No Walmart, no Costco and plenty of empty stomachs! (Exodus 16)The Israelites couldn’t even find a 7 eleven. Naturally they began to complain that life was better in Egypt where their masters provided everything they needed for their pitiful existence. (Exodus 16:3)The fact that they had no freedom, no rights and could suffer all types of imaginable abuse without any protection was incidental. The point is that they had plenty to eat as long as they depended on their Egyptian masters.
Why had God taken His people to the middle of the dessert and given them nothing to eat? The Israelites had grown dependent on their cruel masters. It was time for them to learn to depend on their God, the God who with His mighty hand freed them and whose purpose was to make a great nation of them in the Promise land.
In the desert there was nothing. No distraction, no help, and no way for the Israelites to provide for themselves. It was a wasteland perfectly designed to cause God’s people to look to heaven for help. Sometimes in our lives we too are going through the desert or wasteland. Life seems to offer little hope. We are starving for the satisfaction of some of our most basic needs, such as love, health, comfort, companionship, perhaps food and even a roof over our head. Only God can save us and we finally turn to Him.
It is no wonder that God made it necessary for the Israelites to freshly gather manna every day. They could not save for the next day and were forced to repeat the same lesson of dependency on their divine maker. God is the most remarkable teacher. It took more than a generation but the Israelites did learn to trust in God and a mighty nation of faith was formed, able to conquer the promise land. God is still making men and women of faith, capable of great achievements. But to do this we must pass through the wilderness of pain, problems and challenges, where there is little that can be found. Alas we are left alone and must learn to turn to the one that will forever be faithful and will never leave us. He will supply every need as the shepherd boy said “The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want.” (Psalm 23:1)
Related articles
- Are you thankful for your Manna? (chasing23.wordpress.com)
- Foreshadowing Christ, part II – Water from the Rock(matthewjabate.wordpress.com)
- Sustenance in the Desert (liveoutlife.com)
- Exodus 16 (onethingonechapter.wordpress.com)
- Exodus 16: More grumbling and manna (bloomingbadlands.wordpress.com)
- Pondering: Between Despair and Hope (thoughtsfromthehorizon.wordpress.com)
- Sunday (March 9): “You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.”(shechina.wordpress.com)
- Quail Your Appetite (somejesusthings.wordpress.com)
- Exodus 14-16 (jasondrenning.wordpress.com)
- Day 24- Exodus 16 (365daysoffocus.wordpress.com)
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