WATCH TODAY’S EPISODE ON YOUTUBE.
CONSECRATION
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Jesus, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.
Jesus, we belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
THE WORD OF THE LORD
Exodus 16:13–21 ESV
In the evening quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning dew lay around the camp. And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground. When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat. This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat. You shall each take an omer, according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent.’” And the people of Israel did so. They gathered, some more, some less. But when they measured it with an omer, whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat. And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it over till the morning.” But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. Morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as he could eat; but when the sun grew hot, it melted.
CONSIDER THIS . . .
What if they advertised manna at the Super Bowl? Would anyone buy it?
When Jesus teaches his disciples the model prayer that we now call the Lord’s Prayer, he includes this phrase: “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matt. 6:11).
Jesus is, of course, drawing on this story about the wonderful supply of manna that the Lord provided to the Israelites during their forty-year sojourn in the desert. (Manna is Hebrew for “What is it?”) The point is that just as the Lord provided for the Israelites, so does he provide for us today.
Just think about the lessons the Israelites are learning as they gather the manna each morning:
- The Lord sees their need and meets it;
- The Lord gives them just what they need for that day—tomorrow it will happen again;
- There is no need to hoard, because there is just the right amount for all;
- They must learn to focus on the day at hand;
- They have to learn to control their desires for excess and their fears for the future.
There is plenty for everyone. And God provides just because, not because people deserve it.
If you don’t use the manna, it spoils! Financial plenty is meant to be used!
I like how Leon Kass puts it, keeping in mind the experience of Egypt out of which Israel has been delivered:
In all these respects, the provision of manna in the wilderness stands as a correction of agricultural Egypt, where land ownership was centralized, inequalities were everywhere, acquisitiveness knew no respite, excesses were hoarded, the multitudes sold themselves into slavery to survive, neighbor fought with neighbor, and one man ruled over all as if he were god—eventually leading his entire people to destruction.1
Those are lessons worth learning today, aren’t they?
We are in the lead-up to the Super Bowl. The big game is Sunday evening and millions of eyeballs will be turned not just to the football, but to the commercials! And what will the message of nearly every one of those commercials be? You do not have enough. You need more. You are incomplete. You need what we have.
Meanwhile, the voice of the Lord is calling: Trust me. I will provide for today, and when tomorrow comes, I’ll provide then too.
This weekend, which message are we going to listen to?
See, God wants to not only take people out of Egypt. He also wants to take Egypt out of the people.
PRAYER
Lord, give us today our daily bread. And teach us to trust you for tomorrow too. Lord, you have given us light and life today. Thank you for the breath you so readily provide and the abundance all around us. Teach us to see your gifts more clearly and what it means to gratefully receive them. Most of all, Lord, teach us to be content in you.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
JOURNAL PROMPTS
- Is there a particular place in your life today where you are doubting the Lord’s provision?
- What would it look like if you totally trusted that God would provide what you needed?
- Where, specifically, do you need to thank God for his provision in your life?
SING
Today, we will sing “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us” (Hymn 93) from the Seedbed hymnal, Our Great Redeemer’s Praise.
For the Awakening,
Andrew Forrest
NOTES
- Leon R. Kass, Founding God’s Nation: Reading Exodus (Yale University Press, 2021).
Andrew Forrest is the senior pastor of Asbury Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Raised in West Africa and Virginia, he is a third-generation pastor and church planter. He blogs at AndrewForrest.org.
5 Responses
Last I checked everything is for sale. Although we can get food stamps, you still have to pay a lot of money for super bowl tickets, and tickets for many other venues. So we wonder why money becomes the focus? It’s not. The things that money buys become the focus because we have to buy everything that we need. Salvation? Well that’s free. It’s just that that may give us our comfort between us and God. But it doesn’t necessarily give us comfort in our daily lives when it comes to food shelter and clothing. And it doesn’t necessarily mean that our wives won’t hate on us. In fact sometimes our wives will hate us because we’re poor. And yes even wives that are Christian and go to church every sunday. The whole thing is a mess from pulpit to toilet. But I’m not nihilistic. I still believe that kindness and love and forgiveness is a worthwhile endeavor.
All the realities of scarcity thinking are diminished to nothing when I am trained in abundance thinking.
Do you need a friend Jeff? Email me and I will give you my cell number.
[email protected].
Lets become friends and encourage each other.
“What is it?” Eat the bread of direct revelation from the living God to your heart every single day! (John 6:48-51) There is plenty for everyone. Whosoever will let him come and partake. (Revelation 22:17)
What is the leaf that can live in and grow in a human heart? “Belief.” Faith can not only grow in your heart. If it’s carefully and continually cultivated it will flourish there.
Believing in Jesus is much more powerful than mere mental assent to religious doctrines. It goes far beyond acknowledging the things that Jesus said and did. Faith is so much more than being intellectually persuaded by the case for Christ.
The kind of belief that the Bible is referring to in John 3:16 isn’t based on information in the head. It’s built on the rock of direct revelation from God (Matthew 16:17-18) that makes His word burn the human heart. (Luke 24;32)) True belief goes far beyond what physical eyes and ears can see and hear. It is supernaturally revealed to the eyes and ears of the heart. (1 Corinthians 2:8-10)
Faith depends and relies on the existence of God (Hebrews 11:6) not on mere human understanding or self-effort. (Zechariah 4:6) True belief trusts that God will bless those who diligently seek His face. (2 Chronicles 7:14)
Belief can’t be taught classroom style, but it can be shared and demonstrated. Belief becomes contagious when people humbly and tenderly open their heart to testify (Revelation 12:11) and allow others to see and hear the reality of the supernatural faith in God that is living and working deep inside of them. (Philippians 2:13)
If you need to fly somewhere and think that a plane can take you there, if you really believe you will get on board and surrender your all to the pilot and the plane. True belief is nothing less than surrendering your all to the risen Jesus and relying on His presence (Colossians 1:27) to lead you and direct you throughout each day. (Romans 8:14)
The Bible indicates that Jesus wants His followers to be disciples who demonstrate true faith by the way they live, (John 8:31) not religious spectators. He wants them to be God’s family, (1 John 3:1-2) not a passive audience. He wants them to teach one another, (Colossians 3:16) to encourage one another, (1 Thessalonians 5:11) and to bear one another’s burdens, (Galatians 6:2) not to just to passively attend church. However, if you want to be an active participant and “doer of the word” instead of a spectator, (James 1:22) there’s a good chance that your living reliance on the risen Jesus will be labeled as rebellion.
Good morning, Andrew! Thank you for being with us this morning and for the next couple of weeks. I am excited as well. Taking Egypt out of the people is so obvious now that you have pointed it out. I will be praying for whatever my Egypt is to be removed.
Taking the Egypt out of the people also seems to be a daily thing. Just like the manna is a daily thing. What lessons as a people we still need to learn and practice and except daily to overcome ourselves and see that the LORD loves us and is very much watching over us daily. Thank you for this wonderful heart-opening (and head-opening) lesson today.