Take a journey with me for a second:
Imagine a group of people begging you to get them out of slavery and with your compassionate heart, you get them out. Now, let’s imagine that you have great power, so you get those people out of slavery in a mind-blowing way. Once they are out of slavery and free, at your surprise, they start to complain. Yes, they thanked you and stuff, but the next minute you hear them complain and they say things like “only if we had died where we were”. Wouldn’t you be shocked and hurt after the mind-blowing journey you just took them on so that they can be delivered?
Well, this is the story of the Israelites and many of you know it. The Israelites had been enslaved for a really long time and in Exodus chapter 14, the Lord gets them out of Egypt. He gets them out in a miraculous way, “The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left” (Exodus 14:21-22).
Exodus chapter 15, we see Moses and the Israelites singing and praising God. I mean, how can’t you? Imagine you have been in bondage for 430 years, and now you have been delivered. Imagine how your heart would feel? But hasn’t God done the same for us? Didn’t God send Jesus so He can free us from the bondage of sin? He came to free us from the power of sin that leads to death (Romans 8:2). I pray that we never stop being thankful for what Jesus has done for us. I pray that we always sing Him songs of praise just as the Israelites initially did after being delivered from slavery. But I am not here to talk about the Israelites journey, I think we all know their journey; I am here to talk about God’s providence, which we tend to forget too quickly.
The mysterious way God answers.
When the Israelites complained about hunger, God answered them “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day” (Exodus 16:4).
Here is my problem with this: whenever I want God to answer, I want Him to give me a kind of lasting resolution. Honestly, I would have preferred if He said, “People will go out and gather bread for a whole month or two months”. I prefer a lasting resolution because I want to feel safe and at ease as I move forward. But as I was thinking about this, it got me thinking: wanting to feel safe and at ease means not trusting enough, because if I trusted Him enough I wouldn’t fear tomorrow.
The way God answers so He can test your heart.
“In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions” (Exodus 16:5). God told the Israelites to go out each day and gather food for that day, to test them and see if they will do what He says and I believe God still does the same for us. You ask God to pay your monthly rent for the next six months, but instead God chooses to pay your rent for only one month in that way He will test you and see whether you will follow His instructions. The reason God tests us is so that we can really learn about our dependency on Him; furthermore, He wants to make sure that we will give Him glory every step of the journey!
“At evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt” (Exodus 16:6); this showed the Israelites’ their dependence on God, “and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord” (Exodus 16:7); make no mistake, God always makes sure that He gets the glory.
Everyday of our breathing how quick are we to forget our dire dependency on God? Our breathing depends on God’s grace and goodness, our daily bread depends on God’s grace and goodness, our daily performance in every task depends on God’s grace and goodness, and our ability to hear, behold beauty depends on God’s grace and goodness.
All we do during the day is depended on God’s grace and goodness, because He numbers our days. He alone decides if you get to take another breath, “He Himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:28). Isn’t it crazy grace then to consider all the gifts of minutes and hours that He lavishly gives in a day? Since we are so quick to forget how dependent we are on God, sometimes God answers our prayers with the goal of reminding us that without Him, we are literally nothing. Truly, without Him we are as good as dead. If it wasn’t for manna, which means “What is it” the Israelites could have died of hunger (Exodus 16:3).
If I was to be honest, the times when I am fully conscious of my dire dependency on God are also the times I seek Him harder with everything in me. And the more I seek Him the more “I know that He is the Lord my God” (Exodus 16:12). All the instructions God gave the Israelites was so that they know He is the Lord their God. Our everyday dependence on God also teaches us that God can be trusted. Just because God isn’t providing for me the way I want Him to provide doesn’t mean He isn’t providing (I always close my eyes, and remind myself this). The problem with us humans is we try to predict how God will answer our prayers. We try to put God in a box. But would God be really God if He could be predicted? Or if He always answered us in ways we understood?
He is the God who wants to be trusted even though He can’t be predicted because that’s when He knows you have faith in Him. He is the God who wants to be trusted even though His ways don’t make any sense to you because that’s when He knows you are committed to Him no matter what. He is the God who wants to be trusted even though His answer wasn’t all that you wanted because that’s when He knows you want Him more than you want His gifts. He may provide for you in ways you don’t understand, but rest assured of this: He nevertheless will provide for you.“The people of Israel ate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land” (Exodus 16:35).
You could say that I am learning to appreciate and rejoice in the times I am so dependent on Him.