1 00:00:02,680 --> 00:00:09,400 Speaker 1: Life Audio. 2 00:00:10,840 --> 00:00:13,920 Speaker 2: Welcome to the Crosswalk devotional. We're glad to have you 3 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:18,440 Speaker 2: listening with us. Today's topic is about how God has 4 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:22,000 Speaker 2: an opportunity to provide for us when we do not 5 00:00:22,120 --> 00:00:26,280 Speaker 2: have the opportunity to prepare. We'll return with the devotional 6 00:00:26,360 --> 00:00:43,240 Speaker 2: after a brief message from our sponsors. God provides when 7 00:00:43,240 --> 00:00:49,560 Speaker 2: we cannot prepare. Written and read by Ddre Brayley. Exodus 8 00:00:49,600 --> 00:00:54,840 Speaker 2: twelve thirty one through thirty nine. During the night, Pharaoh 9 00:00:54,840 --> 00:00:58,640 Speaker 2: summoned Moses and Aaron and said, up, leave my people, 10 00:00:58,840 --> 00:01:02,520 Speaker 2: you and the Israelite go worship the Lord as you 11 00:01:02,600 --> 00:01:06,120 Speaker 2: have requested. Take your flocks and herds as you have said, 12 00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:12,240 Speaker 2: and go, and also bless me. The Egyptians urged the 13 00:01:12,240 --> 00:01:16,080 Speaker 2: people to hurry and leave the country, for otherwise, they said, 14 00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:19,760 Speaker 2: we will all die. So the people took their dough 15 00:01:19,800 --> 00:01:22,480 Speaker 2: before the yeast was added, and carried it on their 16 00:01:22,520 --> 00:01:27,080 Speaker 2: shoulders in kneading troughs, wrapped in clothing. The Israelites did 17 00:01:27,080 --> 00:01:30,440 Speaker 2: as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of 18 00:01:30,480 --> 00:01:34,280 Speaker 2: silver and gold and for clothing. The Lord had made 19 00:01:34,319 --> 00:01:37,920 Speaker 2: the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave 20 00:01:37,959 --> 00:01:41,120 Speaker 2: them what they asked for, so they plundered the Egyptians. 21 00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:46,920 Speaker 2: The Israelites journeyed from Ramesis to Sucketh. There were about 22 00:01:46,920 --> 00:01:50,880 Speaker 2: six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. 23 00:01:51,840 --> 00:01:54,640 Speaker 2: Many other people went up with them, and also large 24 00:01:54,720 --> 00:01:59,200 Speaker 2: droves of livestock, both flocks and herds. With the dough 25 00:01:59,240 --> 00:02:02,280 Speaker 2: the Israelites I brought from Egypt, they baked loaves of 26 00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:06,240 Speaker 2: unlovened bread. The dough was without yeast because they had 27 00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:08,680 Speaker 2: been driven out of Egypt and did not have time 28 00:02:08,720 --> 00:02:13,720 Speaker 2: to prepare food for themselves. Our family recently traveled three 29 00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:16,919 Speaker 2: hundred miles north to spend the holidays at home where 30 00:02:16,960 --> 00:02:20,440 Speaker 2: my husband and I both grew up. Though we planned 31 00:02:20,480 --> 00:02:23,240 Speaker 2: for an extended stay, we didn't sleep well on our 32 00:02:23,280 --> 00:02:26,240 Speaker 2: first or second night, and on the following morning, my 33 00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:32,919 Speaker 2: husband woke with a terrible bout of food poisoning. Exhausted, exasperated, 34 00:02:33,080 --> 00:02:36,399 Speaker 2: and with a terribly achy back, I couldn't imagine being 35 00:02:36,440 --> 00:02:40,720 Speaker 2: away from home for even another moment. Before the sun 36 00:02:40,720 --> 00:02:44,079 Speaker 2: had even risen, I announced, that's it, we need to 37 00:02:44,160 --> 00:02:49,399 Speaker 2: leave today. In a rush, I threw apples and slippers 38 00:02:49,400 --> 00:02:51,320 Speaker 2: and dog food into any spare bag. 39 00:02:51,360 --> 00:02:52,040 Speaker 1: I could find. 40 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:56,280 Speaker 2: I stuffed dirty clothes back into suitcases and rummaged in 41 00:02:56,320 --> 00:02:59,120 Speaker 2: the fridge for anything that could qualify as breakfast for 42 00:02:59,160 --> 00:03:03,560 Speaker 2: the kids. I promised myself we'd all brush our teeth later, 43 00:03:04,800 --> 00:03:07,880 Speaker 2: and then, with our odds and ends shoved into every 44 00:03:07,960 --> 00:03:11,200 Speaker 2: spare crepace of the car, we sped off, not even 45 00:03:11,240 --> 00:03:13,399 Speaker 2: stopping to say goodbye to our family on the way 46 00:03:13,440 --> 00:03:19,720 Speaker 2: out of town. All day I felt unsettled. Our luggage 47 00:03:19,800 --> 00:03:22,919 Speaker 2: was disorganized, we were subsisting on a bag of chocolate 48 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:26,840 Speaker 2: covered espresso beans, and as I discovered later, two out 49 00:03:26,880 --> 00:03:31,160 Speaker 2: of our three kids weren't even wearing socks. Our careful 50 00:03:31,240 --> 00:03:34,800 Speaker 2: routines and my sense of any control had gone out 51 00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:40,120 Speaker 2: the window, and it was deeply uncomfortable. It made me 52 00:03:40,160 --> 00:03:43,000 Speaker 2: sympathize with the Israelites who were pushed out of Egypt 53 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:45,200 Speaker 2: in such a hurry that they weren't even finished making 54 00:03:45,240 --> 00:03:47,960 Speaker 2: the dough for their bread. They swept it up onto 55 00:03:47,960 --> 00:03:50,600 Speaker 2: their shoulders and lugged it off into the great unknown. 56 00:03:51,880 --> 00:03:55,000 Speaker 2: They did not have time to prepare provisions for themselves. 57 00:03:56,520 --> 00:03:58,800 Speaker 2: But their journey was more than just one long day 58 00:03:58,840 --> 00:04:02,760 Speaker 2: down the inner state. It was forty years of wandering, 59 00:04:03,640 --> 00:04:08,080 Speaker 2: forty years of being unsettled, forty years of not being 60 00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:11,400 Speaker 2: in control, in forty years of having to depend on 61 00:04:12,360 --> 00:04:16,760 Speaker 2: someone else to provide for them. I think their rapid 62 00:04:16,760 --> 00:04:20,839 Speaker 2: departure from Egypt was an intentional move on God's part. 63 00:04:21,560 --> 00:04:23,840 Speaker 2: I believe he wanted to make sure they did not 64 00:04:23,960 --> 00:04:27,160 Speaker 2: have time to prepare, not because he wanted them to 65 00:04:27,160 --> 00:04:30,400 Speaker 2: feel uncomfortable, but because he wanted to show them that 66 00:04:30,440 --> 00:04:34,760 Speaker 2: He would provide everything they needed for them. He wanted 67 00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:37,080 Speaker 2: to show them what it meant to be the people 68 00:04:37,200 --> 00:04:41,279 Speaker 2: of the One True Living God. He wanted to position 69 00:04:41,400 --> 00:04:44,400 Speaker 2: them to understand that they were not slaves any longer. 70 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:47,839 Speaker 2: They were His children, and they could trust Him to 71 00:04:47,880 --> 00:04:53,240 Speaker 2: take care of them. Intersecting faith and life, there are 72 00:04:53,279 --> 00:04:56,320 Speaker 2: times in our lives that we simply cannot prepare for 73 00:04:57,440 --> 00:05:00,800 Speaker 2: a loss of a job, the death of someone we love, 74 00:05:02,040 --> 00:05:05,080 Speaker 2: or maybe just a husband waking up with food poisoning. 75 00:05:06,440 --> 00:05:09,520 Speaker 2: That we might despise the situation and wish to cling 76 00:05:09,600 --> 00:05:13,719 Speaker 2: to control with everything we've got, which are very natural 77 00:05:13,760 --> 00:05:19,200 Speaker 2: and human responses. In moments of disquiet, may we find 78 00:05:19,279 --> 00:05:21,800 Speaker 2: the courage to look at God and ask him what 79 00:05:21,920 --> 00:05:25,080 Speaker 2: he wishes to show us about his character In these 80 00:05:25,120 --> 00:05:29,440 Speaker 2: times when He puts us in positions of total abandon 81 00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:34,000 Speaker 2: where our illusions of control and carefully measured procedures have 82 00:05:34,080 --> 00:05:39,880 Speaker 2: been stripped away. May we learn to pray, God, show 83 00:05:39,960 --> 00:05:44,560 Speaker 2: me your goodness. I have nothing. You are in control. 84 00:05:45,520 --> 00:05:54,400 Speaker 2: I need you, please provide Amen further reading, all throughout 85 00:05:54,400 --> 00:05:57,760 Speaker 2: the Bible, people find themselves in positions where their only 86 00:05:57,839 --> 00:06:02,240 Speaker 2: hope is to trust God to provide. Consider these three 87 00:06:02,320 --> 00:06:07,839 Speaker 2: stories Daniel telling Nebeknezzer the meaning of his dream and 88 00:06:07,960 --> 00:06:13,400 Speaker 2: Daniel two, Joshua's army marching around the walls of Jericho 89 00:06:13,720 --> 00:06:17,760 Speaker 2: in Joshua six, and Mary learning that she will give 90 00:06:17,800 --> 00:06:23,520 Speaker 2: birth to Jesus in Lukewa. 91 00:06:24,560 --> 00:06:27,880 Speaker 1: The Crosswalk Devotional is a production of Life Audio and 92 00:06:27,960 --> 00:06:31,839 Speaker 1: Salem Media. If you liked what you heard today, please 93 00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:34,240 Speaker 1: take a second to rate and review this podcast in 94 00:06:34,320 --> 00:06:37,719 Speaker 1: your favorite podcast app so that more listeners like you 95 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:42,880 Speaker 1: can find the show. For more faith filled inspirational podcasts, 96 00:06:43,520 --> 00:06:53,120 Speaker 1: visit us at lifeaudio dot com.