Manna, Faith and Obedience

<Ex 16> 16 This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Everyone is to gather as much as they need. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent.’”

17 The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. 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.

19 Then Moses said to them, “No one is to keep any of it until morning.”

20 However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them.

21 Each morning everyone gathered as much as they needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away. 22 On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much—two omers for each person—and the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses. 23 He said to them, “This is what the Lord commanded: ‘Tomorrow is to be a day of sabbath rest, a holy sabbath to the Lord. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.’”

24 So they saved it until morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink or get maggots in it. 25 “Eat it today,” Moses said, “because today is a sabbath to the Lord. You will not find any of it on the ground today. 26 Six days you are to gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any.”

27 Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather it, but they found none. 28 Then the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions? 29 Bear in mind that the Lord has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where they are on the seventh day; no one is to go out.” 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.

31 The people of Israel called the bread manna. It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey. 32 Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Take an omer of manna and keep it for the generations to come, so they can see the bread I gave you to eat in the wilderness when I brought you out of Egypt.’”

33 So Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar and put an omer of manna in it. Then place it before the Lord to be kept for the generations to come.”

34 As the Lord commanded Moses, Aaron put the manna with the tablets of the covenant law, so that it might be preserved. 35 The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a land that was settled; they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan.

Trust God on daily basis.

• Security does not lie in our (amount of) possessions, but in having the Lord as our God and Provider.
• Jesus: “Give us this day our daily bread” <Mt 6:11> … “do not worry about tomorrow” <Mt 6:34>.
• S. Lewis: “Relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet been done.”
• Learn to trust God one day at a time.
• Pastor Tim Chester: “God doesn’t give grace today for tomorrow… You will be given grace for today. You will have the grace for the next day when it comes – and it will not come till tomorrow.”
• Manna that did not rot in a jar: God can be trusted every day and forever.
• If God’s grace is new every day, do not only live on past grace, but seek out and enjoy His new grace today.
• Also do not waste God’s grace for today.
• Can Christians store up possessions?

Obey God’s word.

• <Deut 8:3> He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
• Gratification of physical needs is not more important than obedience.
• Often to obey God requires self-denial.
• Link between God’s grace and human obedience.
  • Manna freely given but the people must still go out to collect according to God’s instructions.
• Live on God’s Word: Jesus is the Word <Jn 1:14>, daily feed (depend) on Him and be sustained by Him.

Be contented with what God gives.

• How much is enough?
• All we really need is our daily bread.
• Learn to reject Greed and Fear.
• God always provides just the right measure: A little bit more and we may become proud and disown the Lord, a bit lesser and we may steal and dishonor God <Prov 30:8-9>.
• With the manna in surplus, God was teaching the Israelites self-control and how to live right in abundance.

Sabbath rest.

• Sabbath: Invitation to trust God.
• We demonstrate faith by being able to rest in God.
• Opposite of rest: Non-stop exertion of own efforts.
• Can we trust God enough to rest from our own plans, wisdom, efforts?
• <Heb 4:9-10> There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works,just as God did from his.
• Jesus provides a deeper, eternal “rest” which Sabbath cannot offer.
• NT believers rest on The Lord’s Day.
• Consider Sabbath rest a gift from God, rather than a burden.