God will always Provide

 

 

Exodus 16:13-36

September 8, 2024

 

In the evening, quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning, dew lay around the camp.  And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground.  When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.  This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat. You shall each take an omer, according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent.’”  And the people of Israel did so. They gathered, some more, some less.  But when they measured it with an omer, whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat.  And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it over till the morning.”  But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them.  Morning by morning, they gathered it, each as much as he could eat; but when the sun grew hot, it melted.

On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each. And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses,  he said to them, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.’”  So, they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it.  Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field.  Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none.”

On the seventh day, some of the people went out to gather, but they found none.  And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?  See! The Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore, on the sixth day, he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.”  So, the people rested on the seventh day.

Now the house of Israel called its name manna. It was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.  Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, so that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’” And Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar, and put an omer of manna in it, and place it before the Lord to be kept throughout your generations.”  As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the testimony to be kept.  The people of Israel ate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land. They ate the manna till they came to the border of the land of Canaan.  (An omer is the tenth part of an ephah.)

I had no understanding of Omer, but the Lord commanded them to gather as much as each person needed to eat.  I read two sources that say it would be about two quarts per individual.  When I was young, we had, I believe, what was called the blue law, that stores were not open, and those that were could not open till 1:00 pm.  No adult beverages were sold on Sunday, and many other things.  

It was designed to get people to attend Church, to have a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord.  One big problem, it is not their present God, it is their heart.  Today, Sunday, is not even a day of rest; it is just one more day of the week.  For many years, Sunday was the day we attended our local church, but after Church services, I came home and did whatever was needed, mowed the lawn, washed the car, and I was acting like my neighbors who never attended Church but for weddings and funerals.   The bad thing about sharing a conviction is that God convicted me that I was not having a day of solemn rest, and that it was a bad testimony to my neighbors.  If He has not told you to do so, then go about your Sunday as you have been doing.  

Many of the things God gave Israel as commands were to help them. God, being all-knowing, knew we needed a day to rest; many of the problems in our health are that people are not getting the rest they need.  When it comes to your Spirit, it needs to be able to sit in a quiet room and seek the Lord for counsel on many things that have us all worried and unsettled.

For forty years, the people of Israel wandered around in the wilderness, because of unbelieve.  Your life may seem as if you can’t get to a place of contentment and peace. Could it be that you are not ready to trust God with your life? You do not have to stay there; just ask Jesus to take over. He is waiting for you to seek Him, listen, and do as He guides you out of the wilderness.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice