God Provides and Protects
If God asks you to do something, remember He will provide the necessary tools. However, did you know that He will also protect the tools? We typically forget this part of the equation. God will provide what we need, but He will also protect it so that it is ready for when we need it. One example of this is with Exodus 9:1-5 “1 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and tell him, ‘Thus says the LORD God of the Hebrews: “Let My people go, that they may serve Me. 2 “For if you refuse to let [them] go, and still hold them, 3 “behold, the hand of the LORD will be on your cattle in the field, on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the oxen, and on the sheep--a very severe pestilence. 4 “And the LORD will make a difference between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt. So nothing shall die of all [that] belongs to the children of Israel.” ’ ” 5 Then the LORD appointed a set time, saying, “Tomorrow the LORD will do this thing in the land.”
If you examine this carefully, you will see that the Lord allowed there to be a difference between the livestock of Egypt and of Israel. Egypt’s livestock died. Israel’s survived. With the entire cannon of God we can clearly see the forshadowing of God’s battle plan of redemption. He was going to protect the necessary tools for bringing the Lamb of God to the cross. So when you read in Kings, Chronicles, Nehemiah, Ezra, and Ester the line of David being protected, remember it is for a reason. This is first foreshadowed all the way back in Exodus 9.
Now we need to examine why in Exodus 9 God protects the livestock. The purpose is found in Exodus 12. Exodus 12:1-14 “1 Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2 “This month [shall be] your beginning of months; it [shall be] the first month of the year to you. 3 “Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: ‘On the tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of [his] father, a lamb for a household. 4 ‘And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take [it] according to the number of the persons; according to each man’s need you shall make your count for the lamb. 5 ‘Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take [it] from the sheep or from the goats. 6 ‘Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. 7 ‘And they shall take [some] of the blood and put [it] on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it. 8 ‘Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread [and] with bitter [herbs] they shall eat it. 9 ‘Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire--its head with its legs and its entrails. 10 ‘You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire. 11 ‘And thus you shall eat it: [with] a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It [is] the LORD’s Passover. 12 ‘For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I [am] the LORD. 13 ‘Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you [are.] And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy [you] when I strike the land of Egypt. 14 ‘So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance.”
God was protecting the necessary tools in order to provide the ultimate protection. God’s judgement was coming and in His foreknowledge, God provided exactly what they needed. What a blessing we have to have a God who is perfect in love to watch, help, and sustain us. Yet, it does not end there. Because of His perfect judgement the people are set free. This is clearly missed by many today in the Churches who focus only on the love of God and miss the judgement. Without the judgement, without the payment, without the obedience of the Son of God, we are dead in our trespasses. We need His judgement as much as we need His love. Exodus 9 and 12 show just how God can love and judge simultaneously and still be a perfect God. All we need to do is trust Him and obey for there is no other way.
Hold until relieved, our Blessed Hope is coming,
JL