John Bunyan describes the Christian life as a “Pilgrim’s Progress” while the Puritans call it a “journey”. For those of us choosing to follow Jesus, we know that the Christian life is a treacherous journey that requires faith. For the Old Testment Israelites during the time of Moses, it was a pilgrimage to Canaan while heaven was their ultimate destination. For today’s Christian, the specific journey may be very different than what the Hebrews experienced. However, for born again believers, the principle is the same; we, too, are on a God-ordained pilgrimage with heaven being our final and glorious destination. In this journey, there are plenty of giants in the land with one being the giant of daily needs. Also, in our spiritual trek, we will experience both blinding, hot days that evaporate our faith and cold, dark nights that freeze the faith from our souls. It is during these difficult times and overwhelming experiences that, suddenly, the assurance of God’s provision becomes underwhelming. As fellow pilgrims and sojourners, the needs that we experience are windows into our heart: relational, child-rearing, marital, vocational, educational, financial and emotional needs. Ironically, as Bible-informed, Jesus-followers, we often interpret needs as either divine punishment, bad luck or that’s just life. However, in reality, there is a way to diagnose what is happening (relationally, physically, emotionally, financially, etc) through a spiritual lens. In Exodus 15:22, we see that the Hebrews, in their trek through the desert, are experiencing thirst and hunger and need water, meat and bread. On a much deeper level, this passage also reveals what was happening within their hearts and helps us interpret what is going on in our hearts and lives as we identify our deficiencies or needs today. More specifically, this passage shows us five ways to interpret needs in our lives. The first way is….
Sometimes a need reveals God’s generous provision
It has been three days since the Israelites crossed the Red Sea after escaping Egyptian captivity and they are in the wilderness of Shur. They are out of water, then find it. But, when they drink, the water is bitter and they spit it out. Because of that, they name this location “Marah”, which means “bitter”. At this time, the Hebrews begin to grumble against Moses. Moses then cries out to the Lord and God responds by supernaturally providing a log which makes this bitter water sweet (Exodus 15:22-25). So, how did this log get there? Is finding this log a coincidence? The obvious answer to these questions is that God intentionally planted the log there so that it would be strategically used to display His generosity to the Israelites in a dramatic way! Christian, in this life, there will be many trials. And, when we go through these trials and are in need, it is only natural to wonder when (or if) God will provide. However, just as God provided for the Israelites in their multiple times of need, He will also provide for your needs in His time and in His way. Why? It is to reveal His generous provision to you. Saints, never ascribe God’s supernatural generosity to mere coincidence! As Matthew 6:8 states, “Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”…..
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