Maybe you remember the Bible story of God’s promise to give the children of Israel the land of Canaan. It had rich soil which would grow good crops.
The people did not believe God, and they grumbled and complained. So God delayed the blessing and caused their wandering trip to Canaan to take 40 long years. During that time, He fed all those people in the waste and unfriendly wilderness without any fields of grain, vegetable gardens or imported food. How could He do this? It would be an impossible problem for us, but it was no problem to God. We would never have guessed how God fed all those people, a million of them, if He had not told us.
God said, I will rain bread from heaven for you. He told the people to go out and gather a certain amount every day. The next morning the dew lay on the ground all around their camp. After the dew dried up, there was a small round thing on the surface of the ground. What is it? the people asked. In their language, the word was “manna.” Moses explained to them, This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat.
This was a surprise! They could not be lazy, because a million people made a very large camp. And they had a long way to walk to the land beyond their tents where the manna lay on the ground. The Bible describes the manna as being like coriander seed. (Coriander seed is round and about this size – O – about 1/8 inch in diameter.) So it was steady work to gather a day’s supply for a hungry family. Probably everyone helped, even the children. It had to be gathered early, because once the sun was hot, it melted and was gone! Don’t keep any extra manna overnight, Moses told them. Gather it fresh every morning.
But surely it doesn’t matter if we sleep in a little longer, some of them said. There was something in their hearts that said, “We don’t have to obey Moses. He’s 80 years old!” You may understand this disobedient feeling, because it is right there in your heart too. Why can’t I have my own way? I don’t have to do what the Bible says!
So some of them gathered enough to eat for two days so they could rest the next morning. But in the morning, those families looked into the pot of yesterday’s manna and . . . it smelled awful and was crawling with worms! They had to throw it out and go hungry that day.
Didn’t they know better than to choose their own way? It never works to disobey God. It might seem to for a while, but God knows all things, and His way is right. To choose your own way is not only foolish; it is sin! But in His mercy, God gave them fresh manna the next morning, and His mercy is the same for you right now. Do you know how much He loves you and how perfect His ways are?
Then Moses had another command: There will be no manna on the seventh day (Saturday, their holy Sabbath day). Gather twice as much on Friday. This could be baking day, or they could boil the manna or leave it fresh. It made no difference, because it would keep over Saturday, even if the weather were warm. The seventh day was a day of good food without hard work.
But isn’t one day as good as another? Even if you are a Christian, you may think that you can choose your own way and your own time of receiving God’s blessings. Some of the people thought that same way, and they went out with their empty pots to gather manna on Saturday, the Sabbath, and there wasn’t any! They came home hungry. The lesson is simply . . . let God make the choices. He knows our needs better than we do, and His timing is perfect. We can find out what His choices are by reading His Word, the Bible, and “listening” to His voice as you read.
God does not command us to stop working on the seventh day. Not now. It was on the first day of the week (Sunday) that our Lord Jesus rose from the dead, and on that day we love to remember Him. He looks for a loving response in your heart, since He gave His life for you. The answer, “I don’t care,” or, “Some other day” will leave you empty and hungry in your heart, even if you are a Christian. Listen to the Word of God, and let Him make your choices.
You may be wondering about the need of clothes and shoes for all those people during those 40 years of walking. That’s another miracle from God’s supply: Their shoes and clothes never wore out!
Do you see what a God we have? Why not trust Him now and forever! “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding” (Proverbs 3:55Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5)).
ML-03/05/2017