Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:04] Speaker B: Welcome to Hope for Today, a weekly Bible teaching program that will bring you hope for every day.
Seven years ago, there was a new baby in our house. We were thankful God blessed us with a healthy baby boy. My wife and I were excited to have another child and and we did our best to care for him. Like all babies, there were many things he needed and as a baby he could do very little for himself. We fed him, bathed him, changed him, and at first we really did everything for him.
Yes, he had ways of letting us know what he needed, but as soon as we knew we would do our best to help him.
As new parents, we were thrilled to help our son. We wanted to provide for him and help him in everything we could.
This example gives us a glimpse of God's heart. Just like we wanted to provide and care for our child, God wants to provide and care for his children.
2 Chronicles 16:9 says, for the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to him.
The prophet Hanani said this to King Asa. However, this has always been God's heart. This verse gives me the idea that God is looking, searching for those who trust Him. Then when he finds someone, he's right there to help. Just like the first few days our son was home, we were there as soon as we heard the smallest noise.
I am sure God is a much better parent than we were, but but just like we as parents wanted to provide and care for our son, so God loves to provide and care for his children.
If you can turn with us to Exodus 16 today we will see God's unique provision for the children of Israel.
We are so glad you joined us. Now let's go with Bible teacher J. Mark horse to Exodus 16.
[00:02:13] Speaker A: You know, we human beings have a problem.
Too many of us take undue pride in our own achievements, and we give too little credit to God.
We somehow feel that because of our abilities we can make it on our own.
We forget that God is the one who gave us our abilities. He's the One who gives us the power to earn a living, even the One who gives us the very breath that we breathe. But our pride makes us reluctant to give God any kind of credit.
We forget that it's his open hand of mercy that feeds every living creature. The psalmist clearly tells us that were it not for the Lord's mercies, you and I would be consumed. The end would be upon us if God didn't continue to extend his mercy to all living Creatures everywhere. And so it's important for you and me to recognize God's gracious provision for us.
In Exodus chapter 16 and verses 13 to 21, there's an account of how God provided for his people.
God does provide, and he does it beautifully, faithfully, effectively, and abundantly. And so I want you to listen as I read this text, Exodus 16, beginning with verse 13.
And it came to pass that at evening the quails came up and covered the camp. And in the morning the dew lay round about the host.
And 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.
And when the children of Israel saw it, they said to each other, it is manna. Because they did not know what it was.
And Moses said to them, this is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat.
This is the thing which the Lord has commanded.
Gather of it every man according to his eating. And omer, that's a quantity measure, and omer, for every man according to the number of your persons. Take every man for them which are in his tents.
And the children of Israel did so, and gathered some more, some less. And when they measured it with an omer, he who had gathered much had nothing over, and he who had gathered little had had no lack. They gathered every man according to his eating.
And Moses said, let no one leave of it till the morning, Notwithstanding some people did not listen to Moses. But some of them left of it until the morning. And it bred worms and stank, and Moses was angry with them.
And so they gathered it every morning, every man, according to his eating. And. And when the sun grew hot, it melted.
In this text from Exodus, we find the proofs that God does provide.
And while this experience has to do with the children of Israel, it has a personal application for all of us who are children of God.
Adequate proof of God's provision is shown in the heavenly bread that he gave to them.
This was a special provision that God made for his people Israel.
There was no grain available.
Wheat and barley we know don't grow in the wilderness. There were no vineyards. There were no olive groves. Only palm trees and a bit of grass can be seen today in that wilderness. And that's at the oases, and they are few and far between.
So food had to be a miracle from the Lord, especially for a crowd that size.
So we're told that the dew came down, and in the morning, when that dew evaporated, it left behind small seed like things on the ground, like hoarfrost.
So it came by a miracle. It came from the clouds, as though the people of Israel were living on air.
Now there's no evidence of where it came from, but God was providing this special food for them. It was heavenly bread and it was simple bread. It came down from heaven, but it wasn't anything complex.
It looked like little balls of frost on the ground.
So there were no fancies or luxuries about this. This was not a multi course meal or some sweet dessert.
No, this was a necessary staple of life. It would supply their daily need and it would provide their total nutritional need.
It was the kind of thing people could live on and it gave them the energy they needed to perform their work and to continue on their journey to Canaan.
It met their needs. Nothing more, nothing less.
They called this heavenly bread manna because they didn't know what it was, but they recognized that it was sent by the gracious provision of God.
God does provide. He provides for the ordinary with very simple things. And so the manna was a simple way of providing for their needs at this particular time in their history.
God means for you and me to have the basic necessities of life.
So he provides and sometimes he provides in miraculous ways.
That provision helps us to see how he cares for our needs.
And then there's adequate proof of God's provision also shown in the daily bread.
Jesus taught the disciples to pray. Give us this day our daily bread.
That is how God provided for his people. Here they would go out in the morning and gather what they needed. And they were not supposed to gather more than they needed or less than they needed.
The people who needed more gathered more if they had a larger family. And the people who needed less gathered less because they were instructed to gather according to the number of people that were part of their household.
An omer was the quantity prescribed for each person. And that's about a liter or a liter and a half.
So here we have the daily bread according to need, not according to wants.
And did you notice they couldn't provide for the next day for tomorrow? It was the daily experience. They had to gather the manna every morning.
They gathered it and measured it on a daily basis. And that was to teach them to trust in the Lord. Isn't it beautiful to see how the Lord provided for them on a daily basis?
The Lord provided what they were supposed to gather.
But then God didn't do all the work for them. He gave them the manna in a form that they could use, but they had to prepare it for eating. That left some responsibility for them. And you know, God still operates that way. He does not provide completely, but he provides sufficiently so that each one can have their needs met on a daily basis.
It was that way back in the Garden of Eden, when Adam was first created. The Lord told him that he was to keep and to dress the garden. That was work. And as a result of that work, he could eat of all the fruit of the trees in the garden, of course, except that one tree that was forbidden to him.
God provided for the needs of the children of Israel. But they needed to gather the manna and then prepare it. I believe that teaches us that God intends you and me to work for our daily food.
We're not simply to depend on Him. We have responsibility too.
When God provides for us, he expects us to be actively responsible to gather together what we may need.
Let's remember that God expects us to be diligent in gathering what he provides. Our existence is to be a daily walk of faith, believing that God will provide for every need in every circumstance.
So. So we must trust him every day so that he can provide us with those necessary things of life, even if it's only the common things, such as our daily bread. But God does provide, and you and I need to thank and praise him for that.
And then adequate proof of God's provision is also shown in the sufficient bread.
Let me emphasize for you again that the manna they gathered was only for one day.
Moses said, don't leave any of it until the morning. In other words, no leftovers, because what was left over couldn't be eaten.
Now we read that some of the people didn't listen to Moses. They kept some over from the previous day until the morning. And it became wormy and it smelled bad.
And so Moses was angry with them because they did not listen to him, but more because they did not listen to God. But I believe for most of those people, one lesson was enough. They weren't going to try that again.
God prepared the manna that way to teach them that every day had its sufficient bread. It was sufficient for that day and that day alone.
When the sun came up in the morning and the frost evaporated, what was left on the ground that had not been gathered and wasn't needed? It melted away.
It was a miracle that God sent to his people every day. God was providing for them in a beautiful way. They needed to recognize his sufficient care for them.
They needed to recognize that he was giving them sufficient bread.
He was able day by day to provide for their needs.
You know, there's a delicate balance between recognizing God's daily and sufficient care and our responsibility to look ahead into the future for possible needs that are now not seen.
In this particular case, God wanted the children of Israel to learn that he had sufficient quantity, sufficient supply for them every day.
They didn't need to worry about tomorrow because tomorrow would take care of itself. God would be there again the next morning to provide sufficiently for their daily needs.
I believe there's a precious lesson here for you and me.
God provides and supplies the needs of all his creatures. But as I said at the beginning, our problem is so often that we do not recognize God's hand of provision.
We think too much of our own achievements and we don't give God enough credit for what he does.
And so I appeal to you to make God truly personal in your life so that his daily care becomes your sufficient provision.
Now he will not come to us with manna raining it down from heaven, but he has provided for us in such a way that we can gather a sufficient quantity to meet our needs.
God means for us to be responsible, to do the things we ought to do in providing for ourselves from the abundance he has given.
It's wonderful how the Lord provides in such sufficient ways for all of our needs.
So here we have the proofs that God does provide heavenly bread, daily bread and sufficient bread. He gave his people all they needed, but no more.
I urge you to come and trust in the One who still provides in such abundant and such appropriate ways.
[00:13:02] Speaker B: Thanks J. Mark for this teaching and thank you for joining us. We trust our time together has been a blessing. If you would like this teaching or if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us. Here are a few ways you can contact us. The best way is via email. Our email is hopeheraldsofhope.org if you don't have email you can send us a letter. Our address is HopeFor Today, Box 3, Breezewood, PA 15533 or you can connect with us on our website. Our website is heraldsofhope.org on our website you will find more teaching like this and other helpful resources. Please look around while you're there. If you go to the Connect tab you can message us directly. Again, Our website is heraldsofhope.com thank you so much for being with us. We look forward to next week and hope you will join us then. As we continue our study in Exodus. I will part with an encouraging thought from Joel. Chapter 2 Then you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel. I am the Lord your God. And there is no other blessings as you serve our great king.
