Devotional from Exodus 16-18 and Matthew 19:16-30
Your Redeemer is also your Provider and Sustainer. Do you believe Him?
The Hebrew people following Moses didn’t. After their redemption, they doubted God’s goodness and grumbled about His provisions.
They wished they had not been redeemed. They preferred the temporary good of slavery. Yahweh told them He would heal them if they heard and obeyed His voice. Instead, they grumbled against Him. They would prefer to die at the hand of the LORD while sitting around pots of meat and eating bread to the full.
What does this tell us? They expected to die in the wilderness. They didn’t believe in the LORD to save, keep, and feed them. They wanted Pharoah. They wanted slavery. They wanted temporary pleasures. They did not believe or want the LORD.
And yet the LORD fed, watered, protected, and led them. He displayed His glory to them. He answered their cries. Yahweh made known to the world how He is abundant with mercy and steadfast love for undeserving people.
And then in Matthew 20, we find a young man who thought he was worthy of God and a disciple who asked what is given to those who trust and follow Jesus. What was Jesus’ answer? 1) No one is worthy of God; salvation is only possible by the free gift of God. 2) All who trust and follow Yahweh will receive now and eternally in the life to come.
Just like the Hebrew people redeemed up out of Egypt, Jesus said that only unworthy people are saved and all who are saved receive good at the hand of the LORD. Yahweh provides for and sustains all whom He saves.
Jesus is Yahweh. Do you trust Him to save, provide, and sustain you? Do you trust His way to be better than all other ways?
At first sight of something you don’t like, do you grumble against Him? When hardship endures, do you lose sight of God’s promises? Do you doubt His word?
Do you doubt God’s goodness? Do you long to be back in sin’s slavery to indulge in just one more “pot of meat”? Do you lust to gorge in your pre-conversion life?
Believe His word. Your Redeemer is also your Provider and Sustainer. As you gather with His redeemed people all around you, remember the LORD will provide all you need to follow Him each day. And everything you give up now to follow Jesus will be far surpassed in the glorious inheritance Jesus has won for all who trust and follow Him.
Don’t look back at meat pots. Don’t grumble against the LORD. He feeds! He waters! He protects! He leads! He provides! He keeps all His promises.
Follow Jesus among His people now. Hope in the gracious inheritance of eternal life. Trust Jesus to be your Redeemer, Provider, and Sustainer now and in the new heaven and earth to come.
Read daily devotionals written by Pastor John Cole in our Bible in a Year group in our church app.