It Pays to Trust God (Jonathan Evans)

It pays to trust God. You get to experience the fact that He's able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that you can ask or think. Jonathan Evans says when we hand things over to God, we open the door to His best work.

If you want God to give you rest, cast your care upon Him so that He can do what He does best. It pays to put your trust in God. This is The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, author, speaker, founding pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, and president of The Urban Alternative. Some stories from the Bible hit us differently on different days, and this one hits deep here on Mother's Day weekend. Today, Pastor Jonathan Evans opens his heart and the Scriptures to share a message that's especially personal. But it's not just for moms. It's for anyone carrying a deep desire that feels just out of reach. Jonathan reminds us that no matter how heavy the burden, God invites us to put it in His hands and watch Him work in ways we never imagined.

Let's listen as he shares this special Mother's Day message called It Pays to Trust God. Exodus chapter 2 verse 9 says, Then Pharaoh's daughter said to the woman, Take the baby away and nurse him for me, and I will pay you wages. And the woman took the baby and nursed him.

Now you may be thinking to yourself, what's the big deal? Pharaoh's daughter had a baby, and she wanted basically a surrogate, so to speak, to nurse the baby for her, and she paid the woman wages in order to do so. But what makes this a special verse is the woman that was nursing the baby was the baby's mother. Well, this came at a time where Pharaoh had put out an edict or a command in the land.

Egypt was being threatened by the rapid growth of the Hebrews, and so Pharaoh said in Exodus chapter 1, 22, We have to kill all of the male children that are born to the Hebrews, and so we're going to take out all of the male children. Well, once you get to Exodus chapter 2, Moses' mother gives birth, and she tries to hide the baby. She tries to hide the baby for as long as she could hide the baby, but when she could no longer hide the baby, she put the baby in a wicker basket.

You guys know the story. She put the baby in a wicker basket, she covered it with tar and pitch, and placed the baby in the Nile amongst the reeds. Moses' sister was looking at Moses' mother in verse 4 as Moses' mother was doing this. And then, when she placed the baby in the Nile, when she let the baby go and placed the baby in the Nile, Pharaoh's daughter was coming down to take a bath in the Nile, and Pharaoh's daughter saw the basket and said to her maid, Hey, go get this basket for me.

Let me see what it is. So the maid goes and brings the basket to Pharaoh's daughter, and Pharaoh's daughter opens it up and sees a crying baby and has pity on the baby. Then, watch this, Moses' sister talks to Pharaoh's daughter and says, Do you want me to find a Hebrew woman to nurse the child for you? Pharaoh's daughter says, That's a great idea. Why don't you go find a Hebrew woman for me? So obviously, Moses' sister is going to go back to her little brother's mother and say, Hey mom, you can come nurse your child for Pharaoh's daughter.

So Moses' mother comes and nurses her own baby, and Pharaoh's daughter pays her wages to nurse the child that she would have nursed for free anyway. So I want to let you know today what we're talking about. We're talking about how much it pays to trust God. How much it pays to actually put your trust in God. And I can hear my mom right now speaking to me as I'm speaking to you.

Tell them how much it pays to trust God. And I want to start talking to all of the ladies out there who may be experiencing not being a mother, but having a desire to be a mother. And things really haven't worked out to this point. There may be external circumstances like Moses' mother.

Pharaoh had an edict in the land. There was an external circumstance, some circumstance that was going to prevent her from carrying out the desire to raise the child that she had. She had the child, but she didn't know that she would be able to raise the child that she had. That desire of raising a child is something that she didn't believe that she was going to be able to experience. So she tried to hide the child for as long as she could.

But when she could no longer hide the child, she put the baby in the Nile. In other words, if she would have continued to hold on to that desire in spite of the situation. I want to hold on to this desire myself because my desire to raise this child is so strong that I'm not going to give it over to the Lord.

I'm just going to hold it myself. Then her fear would have become her reality. You have to be willing to give your desires. In other words, put the baby in the Nile. You have to be willing to give your desires over to the Lord because God is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that you can ask or think according to the power that works in you. According to you relying on the God that's in you, you get to experience the fact that he's able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that you can ask or think. It pays to trust God.

It's not just for the ladies who have a desire to become mothers, it's also for anyone who has a desire. Anyone who has a desire right now in this external edict that has been put out there by Pharaoh that is outside of our control. Maybe you have a desire for your small business to survive. Maybe you have a desire to get your job back. Maybe you have a desire to be forgiven by someone and reconcile in a relationship. Maybe you have a strong desire to reconcile a relationship with your child or a child reconcile a relationship with a parent. Maybe it's a strong financial desire.

There are many babies that people carry. In other words, strong desires that have to be placed in the Nile for you to ever experience what God is able to do that's exceedingly and abundantly beyond what you could ever ask or think. What am I telling you? I'm telling you what Psalm 55 22 says. It says, Cast your cares upon the Lord and He will sustain you. I'm telling you what Matthew 11 28 says, Come to me all ye who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. I'm telling you what Proverbs 3 5 and 6 says, Trust in the Lord with all of your heart. Not in you, but trust in me.

Why? Because I will make your path straight. So if you want God to make your path straight, if you want God to give you rest, if you want God to sustain you, then God is waiting on you to cast, come and trust. In other words, there is a baby that we're carrying and you're carrying a heavy burden, something that you want to see develop, something that you want to see be raised, something that you want to see go to the next level. And to our soon to be mothers, I'm going to speak it to our soon to be mothers, you have this heavy desire that hasn't come to fruition yet. And what the Bible is teaching us, if you want to see what God can do with the baby that you want to raise, no matter what that baby is, he's first waiting on you to put the baby in the Nile. He's first waiting on you to take it and cast your care upon him so that he can do what he does best and sustain you, make your path straight and give you rest. Understand that what Moses' mother is teaching us is that it pays to trust God. I can hear my mom talking to me right now, even though that she's not here, she's saying you better preach and tell them how much it pays to cast your cares upon the Lord and to trust God. Moses' mother, watch this, in verse 9 of chapter 2 got paid compensation because of her spiritual dedication.

I want you to remember that she got paid compensation, but she first had to demonstrate spiritual dedication. And that's what me and my wife had to do. Many people don't know this, but me and my wife had four miscarriages. We were discouraged. We were dismayed. We thought this desire, this baby that we were holding onto was something we would never get to experience. We were discouraged because there were circumstances.

Pharaoh's edict was cast. There was a circumstance in our lives that was preventing us from having a child. So we had four miscarriages.

And there's people out there that are not just ladies. There's people out there who have miscarried in different circumstances and situations that things that you desire, they seem like they're coming close. It seems like conception has been had, but then when you feel like there's going to be a delivery, something goes wrong in your circumstance or situation. And me and my wife faced that literally.

Four miscarriages if you could imagine how that feels. But what we decided to do is, you know what, we can't hold this burden anymore. We can no longer keep this within ourselves and by our own strength and by our own might try to fix this situation ourselves. And you know what we tried to do and decided to do? We said we're going to put this baby in the Nile. We're going to do what Moses' mother did. This mother started off trusting herself, but then she moved to God when the burden was too heavy and put the baby in the Nile. And me and my wife now, after we put the baby in the Nile and we said, God, you have to take control of this thing. You have to do this for us. Now we have five beautiful children. Did you hear what I just said? We got compensation on top of our desire.

We weren't even asking for five children. And now we have compensation on top of our desire because God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly beyond all that you can ask or think. He's able to make your path straight. He's able to give you rest.

He's able to sustain you, but He's waiting on you to cast, to come, and to trust. We'll hear more about how the mother of Moses leaned into that kind of trust when Pastor Jonathan Evans continues this special Mother's Day message in just a moment. First though, I want to let you know about a powerful series of lessons we've been presenting these last couple of weeks from Dr. Tony Evans that's been taking us through the Old Testament book of Nehemiah. It's a study that shows how Nehemiah's mission to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem is a model for how God wants to rebuild our lives, restore our communities, and renew our faith. And right now, you can get all 15 messages in this two-volume collection as our thank you gift when you make a contribution to support the ministry of the alternative.

And there's even an added bonus. Along with the complete Nehemiah audio series, you'll also receive a copy of Dr. Evans' compelling book, One Nation Under God. It's a timely resource that lays out a kingdom approach to turning our culture around, starting not in Washington, but in the hearts of God's people.

Visit us today at tonyevans.org to request this special package, or call us at 1-800-800-3222 for assistance from our resource team. I'll have our contact information for you again after part two of today's lesson and this. What if you could unlock the mysteries of life, the universe, and everything in between? Genesis 1 to 11 is the foundation for everything. The Tony Evans Training Center presents a transformative course from special guest lecturer Ken Ham, founder CEO of Answers in Genesis. If you want to understand anything about the universe and anything about life and this earth, we have to jump into God's Word. This course dives deep into the origins of life, the harmony of science and scripture, and how to build a solid biblical worldview. Does science conflict with the Bible?

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Explore the kingdom anytime, anywhere. And now let's get back to Pastor Jonathan Evans for the special Mother's Day message, It Pays to Trust God. How do I know that Moses' mother, by putting the baby in the Nile, was trusting in God? Because it says that Moses' mother put the baby in a wicker basket. Moses' mother, stay with me now, put the baby in a wicker basket.

Do you know what the translation in the Hebrew of a wicker basket is? An ark. Moses' mother put the baby in an ark.

Anybody remember any stories about an ark? You go to Moses on over to Genesis chapter 6, you're going to see Noah was called to build an ark. And the reason why he was called to build an ark was so that there can be an option for salvation to people who are about to experience judgment. Well judgment was cast in the land by Pharaoh, and so what Moses' mother did was put him in an ark, a wicker basket.

Because an ark represents salvation. So Moses' mother was foundational in Moses' success in his career. Now you don't hear a lot about Moses' mother, you don't see a lot about Moses' mother in the Bible, but Moses' mother was the foundation for his salvation because she put him in an ark. But then Moses became a savior.

So his whole career was undergirded by the faith of his mother. Without the ark, without the wicker basket, the baby would have drowned. Without the wicker basket, the baby would have been eaten by alligators and crocodiles that lived in the Nile during those times. I mean there was judgment in the Nile if it wasn't for the mother placing the baby in the ark or the wicker basket. That's how I know this mother placed her baby in the hands of the Lord. What do you need to place in the hands of the Lord today? That's where the salvation of the baby, the business, the finances, the relationship, the forgiveness, all of those things, those are the babies you want to see raised.

You want to see those things develop. And if you want to see those things develop but it seems like there's an edict against you, there's circumstances that are working against you, then you need to place that baby in an ark. In other words, place it in the hands of God.

It pays to put your trust in God. Not only was Moses impacted, but in verse 4 it says, Moses' sister was watching as her mother put the baby in the Nile. And as you see in verse 7, when Pharaoh's daughter opens the basket, it's Moses' sister who says, Hey, do you want me to find a Hebrew woman to nurse this baby for you? I would like to suggest that when Moses' sister saw her mother demonstrate that great faith, that that faith became hers so that she would go to Pharaoh's daughter and say, I know someone who can take care of this situation. I can't tell you how impactful this lady is to the success of Moses, to the success of Moses' sister, to the success of the purposes of God, leading the people eventually out of the land of Egypt in bondage, all started with the foundational faith of a mother.

What foundational faith do you need to display, whether it's a mother or a father or anyone who's listening to this message that will be impactful for generations to come? In Exodus chapter 2, you don't even see Moses' mother's name, yet she is the subject of Exodus chapter 2 from verse 1 all the way through to about verse 9 or 10. She is the subject of the story that we're talking about today, and her name is not even mentioned. You don't even know her name, even though she's the one handling the details in order for Moses to experience his success. That lets me know something, that success in faith is not based on people knowing our name. Success in faith is only based on God knowing your name.

It's all about God's name, my trust in His name, the power of His name, not the success of my name. I can hear my mom right now talking in my ear, boy, let them know that just because they're not recognized, just because it feels like people don't see all the things that you do for the mothers out there, all of the details, all of the coordination, and you being the foundation for all of the success of your sons and daughters and husband, she wants you to know. I can hear my mom telling me to tell you, you are significant because you don't have to be recognized to be the main character. Here, Moses' mother is not even mentioned, but she's still the main character. Has anybody seen The Invisible Man? Well, if you haven't seen The Invisible Man, don't worry because I haven't seen it either, and it's not a movie that I want to see because I don't watch horror films. But one thing that I know about The Invisible Man is that he's invisible. That's one thing I know about the whole movie of The Invisible Man is the man in the movie that the whole movie was centered around, who is the main character, is somebody that you couldn't even notice. It's somebody that you didn't even see. But you knew that he was around by the imprint that he made in the movie even though it wasn't something that you could see with your physical eyes. Just because you're not seen or recognized or all of the contributions that you make don't seem to be a big deal in the eyes of people, you can go unseen and still be the main character. Here, Moses' mother, who goes by the name of Jacobin, by the way, which is stated in Exodus chapter 6, here Moses' mother is the main character of faith, and she's not even mentioned by name. It's not about your name.

It's about his name. I'll close with this. There was a little girl one day who was doing some chores in her house, and she asked her dad, Can I have five dollars if I do my chores? And he said, Sure, you can have five dollars if you do your chores. So she did all of these different things. She's vacuuming, she's sweeping, she's making up her bed and doing all of the things we wish our kids would do, right?

Somebody say amen on that one, okay? And so she's doing all of these things, and then her dad compensates her. He gives her five dollars, and she said, Can we go to the candy store?

He said, Absolutely. She jumps into the car, he jumps into the car, they drive to the candy store, and it is packed this day. So he parks in the back of the parking lot, and they're at the candy store, and she is excited. She's holding her five dollars in her left hand. She's sitting in the passenger side. The dad gets out of the driver's side, the little girl gets out of the passenger side, and they meet around front in the car.

The dad holds out his right hand to hold his daughter's hand. The daughter opens up her left hand that had the five dollars in it to hold her father's hand, and now she's watching the five dollars blow away in the wind because she forgot it was in her hand when she attached it to her father. And so she tried to run. She tried to escape. She tried to get out of there because she wanted to get the value of what she worked for.

She wanted to go after that value, but the father didn't want to let her go because it was too dangerous. And she said, Dad, let me go. I've got to get the money. I've worked so hard.

I've done what I've needed. Let me go get what's valuable to me. And the father said, Don't you let go.

It's simply too dangerous. And she said, But, Dad, what am I going to do in the candy store without the money? He said, Don't worry about it.

Just stick with me. And immediately she started crying. Immediately tears came down her eyes, and they walked into the candy store, and she was crying, and everybody in the candy store said, This is an odd situation to see a girl crying who's a kid in a candy store. It doesn't make sense. And she said, Dad, what are we going to do? I can't get the candy.

I don't have the money. And as soon as she said that, her dad reached into his pocket, and he pulled out a $20 bill, and all of a sudden her tear ducts got dry because at that moment she realized it was more valuable to be with her father than it would be to chase after any other value. You have a lot of people out there that are chasing after the wrong value. They want to be noticed. They want to be significant by the recognition of their name.

They want everybody to notice how hard they have worked. And we know for all the mothers and fathers and sons and daughters, everybody's doing work. But for all of the mothers out there, we know that you are foundational and core to the work.

But just because it seems like it has blown away in the wind, it hasn't. As long as you stick to the Father, you have more value in His name than anybody recognizing your name. I'm Jonathan Evans. Happy Mother's Day, and I want to leave by letting you know for all the mothers, for everyone, that it absolutely pays to trust God. And if you're ready to start experiencing the benefits of trusting God, I invite Dr. Tony Evans with a word of encouragement to help you take the first step. If what you just heard has impacted your heart, if what you just heard has quickened something within you to want to enter into a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, then I want to invite you to respond right now to the invitation to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. So right now, why don't you go to God and let Him know that you now receive Jesus Christ into your life for the forgiveness of your sins, for the gift of eternal life, because you believe He died on the cross for you. If you will do that right now, God is ready and waiting to receive you and to give you the greatest gift that anyone could ever be given.

Dr. Evans would love to tell you more about that gift. Just visit tonyevans.org and follow the link that says Jesus. We have a helpful video there that will answer your questions, along with some great downloadable resources to get your new life started off right. And while you're there, you'll also want to take advantage of the resource package I mentioned earlier, all 15 messages from both volumes of Tony's sermon series on the book of Nehemiah, along with his insightful book, One Nation Under God. They're yours with our thanks when you make a donation to help keep this listener-supported program coming your way. Just visit tonyevans.org to make the arrangements, or call our resource center at 1-800-800-3222, where team members are standing by to assist with your request. That's 1-800-800-3222, or online at tonyevans.org. When God restores, He expects a response. On Monday, Dr. Tony Evans unpacks what it means to take God and His offer of grace seriously. Be sure to join us for that.