1 Where God Guides, He Provides! (Exodus 12:33-36) The Book of Exodus tells the history of the Israelites escaping their Egyptian slavery. The Exodus tells how the Egyptians suffered ten plagues after Moses demanded Israel s freedom: the water of the Nile turned to blood, the frogs, the gnats, the flies, the disease, the boils, the hail, the locusts, the thick darkness After suffering these plagues the Egyptians wanted the Hebrews out of their country. Actually, it would be more accurate to say that they wanted the Hebrew God out of their country. The Hebrew people were only slaves. By themselves they were powerless to do anything. But their God was just destroying the Egyptian land, and the Egyptians believed they were all dead men if they didn t get the Hebrew God out. These events may have happened 3,500 years ago, but our own 21st century circumstances confirms that people are just as anxious to push God out as they were in ancient Egypt. Here in America we are desperate to get God out out of our schools, out of our court rooms, out of our government, out of our public celebration of Christmas and Easter, out of politics all traces of God are wanted out of all public places. What s more, millions of individuals today are urgent to get God out of their lives. They don t take time to worship Him. They don t give to His church as He prescribes, they do not honor Him in their home or include Him in their family. They shun Him in their thoughts. They curse Him with their speech. They mock Him with their jokes. Most everything they do pushes God out of their lives. The Book of Exodus tells us how God s tenth and last plague was the killing of Egypt s first born. From Pharaoh to slave, the first born of every home whose front door was not covered by the blood of the lamb was killed by the angel of death. The slaughter was terrible. Not one home was spared. And the Bible tells us that: there was a great cry in Egypt (Exodus 12:30) After this tenth and final plague of death the Egyptians became desperate to get the Hebrew God out of their land! Indeed, they pushed the Hebrews out so fast the Hebrews didn t even have time to leaven the dough of their bread. They had to pick up whatever they had and just leave. The Jews celebrate this history to this day by eating unleavened bread during the Passover. Of course, the Hebrews were eager to get out of Egypt. They had been slaves for 430 years, and now, at long last, God had won their freedom. But of
2 course, the question was, where would they go? And how were they going to get there? They had no money or provisions, no food or water, nothing to sustain them in the desert. All their lives had been chained to serving Pharaoh. They had no experience of taking care of themselves. Where were they going to go? And how were they going to survive? They had no idea! Here I want to emphasize a simple spiritual principle that this church needs to take to heart right now! It is this: WHERE GOD GUIDES HE PROVIDES!!! When God sends you somewhere, when He enlists you for a mission, when He leads you to a cause or a ministry, when He takes you by the hand and says follow me, you can take it to the bank that He will supply your every need. Stephanie and I are friends with a young woman newly graduated from college, who is now in Niger, North Africa on a short term mission program. She felt God calling her to this mission, but only had enough money to cover the cost of her plan trip to Africa. She is still there, and she has no way back home, but she believes with all her heart that Where God Guides, He provides. She s being tested right now. She needs money to get back home, and she s being tested, and this test will produce for her a testimony either God will show Himself faithful or He will not. At the end of this experience she will know in her heart and soul whether or not this statement is true: Where God guides, He provides! God told the Israelite slaves to leave Egypt and travel into the wilderness. They had no food, no water, no money, and no return ticket home. God was testing them. God was testing them because He would give them even bigger challenges ahead, and they needed to know that God could be trusted to supply their every need. (I m afraid that we really don t know this in our church that God will supply our ever need as we obey Him. And if we are going to be a healthy church we need to learn this. As I ve said before, some of you are withholding judgment on the rehab of the education building until you see the building cost. You re letting the number decide for you. You re deciding on money not mission!) Before leaving Egypt, God instructed the Israelites to do one last surprising thing. God told them to ask the Egyptians for their gold, silver, and jewelry. And the Hebrews did something rare they OBEYED, they did what God told them to do. They followed God s instructions and as they were leaving asked the Egyptians for their gold and silver. All that was valuable the Hebrews asked for, and so terrified were the Egyptians that they gave whatever the Israelites wanted, and in this way the Hebrews plundered Egypt, stripping it of everything valuable.
3 They had worked 430 years with nothing to show for it, but then in one night they took all the wealth of Egypt! (In the coming days, God is going to direct us to do things that will seem impossible. Our immediate response will be we don t have the money, we don t have the people, we don t have the ability, we don t have the spiritual maturity, we don t have the experience But honestly, God is not interested in what we think about ourselves. He isn t impressed with wither or not we think we are or are not able, He only wants to know if we are available. NOT ABLE BUT AVALABLE! Are we available to Him? Will we let ourselves be used by Him? Will we trust Him to supply all our needs according to His riches in glory? Obedience is not a particularly popular word in today s culture. We presume obedience to limit our precious individual freedoms kind of like putting a bit in a horse s mouth. Many wives have said to me with pride to me that they never promised to obey their husbands in their wedding vows even though the Bible itself says, Wives, obey your husbands (Ephesians 5) But obedience is at the center of God s blessing. Spiritual Principal #2: God will pay, when you obey! The Bible says, Obey Then you will be prosperous and successful. (Joshua 1:8, GN) When God told the Hebrews to ask the Egyptians for their gold and silver it made no sense. After all, who would think anyone would just voluntarily give away their wealth. But the Hebrews obeyed God, not because it made sense at the time, but because they trusted God. The Bible says, God cares for those who trust in Him. (Nahum 1:7) Obedience all comes down to trust. At some point in our lives we all must decide who to trust. Most people trust themselves more than anyone else, but there is no blessing in this. We are all full of weaknesses and blind spots. To trust ourselves most is to lean the weight of your life on something that is less than solid. The man or woman of God obeys God because they have learned that God is to be trusted above all else. God s judgment is better than our own and His wisdom is much more profound.
4 When God told the Hebrews to ask for gold and silver I m sure they thought it was crazy, but they did it, and their obedience brought them a huge and unexpected blessing. Now, let me ask you, what is God asking you to do? How is He urging you to obey? Let go of something? Try something new? Attempt something you aren t able to accomplish alone? Remember, the blessing is in the obedience! It doesn t matter whether or not you think you are able, what matters is whether or not you are available. God will pay when you obey! III. Favor and the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. (Exodus 12:36) The Egyptians may have been afraid of the Hebrew God and eager to get the Hebrews out of their country, still this doesn t explain why they were so willing to give away all their gold and silver. I know when I m afraid my natural tendency is to clutch my possessions more tightly. But God gave the Hebrews favor in the sight of the Egyptians. The word favor means to receive a right or privilege which has not been earned. It is a gift. The Egyptians gave their silver and gold all because God had inspired them to do so. The Hebrews had nothing to do with it. It had nothing to do with the way they asked, or their timing, or their circumstances. God simply gave His favor to the Hebrews, and the Egyptians gave. One of the hardest spiritual lessons that any of us have to learn is that God s favor is never earned; it is given as a gift. God does not bless us because we have earned it. He blesses us because He chooses to give a gift. If His favor had to be earned none of us would receive it. But it is also important to keep in mind that though they didn t earn the blessing of God, nonetheless they did ask. The Bible says, Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. (Luke 11:9) Many of us want the blessing and favor of God, but we never actually ask. God wants us to come to Him and ask. Lord, where is Your favor to be received?
5 III. Gifts for the Journey! The Night before the Hebrews left Egypt they had nothing. They didn t even own themselves; they were slaves. But the very next morning, they left with all the riches of Egypt. They had more riches than they knew what to do with. The night fell with them as slaves, but the sun rose with them as zillionaires! Only God can do this. Only God can take nothing and turn it into everything. Only God can bring: Sweet water from the rock, Bread from the sky, Health out of sickness, Hope from despair, Faith from doubt, Love from indifference, And streams of living water from dry river beds. It is God who Shines a light into the darkness, Wraps living flesh onto a valley full of dry bones, Inspires generosity out of fear, Delivers the innocent from the lion s pit, Prepares a feast for thousands out of five loaves and two fish, And above all, Calls a dead man out of a dark tomb. This is the Lord s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes! Where God guides He provides. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. His well never runs dry, His storehouse is never empty, His stock is always up, His account is always full, His credit is A+, His So how do you tap in? How do you tap the riches of God? Trust and obey, for there s no other way I just love the promise of Scripture which says: give and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. (Luke 6:38)
6 But what did the Hebrews have to give? They were slaves, they had nothing! Ah, but they did have something to give, something that is much more precious to God than our silver and gold. They gave God their trust and their obedience. It was the only thing they had. Some of you are about to start on something new. You re going to a new school, starting a new job, living in a new home, having a first child, taking the vows of marriage. If you want God s over flowing blessing give Him your trust and obedience. Spiritual Principal: God can turn your nothing into His everything. He can take the wealth of the world and place it into your lap. He can pour His fullness into your emptiness. He can reach down into your pit, and lift you high atop His rock. This is the Lord s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes! Amen.