Providence

Introduction

People need to know that there is a Divine Purpose to one’s life. God can and does provide the help we need to grow and be used by God. In Exodus 2, God prepared Moses for God’s service by guiding him through life’s fears and overcoming those fears.

Thesis: God prepares us for service by guiding us through life’s fears.

The Bible shows us three ways that Providence guides us through life’s fears.

We Can Overcome the Fear of Death because Providence Provides the Way to Life

A. Exegesis

1. Pharaoh decreed that Hebrew male infants be killed to control the Hebrew population, 1:15.
2. Mother of Moses hid the child for fear of the child’s death, vv. 1-3.
3. Pharaoh’s daughter found and drew the baby out of the water, hence his name, Moses; she adopted him, vv. 4-10.
4. Moses grew up knowing God’s destiny on his life through God’s protection and provision; thus, he had no fear of death, Hebrews 11:24.

B. Illustration

A believer was fleeing his enemies during a persecution in North Africa. Pursued over a hill and through a valley with no place to hide, he fell exhausted into a cave, expecting to be caught. Awaiting his death, he saw a spider weaving a web. Within minutes, the spider had woven a beautiful web across the mouth of the cave. The man’s pursuers arrived, but on seeing the unbroken web, they assumed it impossible for him to have entered the cave. Later, that believer exclaimed, “Where God is, a spider’s web is like a wall. Where God is not, a wall is like a spider’s web.”

Few things offer security to believers more than an awareness that God will use His overcoming power to protect them.

C. Application–Jesus Christ provided victory over death through His resurrection, 1 Corinthians 15:55-58.

We Can Overcome the Fear of Discouragement because Providence Provides a Way Out

A. Exegesis

1. Moses chose to identify with his people, the Hebrews, Hebrews 11:24-25.
2. Moses murdered an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew slave, vv. 11-12. Moses employed the world’s method, instead of God’s method.
3. Moses tried to help his people through his own ingenuity, but he was betrayed by his own people, vv. 13-14.
4. Moses experienced great discouragement; God provided time enough for Moses to flee, vv. 14-15, to teach Moses that he would save his people through God’s methods, not his own.

B. Illustration

During the Boer War (1899-1902), a man was convicted of an unusual crime. He was found guilty of being a “discourager.” The South African town of Ladysmith was under attack, and this traitor would move up and down the lines of soldiers who were defending the city and do everything he could to discourage them. He would point out the enemy’s strength, the difficulty of defending against them, and the inevitable capture of the city. He didn’t use a gun in his attack. It wasn’t necessary. His weapon was the power of discouragement.

Encouragement, on the other hand, can be a powerful friend. It strengthens the weak, imparts courage to the fainthearted, and gives hope to the faltering. One of the greatest ministries we can have is to lift the spirits of fellow believers.

C. Application

1. The very people that we try to help sometimes turn on us.
2. God will be with us in the midst of discouragement, 3:12.
3. Nothing can separate us from God’s love, Romans 8:35-39.

We Can Overcome the Fear of Desertion because Providence Provides Godly People to Work with Us

A. Exegesis

1. The fear of being alone, of solitude, can horrify us.
2. God provided a godly home for Moses to live; in fact, these people were his distant relatives, vv. 15-22, see also Genesis 25:2 (Keturah, wife of Abraham, bore the Midianites).
3. Jethro, a priest, v. 3:1, taught Moses about God. They worked together until Moses learned from God what to do.

B. Illustration

One could say that Moses’s life was one Divine Mess.

One day at a Christian conference center, Dr. Harry Ironside complimented the cook on her homemade biscuits. She said, “Just consider what goes into making these biscuits. The flour itself doesn’t taste good, neither does the baking powder, not the shortenings, nor the other ingredients. However, when I mix them all together and put them in the over, they come out just right.”

Much of life seems tasteless, even bad, but God is able to combine these ingredients of our life in such a way that a banquet results.

C. Application

1. God gave us churches where His people gather, to encourage us, teach us, and help us mature, and to work with us in doing God’s will.
2. Jesus promised never to leave us alone, Matthew 28:18-20.

<<Back<<