The Israelites, now free, still managed to find something to complain about to God, their hunger in the wilderness. But God doing what He does, provided for them. In Exodus 16:11-16, we see how God chooses to respond to these rather ungrateful people.
The Lord tells Moses, "I have heard the complaints of the Israelites. Tell them: At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will eat bread until you are full. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God." In the evening, quail came and covered the camp. And in the morning, a layer of dew surrounded the camp. When the dew evaporated, there was a fine flake-like thing on the ground. When the Israelites saw it, they asked, "What is it?" because they didn't know what it was. And Moses answered them, "It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat. This is what the Lord has commanded - 'Gather as much of it as each person needs to eat. You may take a couple quarts per individual, according to the number of people each of you has in his tent.' "
Look at God's love in response to these complainers. If someone is griping about us, what food would we give them? How hard would we make them work for it? I imagine that after a night of complaining and arguing, not many spouses have ever received breakfast in bed. It's more likely a note saying there's cereal in the pantry and milk in the fridge. But God is much more loving and compassionate than we can ever be. He provided the food right outside their camp ready to eat. He was still loving, still kind, still caring even while the people complained.
If God was going to lay this buffet out on the ground each morning, why was He then so specific in how much everyone was allowed to gather and eat? "In short because we are sinful and when we are allowed to have everything that we want, we begin to forget the One who has given everything to us. We begin to think that we are self-sufficient, but we were never meant to live that way." Food and nourishment is a need, and God is teaching the Israelites to trust Him for their daily needs. We are dependent on God for our existence. Today we have so many books and coaches who want to teach people how to do it all on their own and be successful when everyone turns their back on you, and there are some great stories about that. But, "the goal of the Christian life is not to learn how to help ourselves, but to grow in ever-deepening dependence on our all sufficient God and savior.
God is the most loving father figure we can ever have. He provides for all of our needs even when we can be hard to love. He provided our greatest need, that of salvation, before we ever turned to Him, sacrificed to Him, loved Him, or even acknowledged Him. Romans 5:8 tells us, "While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Take the time today to see what all God has provided for you and I imagine that will drive you to a greater love and thankfulness of who He truly is, our great provider.
The Lord tells Moses, "I have heard the complaints of the Israelites. Tell them: At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will eat bread until you are full. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God." In the evening, quail came and covered the camp. And in the morning, a layer of dew surrounded the camp. When the dew evaporated, there was a fine flake-like thing on the ground. When the Israelites saw it, they asked, "What is it?" because they didn't know what it was. And Moses answered them, "It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat. This is what the Lord has commanded - 'Gather as much of it as each person needs to eat. You may take a couple quarts per individual, according to the number of people each of you has in his tent.' "
Look at God's love in response to these complainers. If someone is griping about us, what food would we give them? How hard would we make them work for it? I imagine that after a night of complaining and arguing, not many spouses have ever received breakfast in bed. It's more likely a note saying there's cereal in the pantry and milk in the fridge. But God is much more loving and compassionate than we can ever be. He provided the food right outside their camp ready to eat. He was still loving, still kind, still caring even while the people complained.
If God was going to lay this buffet out on the ground each morning, why was He then so specific in how much everyone was allowed to gather and eat? "In short because we are sinful and when we are allowed to have everything that we want, we begin to forget the One who has given everything to us. We begin to think that we are self-sufficient, but we were never meant to live that way." Food and nourishment is a need, and God is teaching the Israelites to trust Him for their daily needs. We are dependent on God for our existence. Today we have so many books and coaches who want to teach people how to do it all on their own and be successful when everyone turns their back on you, and there are some great stories about that. But, "the goal of the Christian life is not to learn how to help ourselves, but to grow in ever-deepening dependence on our all sufficient God and savior.
God is the most loving father figure we can ever have. He provides for all of our needs even when we can be hard to love. He provided our greatest need, that of salvation, before we ever turned to Him, sacrificed to Him, loved Him, or even acknowledged Him. Romans 5:8 tells us, "While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Take the time today to see what all God has provided for you and I imagine that will drive you to a greater love and thankfulness of who He truly is, our great provider.
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