Dear Members and Friends of St. John,
As I spend devotional time in the “Today’s
Light Bible”, my reading for February 13 included Exodus 16 and 17. God had delivered the children of Israel from
slavery in Egypt through His power shown in the Exodus. These chapters relate how the Lord then provides
food for His people. About a month into
the wilderness after leaving Egypt, these 600,000 men, plus their families,
need something to eat. At first the
people God had saved grumbled. "If only we had died by the
LORD's hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we
wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire
assembly to death." (Exodus 16:3)
God had helped them escape slavery, but now they needed food. Where would they find it? Their grumbling shows they doubted that God would
feed for them.
So, God taught His people by providing food. In the morning He gave bread from heaven,
called “manna.” The Lord gave quail for meat to the people in the evening. 12 "I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites.
Tell them, 'At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be
filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God.'" (Exodus 16:12)
But, God knew the people He saved would struggle to trust
The One who provided the food. God knows
that doubt and unbelief are common temptations to all people, even to those who
follow the Lord. So, in Exodus 16-17 God
patiently worked to teach His people to trust Him, because He does and He will
provide.
The Israelites were to gather the correct portion of
manna each day for each person in every tent and eat it all. They were to trust God to provide again the
next day and not try to gather extra manna and save some. But, even with these explicit instructions,
some of the people gathered extra manna and did try to save it. The next morning the manna they saved was
full of worms and stunk. (Exodus
16:19-20)
However, the Lord gave different instructions for the
Sabbath. God instructed the people of Israel to gather twice as much manna on
Friday mornings, so they would have enough food on Saturday and could rest on
the Sabbath. Even though God instructed them how to trust Him, some of the
people still went out on the Sabbath looking for manna. There was none. Again, they trusted their own wisdom, and
their own efforts, instead of following the instructions God had given. (Exodus 16:27)
In this lesson God was teaching the Israelites about
following Him. God wanted them to know
that He provides, and that they could and should trust Him. God also taught them that because He provides,
they could rest and they could worship on the Sabbath and trust His
provision. Trusting and obeying were
hard lessons for the Israelites to learn.
It is easy to look back on the people of Israel and
criticize their doubt and their disobedience. But, as I was reading, it struck me how much
all of us worry about providing for our own lives. We often forget that God is The Provider. We trust our efforts, and we doubt, or we even
forget that our Lord loves and cares for His people. (Consider just some of the verses in
Scripture about God providing. Genesis
22:13-14, 1 Kings 17, Matthew 5:44-45, Matthew 6:25-33).
However, in Jesus God gives even better news. He does not just provide for our “daily bread”
and temporal needs. The Lord provides for
our eternal welfare in Jesus. When God
sent Jesus, when Jesus lived and died and rose for us, God has accomplished
eternal life for all who believe in Jesus.
This eternal providing in Jesus should also remind us that God even provides
for our today, no matter our needs, no matter our trials. Listen to Romans 8:31-32. “31 What, then, shall we say in response to this?
If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son,
but gave him up for us all-- how will he not also, along with him, graciously
give us all things?”
The Christian faith is just that – it is faith. We are called on to trust God to provide food
and clothes. We are called on to trust God to provide protection and love. We are called on to trust God to provide forgiveness,
grace, and eternal life. But often our
faith is like that of the Israelites. We
find it hard to trust our Loving Lord. We
don’t see how our needs will be cared for.
So we also find it difficult to obey God’s loving direction.
The lesson that Exodus 16 has taught me again, is to pray for faith. I know God provides for me, now and eternally.
But sometimes, like the Israelites, I
forget. It is easy to forget that God
provides in the wilderness of this life.
Lord teach me the truth of 1 Peter
5:7. “Cast all your cares on Him, for He cares for you.”
A Child of God, Asking God’s Help to Always Trust His
Providing,
Pastor Jonathan
P.S. We went fishing in a new lake this past
Monday. We had trouble finding the lake,
but finally drilled holes with water. We
had no bites, and caught no fish. But there was some great winter beauty. https://photos.app.goo.gl/QKWkgK7e5D7sFsej6
P.P.S. On Thursday evening, February 7, as we sat
down to eat, our two dogs were feeling needy.
My dog, Mat, and Mary’s dog, Solomon, wanted some attention, or some
food. https://photos.app.goo.gl/hF9GRNnfQwHCMLXG8
******
ABOUT ‘THOUGHTS FROM THE PASTOR’ - I am
sending these e-mail messages, hopefully weekly, to all St. John members and
friends whose e-mails I have. (I am regularly adding new names of friends
and members – in case you are just receiving this e-mail for the first
time.) However, if you do not want to receive this e-mail, please let me
know, and I’ll gladly leave your name off my list for this message.
******
No comments:
Post a Comment