Face To FaithSample

There are a lot of questions I’m going to ask Jesus when I get to Heaven, but do you know what one of them is? I’m going to ask Him whether He was thinking of Exodus 16 when He taught the Lord’s Prayer, saying, “Give us this day our daily bread.”

See, Exodus 16 is where the people of Israel are introduced to manna. There is no better example of “daily bread” than the manna that the Lord daily gave to the people of Israel, and we can learn a lot from that story. First of all, God, through Moses, told them to gather a cer- tain amount every day, no more, no less. Gather this certain amount for every person in your tent. And God’s promise on that was that he who gathered much would not have too much and he who gathered little would not go hungry. It really was amazing, because that means the food either evaporated or multiplied depending on need.

Here’s the problem—the people didn’t trust Moses; they didn’t trust God. They gathered what they would for their families, but instead of eating it all that day, they kept some for the next day. It’s like they doubted that God would be faithful to them and give them the bread tomorrow that He gave them today. But when they kept the bread overnight, they found in the morning that it had worms and stunk.

That’s so true for us, too. When we don’t trust God with our lives, that’s when our lives begin to stink. And when I say “trust God,” I mean that we are allowing Him to lead us, we’re following Him, obeying Him, doing what He says we should do. Just as He told Israel not to save any, but when they disobeyed, that’s when things began to rot and stink.

And in case they missed the point, God did something different to make it abundantly clear. See, on the day before the Sabbath, the people were to gather enough for two days and keep half for the Sabbath so that they wouldn’t have to gather on that day. Those who obeyed found that what would have rotten and stunk on any other day of the week was amazingly, perfectly whole and fresh on the Sabbath, and those who disobeyed found that no manna came and they were forced to go hungry.

The point of it all that God was trying to get across is that life stinks and lacks when we don’t pay attention to God’s words, but that blessings come with obedience. Are you listening today?

Prayer
Lord God,
Thank You for giving us such a clear picture of what happens when we obey Your voice, and what happens when we don’t! Please help me to always keep my heart open to You, following and obeying You in everything You say.
Amen