Exodus 16:13-2613And it came to pass, that at even the quails came up, and covered the camp: and in the morning the dew lay round about the host. 14And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground. 15And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat. 16This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded, Gather of it every man according to his eating, an omer for every man, according to the number of your persons; take ye every man for them which are in his tents. 17And the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less. 18And when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating. 19And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning. 20Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank: and Moses was wroth with them. 21And they gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating: and when the sun waxed hot, it melted. 22And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. 23And he said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the Lord: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning. 24And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein. 25And Moses said, Eat that to day; for to day is a sabbath unto the Lord: to day ye shall not find it in the field. 26Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none. (Exodus 16:13‑26).
THE manna had to be gathered early or it melted away with the heat of the sun. No doubt there is a lesson for us in this. The way we can "gather the -manna" now, is by reading the Word of God, which brings Christ before us, and therefore we ought to read it every morning. If we put it off until the cares of the day overtake us, like the rising sun in the wilderness, we will find that it is too late and we shall not get the same good from it, It will have "melted away" like the manna in the camp of Israel.
Perhaps some of our readers find that there is a great rush in the morning, getting ready for school or work, and you feel as though you did not have time. Let us urge you to take time to get this important food for your soul. You may not have time to read very much, but be sure to read some. The children of Israel did not all gather the same amount, but they gathered according to their eating, and those who measured it up with another, found that they had no lack. "He that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack." The important thing for them was to gather it, and then measure it, and so the important thing for us is, first to read the Word, and then meditate upon it. They had to take the manna handful by handful and measure it into their orner, which is the equivalent of about, five pints, and so if we take what we have read and apply it to our need for the day, we shall get the blessing too.
There is something else we should also notice here: they were especially commanded that none of it was to be left over until the next morning, except on the Sabbath. If they tried to keep it, which some of them did, it bred worms and had a horrible smell. This would show us that we cannot read two chapters today, and expect it to do for tomorrow as well. What we read today will not do for tomorrow any more than eating two dinners today would nourish our bodies for two days, in the proper way. If we are well, we need a dinner each day, and so we need a fresh portion each day from God's precious Word. Just as the manna which was kept over developed an unpleasant smell, so there is nothing so dry and unpleasant as to hear a person speaking about some truth which he got hold of a long time ago, but which he is nut in the good of at the present time.
The children of Israel could, however, keep the manna over for the sabbath day. They were told to gather twice as much the day before, in order that they should have enough for the Sabbath, for it did not fall on the Sabbath. We will speak a little about the Sabbath and why we keep the first day, instead in our next paper, To us the first day of the week is the Lord's day. and we should do our "gathering of the manna" during the week, perhaps more particularly the day before, so that we can enjoy what we have gathered as we meet around His table on the Lord's day. Then too, we can use some of it during the remainder of the day in happy service for Him.
Messages of God’s Love 7/3/1949