Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:04] Speaker B: Welcome to Hope for Today, a weekly Bible teaching program that will bring you hope for every day.
Thanks for joining us on Hope for Today. This program is brought to you by Heralds of Hope. We are a small radio ministry serving a great big God let's go with Bible teacher J. Mark to Exodus for today's teaching.
[00:00:34] Speaker A: Have you ever experienced God's provision in the ordinary things of life?
The daily necessities, things like clothing and food and water?
Sometimes those things become so common that we don't think about giving thanks to God for these ordinary blessings. And yet our lives are largely made up of common, everyday things.
Most of us don't have spectacular happenings in our lives, at least not on a regular basis. We are not where the great and exciting things happen. We are just where the routine, ordinary, mundane things of life happen day by day.
But we know that God cares about the ordinary things of life. The Bible tells us that it says in God we live and move and have our being.
In other words, if God withdrew His hand of blessing, everything would go to pieces.
We would not be able to survive. We can't sustain our own physical life. We can't keep our heart beating or our body functioning.
So we can say with confidence that God leads in the common things. And one very good illustration of God meeting the common needs of his people is found in our continuing study of Exodus Exodus 15:22 27.
So listen and see if you can discover how God met the needs of his people and how he led them through the common things.
Exodus 15:22 so Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur, and they went three days in the wilderness and found no water.
And when they came to Marah, they could not drink from the waters of Marah, for they were bitter.
That's why the name of it was called Marah.
And the people murmured against Moses, saying, what shall we drink?
And Moses cried unto the lord, and the Lord showed him a tree, which when he had cut it down and cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet.
There he made for them a statute and an ordinance and there he proved them, and said, if you will diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord your God, and will do what is right in his sight, and will give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon you which I have brought upon the Egyptians, because I am the Lord who heals you.
And they came to Elim, and there were 12 wells of water, and threescore and 10 palm trees. And they encamped there by the waters.
From this text I want to show you the ways in which God leads in the common things of life.
Again, there are just little phrases that we take right out of the scriptures.
First, Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea.
So the people of Israel were moving, as you recall, from Egypt to Canaan. They were on the way to the promised land and God was leading them.
But God couldn't have led them if they weren't moving.
Moses was God's man for that hour. And for this move, this migration from Egypt to Canaan, God had put Moses in charge. So Moses was leading the people of Israel on this journey.
So we read that they went on a three day journey into the wilderness. And now they faced a predicament. They weren't able to find any water that was fit to drink.
Now that's pretty serious.
Think about it. You're traveling through an arid semi desert area and there's no water that's suitable for drinking. You have a problem.
And the route they were taking was unknown to them. They had never gone that way before.
They didn't know where the wells or the oases were.
Yet God was leading them as he promised he would.
The pillar of cloud was guiding them in the daytime and the pillar of fire by night was a light to light the way God was keeping his promises that he had made to them for this journey.
So the Lord led them from the Red Sea three days into the wilderness and there was no water.
You know, that must have been distressing because water is the second element for survival.
The basic elements of survival are air, water and then food.
Under normal conditions, you can survive about three days without water.
But without water, you're not going to survive very long in the heat of the Sinai Desert, and especially if it's the summertime.
I've found that God leads in the common things of Life. In this 22nd verse, he leads when you are ready and moving and not before.
You know, God never forces you and me to follow his will, but if you are moving, God will lead you. He can't lead you if you stand still.
So Moses was bringing the children of Israel from the Red Sea, and they were on the move from Egypt to Canaan. And so God could lead them using a common thing of life like water.
And then the second way in which the Lord led in the common things we find in verse 25, Moses cried to the Lord.
Now here is a point that I want you to remember.
God is close enough to hear Moses could cry unto the Lord and the Lord heard him.
Well, I don't know how loudly Moses cried. Maybe he didn't cry very loud at all. I believe the Hebrew word kahal means to speak, to call, but not necessarily to shout.
But the text says that Moses cried to the Lord.
I remember the words of a song that speak of God's ability to hear.
The songwriter put it this way, he's as close as the mention of his name.
You don't have to shout or scream to get God's attention. He's not sleeping, he's not hard of hearing, and he's not inattentive to your needs. If you're his child and you don't even have to speak aloud, you can just call out to him in your heart and in your mind. And you know what? He'll hear you.
Now, because the water was bitter, the people complained they had walked three days into the wilderness and they hadn't found any drinkable water.
Now the water they found was bitter. They couldn't drink it. So they said, what shall we drink?
I'm sure that when they tasted that water and realized that it was bitter and undrinkable, that was extremely frustrating for them.
And God provided an answer for Moses. When Moses cried to the Lord, the Lord led him to a tree and God said, cut it down. Put that tree in the water.
Miraculously, again, another supernatural act. Just like the parting of the Red Sea, this tree sweetened the water and made it drinkable.
Many times the answer to our prayers is close by. Even though you and I may not see it many times, right beside us is the way God is leading. He doesn't necessarily lead us in spectacular ways. He just leads us by using the common everyday things of life.
So Moses cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him the tree, and he put the tree in the water, and the water became sweet.
And then the Lord made a proposal to the people of Israel with a special relationship. I want you to pay very close attention to what he said in verse 26. Listen, if you will diligently hearken, or if you will listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and will do that is will obey that which is right in his sight and, and will listen to his commandments and keep all of his statutes.
I will put none of these diseases upon you which I have brought upon the Egyptians.
So here is a proposal. Here is a covenant that God is entering into with the people of Israel. He is simply asking them to listen, to pay attention, to do and to keep.
To keep his statutes, to observe, to do them or to obey.
To walk in love before him, in loving obedience. And then in response, if they would do that, God would show his love to them by keeping them healthy.
I am the Lord who heals you. Well, he healed the water and he said, I am the One who heals you. That's beautiful, isn't it? The healing ministry of the Lord.
Because we live in a world that's affected by sin, even those of us who follow the true God, we still get sick. But when we live life in obedience to God's command, we are spared some of the diseases that come to those who violate his commands.
For example, I personally don't worry about getting sexually transmitted diseases because I understand that God's commands regarding my moral purity are for my protection.
I am faithful to my wife and she is faithful to me. And there is safety in obedience.
I want you to notice something more. God's love flows out when we respond in love to him that is, in loving obedience to Him. You see, we can't expect the Lord to lead us or direct us if we don't listen to him, if we're rebellious, if we don't want to follow, if we don't want to walk in the way that he leads. How can he do it? How can he lead us? So when Moses cried unto the Lord, the Lord heard him and then said, I am going to talk with you and I want you to listen to me.
It's that kind of mutual relationship that makes life so meaningful when you are walking with the Lord, when you know him as your personal God.
To me, this experience illustrates the way God leads in the common things of life.
Moses brought the children of Israel from the Red Sea. Moses cried unto the Lord and the Lord heard him.
And then in verse 27 there are three common but very interesting words.
And they came.
So the people of Israel were led by the Lord. And so we would expect them to go from one place to another. And that's exactly what happened.
They first of all went three days journey into the wilderness and came to Marah, where the water was bitter.
Now, first there was no water and then there was bitter water.
But now look at what happened. They came to Elim, where there were 12 wells of water and 70 palm trees.
Here was good water.
You know something? The Lord often deals with his people like that.
He will take you and me to a place of extremity so that we might see our need and then realize that the only way that need can be supplied is through Him.
That's what he did to the people of Israel. No water, bitter water, and then plenty of water.
Now think about it. If they had not followed the Lord, they never would have come to the place of abundant water.
So God leads in the common things of life, providing that you and I follow Him.
That's the important part that we must remember.
I can say all I want to about God's leading, but if he doesn't have any followers, he can't be a leader, can He?
God will lead you and me in the common things, but we must be willing to follow.
We must be willing to acknowledge that he is leading and directing.
Thank God he does lead in the common, ordinary things of life.
He is close enough to hear us and he will answer. He will show us what to do, just like he showed Moses by using the common things of life.
[00:12:01] Speaker B: Thanks J. Mark, for this teaching from Exodus.
The Bible is incredible and each generation can learn from all that is written in this wonderful book.
For example, people everywhere want to be free. In Exodus, the children of Israel were enslaved by the Egyptians. And you know the story. Moses led them to freedom. But were they really free? What does it mean to actually be free?
The common answer to this question is doing what I want to do when I want to do it. But is that what it means to be free? We have the freedom to make many choices. Despite that, there are many people who are not really free. Oh, they're not slaves to the government or to other people, but they are slaves.
2nd Peter 2:19 calls us slaves to what has mastered us.
You see, instead of being in slavery like the children of Israel, many people are slaves to their own desires. With their free choice. A small choice was made. That one small choice grew into an addiction.
Thankfully, this does not have to be the end of the story. Jesus tells us that if he sets us free, then we will be free indeed. This, my friend, is real freedom. If you would like today's program or if you have any questions, here are a few ways you can contact us. One of the best ways is email.
Our email is hopeheraldsofhope.org if you don't have email, no problem. Our mailing address is Hope for today, Box 3, Breezewood, Pa 15533. Or you can connect with us on our website. Our website is heraldsofhope.org while you are there, please click on the Listen tab and listen to our other teaching. Again, the website is heraldsofhope.org this brings us to the end of today's program. Thanks again for being with us. We look forward to being with you next week. I will leave you with the words of Jesus from John 8. If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
Go and live in that freedom, Sam.
