today is as sufficient for us as it was in wilderness when He rained bread and blew in the quails.

Definition for Providence: We need a good definition of providence as a work of God.  

It comes from the Latin, “Pro” means “before” and “video” means “to see” (did you know you were speaking Latin every time you say “Lets watch a vi-de-o on You-tu-beo. Rodeo, btw, in Latin means “watch where you step.” Google it when you get home.)

Providence, “to see before” in our relationship to God means He sees before the need and He plans to meet the need according to what He sees.

According to Biblical scholar Walter Brueggemann, providence is "the hidden, patient, sovereign enactment of God’s overriding purpose beyond the will and choice of human agents."

Theological Definition- Henry Thiessan “Lectures in Systematic Theology”

The Doctrine of Providence - The Christian view affirms that God has not merely created the universe, together with all its properties and powers, and that He is preserving all that He has created, but that as a holy, benevolent, wise and omnipotent being, He also exercises sovereign control over it. This sovereign control is called providence.

Etymologically, the word “providence” means foreseeing. From this basic idea has developed the meaning of providing for the future. But in theology the word has received a more specialized meaning. In this field, “providence” means that continuous activity of God whereby he makes all the events of the physical, mental, and moral realms work out His purpose, and this purpose is nothing short of the original design of God in creation. To be sure, evil has entered the universe, but it is not allowed to thwart God’s original, benevolent, wise and holy purpose.”

As you can see from that definition, trusting in God for our daily bread is but a small part of providence, though it may be the part that impacts me the most as it did the Hebrews. Hey, I also want and need my bread and quail, or tortillas and beef, today whatever the case may be. Even cornbread and armadillo as we found out last night.

But, we need a larger perspective of this great doctrine, we need to expand our faith by understanding it better. Yes, providence is trusting God for my needs today but even more importantly it is trusting God in His providence not just for me today but for all His people for all time and for all of eternity.

Trusting God through the death of my friend Larry Jones.

Let me give you an example of the need to trust God’s providence. I have spoken many times about the death of my good friend pastor and missionary Larry Jones. He served the Lord faithfully for over 40 years. He was been devoted to the Lord’s work, the Lord’s church, His family and at the end of his life, the Amazing Grace Orphanage in Mexico City. And he was such a great friend to me, when I needed a friend the most. Now he gone.

I cannot comprehend why God didn’t allow him to be healed. If anyone deserved and needed a miracle it should have been him. I will never know why, but I do know that God’s providence met the needs of Larry as he moved closer and closer to His God. God had foreseen Larry’s death as He has foreseen the death of countless saints and servants before Larry and He has and He always will provide. I trust in that providence. I trust that God’s Will shall be done even in death and loss. I don’t have to understand how. I just have to believe that it will. That is how providence works in the people of God.

I wasn’t there when Bro. Larry preached his last few messages, but in one of them, he shared this. "When we first glimpse the light of the eternal day, the disease which was our intractable enemy and finally slew us here will become our great friend. The friend who hurried us to this place. This wonderful unspeakably beautiful place."-- Pastor Larry Jones. That is God’s providence, that is God giving to Larry something that you and I have not yet fully understood, that is a small but vital part of providence.

Lets go on and look closer at God’s will as it works through providence.

Providence and Faith - Exodus 16:13-21

 And it came to pass, that at even the quails came up, and covered the camp: and in the morning the dew lay round about the host.  And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground.  And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat. This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded, Gather of it every man according to his eating, an omer for every man, according to the number of your persons; take ye every man for them which are in his tents.  And the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less.  And when they did mete (measure) it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating. And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning.  Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank: and Moses was wroth with them.  And they gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating: and when the sun waxed hot, it melted.

God’s Will Reveals His Providence

The Hebrews are told how to handle God’s blessing of bread from heaven, the manna. Which means, “what is it?”

They were to gather it every morning early with the dew. They were to gather an omer (which in case you’re not up on your ancient OT dry measurements and omer is1/10 of an ephah, is that clear? Well what if we say about 2 liters, or 2 quarts). They were to gather about 2 quarts of manna for each person and take it home. They were told not to gather more than they needed nor try to store it for later use.

And yet, and yet, many ignored God’s word and tried to hoard as much as they could. I bet they regretted that the next day when their tents spelled like a rancid chicken carcass and maggots were crawling all over the place.

This was probably they way they acted while slaves back in Egypt. Grab all you can when you can and hoard it. You know exactly what that is like because we went through the great toilet paper hoarding of 2020.

But God wants them to realize they are no longer slaves and they need to quit acting like they still are. When they ignored the warning, when they disregarded God’s revealed will, then the manna they had hoarded bred worms and it stank. (Some words sound just like what they are. Stank needs no description.)

So, after that first morning they gathered only as much as they needed except on Friday when they gathered enough for the Sabbath day, a miracle within a miracle. And the Bible tells us that when the sun rose high in the sky, the manna, just like the dew evaporated. Incredible.

Blessings In God’s Will

There are some wonderful principles about God’s will in this passage which we can apply to all of God’s provision and blessing in our life.

First, Go to God, early to gather His blessings.

Second, take as much as you need for the day and trust Him for the rest.

Third, God’s blessings, like manna, are poured out daily, you can’t hoard them.

Fourth, Ignoring God’s will results in busted blessings.

The purpose of the manna was not just to feed the people but also show them God’s will, it was to teach them to trust and obey him and it was to test his people so that through that test, they could be blessed by their obedience.

Those purposes have not changed, God still tells His Will through His word and then pours His blessing upon us so that we may learn to trust Him. And yes part of that process is that we will be tested in the way in which we will handle those blessings, the way in which we follow God’s will.

With each blessing, be it in faith, family or finances, God has given principles that will sustain and multiply the blessings. Just like manna from heaven. If we ignore His revealed will, if we think we can receive the blessings of God without obedience, without submission, without repentance, then that blessing is diminished or even removed. Just like the Children of Israel instead of sweet manna we will wake up to worms and rot.

Let me give you an example in something we all experience, the family.

 God’s blessing of the family turns to a curse if we don’t follow His will.

God provides the family to be a blessing. It is our place of shelter, safety and security. If we follow God’s will for the family, if we apply His rules for how the family should be run then it is one of the greatest blessings we will ever experience in this life.

God says in Psalms 127: 3 Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.4  As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.5  Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

That is a blessing, children are God’s heritage, they make a family strong.

But notice what the Bible says in Ephesians 6:4  And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

There is a warning in Ephesians 6:4 that if we are not careful as parents we can provoke our children and drive them to wrath. With the blessing of family, God sends the principles to handle that blessing. If we ignore the guidelines then the blessing can turn to wrath for our us and our children. We have all seen it, time and time again.

So, don’t lose God’s blessings in your life by ignoring God’s will. God’s providence is the outworking of His will and it includes both the blessings and the curses. It is up to us to choose the blessings.

Let’s look at the final aspect of God’s providence in this chapter.

Providence and Rest - Exodus 16:22-31

 And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. And he said unto them, This is that which the LORD hath said, Tomorrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.  And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein.  And Moses said, Eat that to day; for to day is a sabbath unto the LORD: to day ye shall not find it in the field.  Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none.  And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none.  And the LORD said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?  See, for that the LORD hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.  So the people rested on the seventh day.  And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna: and it was like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. (Mmm, mmm, good)

God Provides Rest

God in his providence and the gift of manna, also established the Sabbath day rest for the people of the Exodus. They probably had not been allowed to practice this in captivity. There are no days off for slaves, but as we have said, God’s people were no longer slaves. Now God, their creator says, you need a full day of rest. God knew, they needed manna and quails, God knew they would need two days worth on Friday because God knew what was needed for the entire journey to the promised Land and beyond. In His providence He would provide, and the Hebrews needed to realize, by these things, to trust Him more.

So, on the sixth day, they would gather twice the amount of manna and the seventh day, the Sabbath of the Lord, they would be blessed in the rest that God had provided. God made provision on that day that the manna would not rot but would remain until the following day. (miracle within a miracle, isn’t God amazing.)

Well what do you think happened? Did they all take the morning off? Take time to just worship the Lord, and enjoy a fellowship meal that didn’t have to go out and? Not really, some of those same people are unable to trust Him fully. They get up, gather their baskets and go outside looking for manna on the Sabbath day. They didn’t trust God for the days when there would be no bread from heaven.

Blessing In God’s Rest

I wonder, if we had been there with the Hebrews on that first Sabbath Day or rest, would we have been with those resting in our Lord provision or would we have been seen outside our tents scrounging for manna that wasn’t ever going to be there? I’d like to think I would be kicking back fully assured of God’s word and enjoy time with my family and getting read to worship the Lord. That’s what I’d like to think, but I’m almost afraid that though I wouldn’t grab a basket and run out to look for manna, I might have still crept to the tent flap and peeked out to make sure there was no manna. That’s just me, I’m sure none of you would have your eye to the tent flap.

I need this lesson and so do you. I need to understand that God in his providence has given us rest. There is much more that God wants to give to us than just what we think we need. The Israelites needed rest, but they didn’t know it, they didn’t ask for it. All they could see was empty stewpots but they needed more than food. God knew they needed rest and they needed to learn how to rest in God’s promises.

We may think that we just need to bring our list of necessities to God and faith begins and ends with the asking and the waiting for His answer, but true faith goes far beyond what we can see and know in the here and now. This is the doctrine of Providence and it leads us to true faith.

True faith realizes that God is eternal and that He sees beyond today and tomorrow and right on into eternity. That He sees and knows all things that pertain to us and beyond us. True faith realizes that trust is based upon knowing God not just knowing His blessings. True faith learns to rest upon the Lord and finds that eternity begins even before we die. True faith looks for and longs for the rest that God will provide though Jesus Christ, here and now and throughout eternity.

Listen to the way Paul taught this in  Hebrews 4:1-11 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest. Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

Oh how I want to move from simple dependence on God for my needs today to true faith in My Lord for all days and all things. I want to move from faith to faith. I want to move from expectation to complete trust. I want to move into the reality of the “rest” of God. I want to truly live and act according to my understanding of the Providence of God.

I think the song, Dwelling in Beulah Land is about the rest and providence of God. It describes an attitude of faith and overcoming based up God and his provision for us.

Far away the noise of strife upon my ear is falling.
Then I know the sins of earth beset on every hand.
Doubt and fear and things of earth in vain to me are calling.
None of these shall move me from Beulah Land.

Viewing here the works of God, I sink in contemplation.
Hearing now His blessèd voice, I see the way He planned.
Dwelling in the Spirit here I learn of full salvation.
Gladly will I tarry in Beulah Land.

Refrain: I’m living on the mountain, underneath a cloudless sky.
I’m drinking at the fountain that never shall run dry.
O yes! I’m feasting on the manna from a bountiful supply,
For I am dwelling in Beulah Land.

Conclusion

Are You Able To Trust in the Providence of God this morning?

This is not just a stale theological definition. It is not just a label we use for the good things in our life. This trust is the path that leads to a greater experiencing and knowledge of God in our lives!

Listen to what David says in Psalms 139?

Psalms 139:3-5 Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.  Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.

That’s providence! This morning, do you trust that God has provided for you?

Do you trust Him to provide what is needed in the circumstances of your life now and what you will need for eternity?

I can’t leave this subject without telling you of God’s greatest act of providence. Listen to what Jesus said in John 6:51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

God’s providence didn’t stop with the miracle of the Exodus, He provided salvation through His own Son, Jesus, is the Bread of Life. Your need for a savior has been met in Him. Will you put your faith trust in Jesus Christ to provide for your eternal life? This is the greatest test of all time and eternity.

God in His providence knows your need and has made provision for it, but you must step outside your tent of fear and in faith gather the manna. You must act, you must make the choice to trust that God has provided today, tomorrow and for eternity.