A God that man creates will never compare to who God actually is. This is the type of thing that I love to think about. What I love about the cross at this point in my life more than anything is the wisdom of God in being able to justify man and still remain just. I love the fact that we can say no god created by man is just (as our God is) because in the end, all gods created by man overlook man’s sin without justly punishing it. Such is the case with literally every god that man creates. Only our God justifies those before him in a just manner (through the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ). And, in fact, if some religion created by man wanted to model their god after what our God did in punishing our sins, they would still cease to be just. For it would be unjust for our God to have punished an innocent third party for the demands of his nature. Only we could have satisfied God’s requirements, or God himself would need to satisfy the requirements. If we were to satisfy them, then none of us would know justification, forgiveness, and eternal life. But how could God satisfy them, if he must pour out his wrath from heaven on one who is on earth? The answer is that God becomes both subject and object in the judgment shown on the cross. God the Father, pours out his wrath on God the Son. Therefore, because of God’s triune nature, he can pour out his wrath on another who is, in fact, God himself. And because of the unique three-in-oneness nature of God, no other religion could even copy the act of our God to justly justify his people without making their God (again) unjust.
Now, I know that this is a long and somewhat crazy introduction to another topic, but it is things like this that bring me to marvel at what we learn in the text this morning. For if I were to create a god and wanted to make him a god whose desire is for his own glory, then I would ensure that he never made statements like, “I did not come to be served, but to serve” (Mark 10:45). However, our God did. And that is because our God is wiser than we are, and no man created him, for he is uncreated. Our God is, in fact, glorified when he serves us, and therefore, this is his desire.
Now doesn’t that just sit weird in your heart? I mean, just to hear, “God wants to serve us” makes us want to scream blasphemy. But let me first give you an illustration on why this is indeed magnifying and then turn to our text this morning which deals with this reality.
Right before Lili and I were married we went to visit my parents. While we were there, I got terribly sick. It was horrible. The whole time that I was there, both my mom and Lili came into the room and checked on me, pulled blankets up around me, brought me soup and Sprite, and just sat with me while I was sick. In short, they served me.
If someone could have observed that situation, he or she would have said to me, “Man, you’ve got a great mom and a great girlfriend!” And they would have been right. But why would the person say that? What would they have seen that resulted in them overflowing with praise of my then-girlfriend and mom? The answer is obviously that the person would have seen them serving me, even in my weakest state. They served someone who was incapable (and undeserving), and it resulted in people talking about how great they were, not how great I was. This is the way that God’s desire to serve and his passion to be the one magnified and glorified work together.
Therefore, because this is true, God desires that we trust him and allow him to provide for us. He accomplishes our salvation for us (Ephesian2:1-10), works miracles on our behalf, and gives us the very strength with which to serve (1 Peter 4:11). And all of this is done so that it will abound to his glory. Therefore, because his character is constant to this end…
As God brings the Israelites into the wilderness they instantly begin to show that there is nothing inherently righteous about them. After hundreds of years in slavery and finally being led out of bondage (even through the Red Sea), they begin complaining about being hungry and wish they were back in Egypt (16:1-3). So God says to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether or not they will walk in My instruction” (16:4).
God sends them bread from heaven (which the Israelites later call, “manna”) but tells them only to gather a portion for each day because he is testing them. Well, why is he testing them? What does he want to see?1 He wants to see whether or not they will trust him. That is the gist of testing to see if they will obey him. Whether or not we obey what God says is utterly dependent on whether or not we will trust him. If they don’t trust God’s provision, they will disobey; only if they trust him will they obey.
Therefore, God is continually testing people in this, because he wants to build in us a heart that trusts him to provide for us. The Israelites struggled to learn this. Soon after God rained bread down from heaven, they were complaining about having no water (17:1-7). That’s why Moses asks the people, “Why do you test the Lord?” (17:2), and then asks the Lord, “What shall I do with this people?” (17:4). He asks these questions because the Israelites don’t get it. Why are they still worrying about food and water?
The disciples, years later, would be the same way. In Mark 8, we read of Jesus saying to his disciples, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod” (8:15). And his disciples begin to discuss if he is upset with them because they forgot to bring any bread with them on this trip. They were afraid that he would be upset because they didn’t have any food.
Now this is right after Jesus has fed a crowd of five thousand families and another crowd of four thousand families – and took up baskets full of leftovers. Therefore, Jesus says, “Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet see or understand? Do you have a hardened heart? (8:17). They were slow to learn to trust in God’s provision for them. But that’s what God longs for us to do. Therefore, God wants to work in us more than occasional obedience but a character that knows to trust him.
Moses tells the Israelites, “This is what the Lord has commanded, ‘Let an omerful of it be kept throughout your generations, that they may see the bread that I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt’” (16:32). God does this because he wants them to remember his provision and continue to trust him.
That’s why he did this with the Israelites. It’s why he allowed the disciples to pass out the bread and fish to the multitudes. And it’s one reason why he provides for us. He wants us to learn that he will continue to do this so that we might trust him.
I believe this is one of the reasons that the Lord set up the ordinance of the Lord’s supper. He wants us to remember that we can trust him. This is what Paul is saying in Romans 8:32 as he writes, “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things.” Now, in context, I think Paul is saying that God will continue to conform us to Christ, work things together for our good, and ultimately finish the work of salvation that he has started in us. But it is most definitely true in his promises to meet our needs as well (e.g., Matthew 6:25-33). For if God has already delivered up his Son so that he might justify us and make us his people, why would he not fulfill promises to us that are “easier.”2
Therefore, we should look at God’s provision for us in the past (ultimately at the provision of his Son), and allow it to fuel our trust in him in the future.
There are two reasons (among a possible many others) why that I can see from our text (and the rest of Scripture). The first is that if we do not learn to trust God, we will sin.
As I have said before, all obedience stems from faith and all disobedience stems from a lack of faith. Don’t be deceived, when the Israelites were refusing to trust God they were sinning against him. They were despising his glory. They were in essence saying, “We don’t believe that we can trust God to provide for us.” That is what we say when we sin.
Seeking the praise of man is saying, “I don’t trust God to reward me if I keep this secret” (even though he has promised to do so). Premarital sex, divorce, and not loving your wife is saying, “I don’t believe God’s ways are the best ways, even though he has said differently.” Refusing to dig into the Word of God and pray in crucial decisions but trying to figure it out on your own is saying, “I think I am wiser than God and know more about what should be done.”
Now, obviously we don’t say these things (and may not even think them), but that is what we are showing is the state of our hearts as we refuse to trust God to provide for us. That which will give us the strength not to sin and to walk in obedience will be our trust in God.3 So God is concerned about building this into our lives.
The other reason God is so concerned about us trusting in his provision is the reason with reason I started this morning: it abounds to his glory as we trust him and he provides for us.
In chapter 18 of Exodus, Moses gets a bit of a break from leading these stiff-necked people and he gets to sit and talk with his father-in-law. And, like us, one of the first things Moses does is sits and tells him everything that has gone on. He (no doubt) tells him about the plagues, the splitting of the Red Sea, God raining down manna from the sky, and providing water from a rock (18:8). And Jethro responds, “Blessed be the Lord who delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of Pharaoh, and who delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know that he LORD is greater than all the gods; indeed it was proven when they dealt proudly against the people” (18:10-11).
Jethro responded by magnifying God as he heard of God’s provision for his people. And this is God’s ultimate goal, so God was going to ensure that this happened. So, God desires for our lives to constantly be reflecting his glory; he wants us to trust him and watch him provide: therefore, he builds in us characters that will bring about continuing actions that will result in his glory, which is his greatest passion. That is why he wants to teach us to trust in him.
And God’s passion for his glory becomes the greatest foundation for us to trust him. We know he is glorified in providing for us and that he is passionate for his glory, so we can walk obediently before him, trusting him with our everything.
Even in the most practical things, we can trust God. God will provide for us then as well. As Moses talks with Jethro, Jethro tells Moses how to structure the authority for ruling the Israelites. But even Jethro wants Moses to know that it is God who is providing for him. For he says after giving him his idea, “If you do this thing and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all these people will go to their place in peace” (18:23 – emphasis added). In the same way, we should seek God’s face, even with advice from others, and allow our hearts to recognize God’s provision for us in all things.
So what are we supposed to do with this reality?
If God tests us and builds character in us to trust in his provision, then our job is simply to obey him. We see this with Moses in chapter 17 as twice God has him do something that wouldn’t make sense to us. First, God has Moses strike a rock so that water will come out of it (17:6). Second, God has Moses hold up his staff over his head so that the Israelites would defeat Amalek (17:11).
Now both of these things sound crazy, but Moses had learned that God would provide and be glorified in Moses’ life as Moses simply obeyed God. They were crazy to Moses, but it was God’s way of making sure everyone knew he alone was the one to be glorified in these events surrounding Moses.
Therefore, obey God in what he tells you to do. Don’t try to figure out how everything will work. God never asked you to do that. And don’t take it upon yourself to do more than God asks you to do, for God simply wants you to obey and trust him. Let’s be people of faith who simply hear God and obey, trusting in his provision.
We will walk obediently by his grace. Amen.