Good morning everyone!
Exodus chapter 16.
The Israelites are pretty predictable. What are they going to complain about next? They complain about not having food. So God meets their needs each day with a miracle, Quail by night and bread by morning. He does this for 40 years! It's hard to fathom how great our God is and how much he really loves us. I wonder how many miracles God does for me every day that I look past or don't recognize? Perhaps I don't see the Miracles because I'm looking too hard at myself and my circumstances verses on God and his mighty power!
I am challenged more and more to take everything to God in Prayer while desiring to trust him more. God tested the Israelites to see if they would obey him. And they failed. It's hard to obey God when my focus is on selfish desires verses on God's desires. I truly want to break free of worldly pleasures or desires so that it's all about God and not about me.
I wish I had something to eat….
(Quail)
I wish I had bbq sauce….
Today I am going to be thankful for all the mana and quail I have, I’m not going to take more then my share or leave less
18 And when they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little. Everyone had gathered just as much as they needed.
God gives us just the right amount
Thanks Jeanine, for the info about the 12 springs yesterday
Complaining is easy. I’ve done my share of it. I’ve struggled with things and gone through situations and I get tired of doing it, so it becomes easy to complain about it. But months or years later I can look back and see that God brought us through and we were provided for in those situations. It wasn’t easy and it definitely wasn’t fun, but I can look back and see that God brought us through. The hard thing is remembering those instances instead of going back to complaining the next time things come up. It makes me think of all the times that Abraham or Isaac or Jacob put up altars to God to remember what it was He did for them. Or how the Israelites were to have the passover every year so that they would remember what God did for them. We need those reminders of God’s provisions. It also struck me that God’s provision was daily. For forty years, God provided what they needed for each day. They weren’t supposed to take more than they needed just for that day. Don’t worry about the next day and the next. Just take what you need for today.
We see how God took care of His people for the 40 years that they were in the wilderness by providing their food each day. He even made it so that they would gather extra for the Sabbath on the day before, but if they tried doing that on a different day then it just wouldn’t work. God is so patient. Even though they grumbled and complained, He still took care of them and met their needs. He gives just what is needed when it is needed. I want to be grateful for how God always provides for me and not be a complainer when things may not always be what I may prefer.
There are a lot of life applications in today’s study. Moses correctly identified the people’s complaints as being against the Lord (rather than him & Aaron). The same is true for us. When we complain about our jobs, supervisors, parents, circumstances, we are actually complaining against God for putting us in the situation in the first place.
I tend to enjoy visualizing the circumstances in the Word. For example, an omer is 4 – 6 pints. If we estimate the number of the children of Israel at 2 million … God would have provided 4,500 tons of bread daily. Totally mind blowing and possible only by our God!
I’m also reminded of a caution not to analyze and theorize the Word without eating it, digesting it, and allowing it to change my life. (See Jeremiah 15:16) Too many people do the same with Jesus, the Word made flesh. I encourage everyone participating to share how God is speaking you with our daily devotions. We are all still learning.
This scripture reminds me when I sin, and go against what I know is right, I usually have to suffer the consequences. When Moses told the Israelites not to keep anything over night, some still did. Instead of waking up to their bread to eat, they woke up to rotting bread with maggots. They did not trust enough yet, that God would provide for them what they needed.
I pray I can trust God, and lean on Him and follow His path for my life, not my own.