Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”
The second reminder from Exodus 23 about how God does great things through ordinary people is that God’s protection and provision depends upon the practices of His people. Exodus 23:20-26 says, “Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. Beware of Him and obey His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in Him. But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. For My Angel will go before you and bring you in to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will cut them off. You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their works; but you shall utterly overthrow them and completely break down their sacred pillars. So you shall serve the Lord your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you. No one shall suffer miscarriage or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days.”
God promised to protect and provide for the Israelites as long as they paid attention and obeyed Him. This was a covenant with the people of God during the Exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land. We are now under the new covenant established in Christ’s blood on the Cross. The general principle that God protects and provides for His people as long as they pay attention and obey Him is as relevant for you and I today as ever. Provision may not translate into wealth. Protection may not mean that we never get sick or injured. Protection may be a hedge of protection around us that we never see and the trial never reaches our door. Our hope is not here on earth, but in Heaven and the God of Heaven.
To pay attention means obedience, because it is the one response that God wants from His people. When we commit our lives to the Lord, our God, He wants our worship and obedience to Him for the rest of our days. Paying attention to God means fixing our eyes upon Jesus in whatever trial we are going through. Hebrews 12:1-3 says, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.” Sometimes, God allows bad things to happen to godly people because we live in a fallen world, but God will protect our hearts by giving us joy through the trial. God is our healer. Sometimes miraculously, occasionally quickly, but mostly little by little.
Jesus is the Great Physician. Mark 2:17 says, Jesus said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners,]to repentance.” Come to the Cross today. What is true about Christ saving our souls from separation from the Father and eternal damnation, is also true about Him healing you and I today. Our posture as New Covenant Believers is that We know who God is, we have faith and trust in the Lord, we have blessed assurance and an eternal perspective, we recognize that God knows our needs, and we ask for healing, but model Jesus in saying “God, your will be done”. Our part is to pay attention to God in the process and to be faithful to what He has asked us to do. In the Bible, God’s Word tells us what the Christian life should look like and how we are to lead our godly life today.
Let's continue Pastor Kyle's message on God's timing in the next post.
In Christ, Brian
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