WEEK 8
GOD’S CARE FOR HIS PEOPLE
PROVISION
i. God provided for His people –
God provides for the needs of His people. The Bible says in 1 Peter 5:7, that we should cast all our anxieties on Him (God) for He cares for us. We see in the Bible how God cared for His people.
Food
In Exodus 16: 1 – 21, the Bible records how God provided food for the Israelites by raining bread from heaven for them (Manna). The Israelites were complaining of hunger and comparing the times they were in Egypt to the times they were now hungry in the wilderness. God rained down Manna enough for a day’s portion. On the sixth day, God gave them twice as much as they gather daily. The Lord also gave them quails for meat in the evenings and bread in the mornings. God instructed them to take just what would be enough for them and their families. Moses instructed them not to take more than they could eat, but some disregarded Moses warning. Whatever they take extra became bad before the next day. They gather as much in the mornings and once the sun is hot, the bread melts away.
Water – Exodus 17: 1 – 7
In Exodus 17:1-7, the children of Israel were thirsty when they got to the wilderness of Sin and they camped at Rephidim. They complained against Moses in their usual manner. In Exodus 17:3, they said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?” Moses cried to God and the Lord told him to take some elders with him and pass before the people and then with his rod, he should strike the rock at Horeb at the presence of God. And Moses called the name of the place Massah and Mer′ibah, because of the faultfinding of the children of Israel, and because they put the Lord to the test by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” However, one thing Moses did not do, was to acknowledge the presence of God at Horeb.
Light for the night journey and Shade for sunny day’s journey – Exodus 13:20 – 22
Also all through the journey of the Israelites, God was with them as Pillar of fire by night and pillar of clouds by day. The pillar of clouds leads them during the day and the pillar of fire gave them light at night so that they would travel night and day without stopping. In Exodus 13:22, “the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.”
ii. God provided substance for Elijah and Zarephath widow during drought
(1Kings 17:1-16)
God also provided for Elijah and the widow of Zarephath during the years of great famine in Israel. Elijah, the Tishbite declared by the word of God that there would be no rain for three and a half years and it came to pass. This caused great famine in the land. However God told him to go eastward and camp by the brook of Cherith, where He would send ravens to feed him and he would drink from the brook. The Bible records in verse 6 that ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and in the evening; and he drank from the brook.
When the brook dried up, the Lord told him to go to Zarephath where he met a widow who was preparing her last meal. She had no hope for other meals after this. Elijah spoke to her to give him water to drink and hereafter asked for a morsel of bread. The woman told him that what she had was her last meal for her and her son and thereafter, wait for death to take them because of the hunger in the land. Elijah still instructed her to bring food for him and thereafter they would have enough to last them until the famine was over. In 1Kings 17:15-16, the Bible records that she did according to what Elijah told her and they never lacked food till the famine was over.
iii. God requires our obedience to effect His provision.
To enjoy divine provision from God, we must obey God’s words. It is in the obedience that the reward of provision lies.
(a) Abraham (Genesis 22:1-13): Abraham obeyed God to sacrifice his son even though it was a test of his faith. This made God swore to bless him. God replaced his son with a ram for the sacrifice.
(b) Elijah (1 Kings 17: 10 – 16): Elijah obeyed God by going to according to the word of God when he went to the Brook of Cherith and also when he went to Zarephath to meet the widow.
(c) Israelites (Exodus 16:19): The Israelites were also required to obey God for the provision of the manna even though some disobeyed.
(d) Zarephath widow (1 Kings 17: 10 – 16): The widow obeyed Elijah, knowing fully well that he was speaking by the word of God.
iv. Why provisions were stopped. (Joshua 5:11 – 12, 1Kings 4: 1 – 6)
There are instances in the Bible where God seized provisions for his people. This is as a result of the people disobedience to God’s words and the neglect of God’s instructions.
Joshua 5:6
1Kings 4:6
Unprecedented 