Exodus 16:1-36

We are so quick to complain when we feel like our needs are not being met.  God had provided water, but now the people were hungry.  Unmet needs are one of the hardest things for us to understand and deal with in our lives.  Suffering in general is a true test of our character and our trust in the Lord.  However, God’s provision also provides a test of our willingness to obey His instructions.  Israel fails both the test of suffering and the test of obedience.

ISRAEL DOUBTS GOD’S GOODNESS: Once again the physical need of food that remains unmet reveals the continued lack of trust in the heart of the children of Israel.  They have seen sign after sign of God’s intention to bless them and keep His promises to them.  Never the less, they continue to doubt God’s goodness and His ability and accuse Him of bringing them out to the wilderness to die.  They want to go back to slavery when they had plenty of food.  Hunger is a legitimate need, but the proper response to an unmet need is to ask for God to meet this need according to His will.  The truth is that we would far rather complain about God than pray to God.  He delights in our prayers but despises our complaining.

ISRAEL RECEIVES GOD’S PROVISION: God tells Moses of His plan for provision and promise to send bread in the morning as well as meat in the evening.  God causes enough food to fall each day to feed the millions of people.  The instructions were that the food would fall six days and that they were only to gather enough for each day accept for on the sixth day they were to gather enough for the following day as well.  God has no lack of ability to meet our every need.  However, He rarely meets our needs a long time in advance.  He desires that we learn to trust Him each day.  He also provides clear instruction as to how they are to go about gathering and storing this provision each day.

ISRAEL DISOBEYS GOD’S INSTRUCTION: They first reaction of the people is to eat and rejoice in the provision of God.  However, they start right off demonstrating that they still do not trust God because many of them gather extra that they try to store for the next day.  The food spoils and creates worms.  The next instruction was to gather twice as much on the sixth day and then not have to gather on the seventh day.  Probably the same people who had seen the food spoil in a day decided not to risk having worms in the house so they just decided to wait and gather the food the next day.  It did not come.  We have a tendency to live according to our own experience instead of trusting and obeying the revealed Word of God.  This is a big mistake that displeases our Lord.  We must learn to obey Him completely even if His instructions seem contradictory to our own understanding.  That is what it means to trust God. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Isaiah 54:1-17

Hope is a wonderful blessing from God, without which we would be vulnerable to all kinds of destructive tendencies in our lives.  Today’s society is marked by depression, anger, fear, anxiety and self-righteousness, in large part, because of the sense of hopelessness that prevails in our culture.  Isaiah writes to a people who are about to be taken into captivity because of their sin.  God knows that they will feel rejected, threatened and hopeless so He reveals His future plans for the nation in order to give them hope in the midst of the coming trial.  Hope is the expectation of good based upon the promises of God.  Many times when our lives are marked by the sins mentioned above it is because we have forgotten or failed to focus upon the promises of God’s Word. THE PROMISE OF GOD: From the very first day that God revealed His plan for the nation of Israel, He promised numerous descendants.  God chose Abraham, not because he was more righteous than any of the other people of his
Read more

1 Timothy 1:3-7

As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not   to teach any different doctrine,   nor   to devote themselves to myths and endless   genealogies, which promote   speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.    The aim of our charge is love   that issues from a pure heart and   a good conscience and   a sincere faith.    Certain persons, by   swerving from these, have wandered away into   vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law,   without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.   There will always be false teachers that come into the church attempting to distract people from the truth and destroy people’s faith.  When this happens, it is the job of spiritually mature leaders to confront these false teachers and correct their teachings.  However, it is important that this correction be accomplished with the right motives and methods. 
Read more

1 Timothy 2:11-15

Let a woman learn quietly   with all submissiveness.    I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.    For Adam was formed first,   then Eve;   and Adam was not deceived, but   the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.    Yet she will be saved through   childbearing—if they continue in   faith and love and holiness, with self-control. There is certainly controversy and confusion about this passage in many churches today.  The idea of a distinction between men and women and their roles in the family and church certainly goes against the flow of many cultures around the world.  Some would argue that the literal and plain teaching of this passage is no longer applicable to today’s culture.  However, it is always dangerous to discard biblical teaching or try to interpret Scripture based on the cultures in which we live.  Certainly, the Spirit who inspired this text was aware of the many changes that would occur in future cul
Read more