The word sustenance means nourishment, it means support. To be sustained is to be supplied with the necessities of life. Describing how He delivered the Israelites from the Egyptians, the Lord said He carried the Israelites on eagle’s wings unto Himself. That passage tells us that God rescued the Israelites from the Egyptians in order to bring them to Himself. The Egyptians had wrongly taken hold of the Israelites and were oppressing them, because they were God’s people, at the proper time, God arose to powerfully deliver them from the cruel hands of the Egyptians. The whole process of their deliverance was what God described as carrying the Israelites on eagles wings to Himself.
It has always been God's desire to have a people for Himself. A people that will be totally committed to Him. A people that will be totally obedient to Him. A people that will worship Him whole heartedly without adding anything by the side. His intention when He created Adam and Eve was that through procreation they will eventually raise for Him such people, this purpose was however defeated when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden of Eden and through them sin entered into their generation, into the world. He tried again through Noah when he destroyed the world with a flood and preserved Noah and his family, they also failed and he made a third attempt through Abraham from whom the Nation of Israel was born, the Israelites also disappointed God and so He sent His only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ into the world, who suffered, died and resurrected and through his death and resurrection He purchased eternal life for all those who will believe in Him.
God finally achieved His desire through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. All those who believe in Jesus are sons and daughters of God. Together these sons and daughters of God are described as “…..a chosen generation.
According to the above passage, God’s purpose is that this special people of His will continually proclaim His praise in all the earth. They are to do this by maintaining a lifestyle that brings praise to God. God will therefore not take kindly to anyone who will seek to take to himself or to tie down His own special people. To free His people from the hand of Pharaoh and bring them to Himself, He afflicted the land of Egypt with a plague after another and eventually killed all the first born sons in the land of Egypt.
But you see Pharaoh did not know the Lord, so he did not know what the Lord was capable of doing, he does not know that this God like any loving father will go to any extent to free His children and gather them back unto Himself, he called the bluff of God and he paid dearly for it – first he and the all the Egyptians lost their first born sons and because he still refused to accept defeat and instead continued the pursuit of the Israelites, he paid ultimately with his life for his stubbornness.
Also in Acts 12: 5-10, Herod took Peter and locked him up in a prison with the intention to kill him, God sent His angel to free Peter and it was perhaps the same angel that struck Herod dead a few days later.
God does not negotiate the freedom of His children, He wants them for Himself alone, He wants them to be free to serve Him and He will not take it kindly with anyone who tries or actually keeps them away from Him or from His purpose for their life and instead ties them down in slavery.
Know therefore that if you a child of God, nothing is permitted to hold you in bondage, nothing is permitted to separate you from God or from the assignment that God has committed into your hands.
Arise therefore and enforce your freedom from whatever it is that may have held you down contrary to God’s purpose for your life. God’s power is available to do for you what He did for the Egyptians, He will rescue you from the adversaries and carry you on eagles wings unto Himself. Shalom.
Prayer Point
1. Father, as I journey through the rest of this year, may I not lack nourishment in Jesus name
2. Father, rescue me from the hands of those who have taken hold of me wrongfully in Jesus name
3. Father, please rescue me from whatever affliction that has taken hold of me in Jesus name
4. Father in line with 1 Pet. 2: 9, I will anything short of what you want me to be in Jesus name.
5. Father, may my life continually bring praise to you in Jesus name. Amen
