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. 

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