God Leads to a Place He Prepared

IIT UBF - University Bible Fellowship at IIT

God Leads to a Place He Prepared

Date: Jan. 10, 2016

Passage

Exodus 23:20-33 (ESV)

20 “Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. 21 Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him.

22 “But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.

23 “When my angel goes before you and brings you to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, and I blot them out, 24 you shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces. 25 You shall serve the LORD your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you. 26 None shall miscarry or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days. 27 I will send my terror before you and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. 28 And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you. 29 I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you. 30 Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land. 31 And I will set your border from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates, for I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you. 32 You shall make no covenant with them and their gods. 33 They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV) is adapted from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. All rights reserved.

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Daily Bread

Key Verse: 23:20

“Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared.

First, God goes on before his people (20-26). The powerful, war-like, Canaanites were in the land. How could a nation of former slaves ever take the land? An angel went on before them. God led his people through this angel. The Hebrews didn't have to worry, although there was some responsibility on the part of the Israelites. The Lord would handle the situation if they listened to and obeyed God's words. God will guard our way. He will bring us to a prepared place. But we must listen to what God says.

Second, everything in God's way and in God's time (27-33). God promised to drive out their enemies, but not all at once. God would give victory to his people little by little. God set boundaries for the people. He went before them and brought them victory within these boundaries. They must go in by faith and obey God one step at a time. This is how God gives spiritual victories, too. He advances us little by little, challenging Satan's strongholds.

Prayer: Lord, I know that you are going on before me. Thank you for granting spiritual victory as I follow you.

One Word: Fear not, God goes on before us

Victory and Final Judgment

Revelation 20:1-15

Key Verse: 20:15

Today's Question

What is the misery of man's fallen condition?

See answer and references