Being a Christian for years does not make me an exception. I believe as Christians, we face period of testing, trial and hardship in our lives. From what we have read so far: Israel has been brought out of the slavery of Egypt by the strong hand that causes judgement to Egypt through the 10 curses, the shed blood of lamb, and His miracle that leads Israel through the Red Sea, Israel then rejoice in songs because of the salvation that God gave. We too as Christian share similar story isn’t it? We too have been delivered from the bondage (or slavery) of sin, we then have been baptised in the name of God the father, Son and Holy Spirit, and we have joy in our hearts - we sing with all our hearts. But as what i have stated earlier, as we are now heading to meet Him face to face one day later, now we realise that we are living in a complex world: a world where trials and hardship are awaiting upon us - we might have a financial issues, relationship with parents/child or husband/wife, issues with friends, with our ministry, etc.
Here in Exodus 16, we saw Israel been about 45 days (verse 1 tells us the settings: 15 days of 2nd month after they have departed) in the desert began to grumbled against Moses and Aaron. Notice on verse 7 to 8 that what they grumbled on verse 3, is actually against God and not merely just against man (Moses or Aaron). This applies to us as well, that when we murmured or grumbled, it is not we against our pastor, or against our brother/sister, but it is against God. Now back to the problem here: Why did they grumbled is the question here. Is it something extraordinary? or humanly speaking it is something that’s natural for us human to grumble such thing? It is mentioned on verse 3 that the problem here is their stomach. Considering it was 600 thousands man walking through the desert (not including their wives and children), and again they have wandered for about 45 days, we can imagine they were running out of supply there.How can they live without food? they really need food. They even re-imagining their life in Egypt is far better than what they have right now (verse 2). But is that so? i think they did not remember how bad life is when they are under the slavery: they can have food but with hard labor, possibly some would die because of this hard labor because they become weak and weak each day, and also when they made a brick house, it was actually for Egyptians and not for them. In the midst of hardship and trials that they face, they fell in the deception that their old days was far better than life in the present. What about us? How often are we to fall into the same deception, to think that our old days when we are still under the slavery of sin is far better when we have known and received Jesus? Do we think that if we are not Christian we are free to do anything? and now since we are Christian, there are lots of rules that we must obey, we can’t easily get angry with people unlike the old days, we have to pay our transport ticket and can’t steal in. We fall into deception that Christian is a religion instead of a relationship! It is not common for new Christian to think that life before they received Christ is better: as if their old days did not have any struggle.
So now what was God’s reaction toward this? Did God get angry and kill Israelites? No. The truth is God loves them and that is why He saved them out of the bondage of Egypt. Egypt is far worse than what Israelites faced right now. There were no time of feasting, and there were no time of resting in Egypt, only slavery and hard labor. And if God has gone through all the way saving them from Egypt, surely He is going to sustain them. God hears their grumbling, God knows what they need and in verse 4 God said that He will provide them with bread from heaven. God provides them with meat and bread for them to eat. God is not limited by the desert condition. He is so powerful and beyond situation and condition that we may face. Does that relief us?
But verse 4 does not stop there, God’s provision here brings testing for Israelites. God gave instruction of gathering the manna. God gave such rule that each person must only take an omer every morning; and they can’t keep those until morning, and lastly on the 6th day they have to take it twice as much (2 omer) for sabbath. This testing (again verse 4) God says so that He could see whether Israelites follow God’s command or not. In other words, the purpose of God’s testing is to expose and to train Israelites: to expose Israel’s level of trust or commitment to God, and to train Israel to trust Him more and more. That same thing happen to us Christian, God provides us and He also test us so that we could be transformed to trust Him more and more (God-centered life).
It is very interesting why God gave Israel such rule above: Here from God’s instruction we can learn that by God instructs Israel to take an omer every morning, God trained Israel to rely on God everyday. And when God says that Israel can’t keep the food till morning, Israel was trained to trust God’s word and again God wants Israel to rely on God’s providence each day. About the 6th day, Israel was trained to trust God’s word that there won’t be any manna on the 7th day, and also here is another thing: God provides Israel the 7th day as a resting day for God - so that Israel could use that day to reflect God’s work for them, to praise God for His deliverance, and providence. God gave Israel a rest: isn’t this a thing that Israel could not have when they were under slavery of Egypt? Isn’t this is the thing that every slave wants? to have rest instead of hard labor?
From here do we see our lives sometimes just like what Israel did? We often does not trust God that He will provides us. We often worried too much for our future, we worried about our financial issues, that we make ourselves as a slave again by doing hard labor for money and thinking that we have to otherwise we can’t live or we can’t live comfortably. Here in the desert, God disciplines Israel to have faith on Him. Our past, present and future is in the hands of God, and He wants us to have faith in Him. Another interesting fact here from verse 31 that manna taste like honey. The question is: what makes this significant? God has promised in Exodus 3:8 and Exodus 13:5 that He will bring Israel to the land full of honey and milk, and manna is given everyday for 40 years (verse 35) until they enter the promised land. Do you see what God did to Israel here? God does not just provide Israel with food, but He also gave Israel a taste of the future. He promised good thing to Israel so that Israel may see His work and glorify Him.
Now when we see this passage, we can see that our God is a God who provides:
1. He provides manna to show that He is God that provides our daily needs.
In Matthew 6, Jesus taught His disciples to pray “Give us today our daily bread”. Jesus assumed that we are living in wilderness just like Israel in the desert, and therefore teach us to ask God the great provider to sustain us each day.
2. He provides sabbath to show that He is God that provides rest.
A Rest so that we are free from the bondage of slavery, and for us today we are free from the bondage of sin. We are delivered from slavery to worship Him. This sabbath day is a glimpse to the future. It is a taste of future just like manna that one day we will have a full rest to meet him face to face, to be free from this evil world, to worship Him and enjoying Him forever.
What about us today? the story above does not tell about Jesus. But let us reflect ourselves for our devotion: Who is Jesus for us? For me, i can relate who Jesus is with this story. Jesus is my savior, which means:
3. Jesus as savior shows to us that God provides Himself.
This is so that we can have the bread of life that Jesus once said in John 6:48-51 after He fed the multitude. He spoke: “48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. 50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” Manna kept you going for a day. but Jesus gives eternal life. How? On the cross He will be broken apart like bread. His death will bring us life. Jesus doesn’t just provide things for us but who provides His very self. We cannot doubt that He is for us and will provide when we look to the cross.
To close, i’d like to share a saying from an african bishops named unknown. He says that he never knew Christ was all he needed until Christ was all he had. This saying does gives me deep sentiment, for me to reflect that when we are in times where we face trials, hardship or testing, often those are the times that God used to make us realise that He is the great provider. God may teach us that apart all the things may happen, Jesus is all we need. Everything is phenomenal, and we should be content to have Jesus that has saved us. If Jesus is all we have, Jesus is all we need. Daily dependence with God, Seeking enough for the day, not hoarding. Do not be worry about tomorrow. Trusting the LORD’s future provision and so being able to rest (Sabbath).
~ Paul Hartono
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