Bread of Life

[0:00] Please open your Bibles to the book of Etzis, chapter 16. Etzis, chapter 16.

[0:21] We'll begin reading verse 1 and read to verse 20. And while you're looking there, let me just say that you are the quietest and most stationary people that I've preached to in the last week.

[0:33] Thank you. You may notice my voice is a little hoarse. A lot of speaking, not much amplification, and having to speak over some smaller voices in the crowd.

[0:45] So bear with me with my voice. I feel like the Lord really strengthened it again. I'd almost lost it and God's given it again, so he's been gracious. Let's read beginning in verse 1.

[0:58] They set out from Elam and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elam and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt.

[1:13] And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the people of Israel said to them, Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into the wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.

[1:37] Then the Lord said to Moses, Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may test them whether they will walk in my law or not.

[1:55] On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily. So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, At evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

[2:10] And in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord, for what are we that you grumble against us? And Moses said, When the Lord gives you in the evening meat to eat, and in the morning bread to the full, because the Lord has heard your grumbling, that you grumble against him, what are we?

[2:34] Your grumbling is not against us, but against the Lord. Then Moses said to Aaron, Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, Come near before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.

[2:46] And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. And the Lord said to Moses, I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel.

[3:02] Say to them, At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God. In the evening, Quill came up and covered the camp, and in the morning dew lay around the camp.

[3:17] 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?

[3:32] 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 of you as much as he can eat.

[3:46] You shall take, sorry, 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.

[3:59] 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.

[4:15] 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. Let's pray together.

[4:29] Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word and pray that you would help us now as we open that word, that it would be by your spirit's power, and that you would give us understanding to comprehend the meaning of what takes place here.

[4:41] Lord, we ask that you'd be glorified in the preaching of your word, and that you would also work in your people's hearts to edify them, and Lord, even to work in the hearts of those who don't know you to draw them unto yourself.

[4:52] We pray this in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. So last time in Exodus was two weeks ago, but we saw that the people of Israel grumbled because of lack of water.

[5:06] They had wandered for three days following God's leadership, three days without any water. The water ran out, and when they finally make it to a spring, they find the water was bitter.

[5:20] And so they grumbled. They complained. And God very graciously allows for Moses to do probably something quite miraculous, throw in a stick or a log into the water, and it turned sweet, so they were able to drink it.

[5:36] Then we read there at the end of our last passage that they wandered from there. God led them to Elam, and Elam was a place that had 12 springs, 70 palm trees.

[5:48] It was a very luscious area, and so they seemed to stay there for quite a while. You may remember as we followed the journeys of them, they left on the 15th day of the first month of the year.

[6:00] Now we see we've come to the 15th day of the second month, and so based on how much time has passed, they could have spent around three weeks there in Elam, living there by the springs in an oasis.

[6:12] Life was probably really good for them for three weeks, but now they go deeper into the wilderness. I just want to point out that I know it says the wilderness of sin. I have seen some commentators and pastors that made a lot out of the idea that it says the wilderness of sin.

[6:28] There is no reference whatsoever to our English word of sin. It would not have been there. The only connection that would be made would be in English for that kind of thing, and that's not what's intended.

[6:40] Rather, as you think about the wilderness of sin, they're heading into the Sinai Peninsula. You see sin in the same word. The wilderness of sin is just a region of Sinai, and so it's indicating they're headed toward Mount Sinai.

[6:54] They're headed in that direction. no reference to the idea that they were in a place of sin or anything of that nature. The point really is that they're going deeper into the wilderness where there will be fewer resources.

[7:08] They're leaving the springs that they've lived by for three weeks to wander into the wilderness. And so what I want us to see today, the two points before we get really to our application, is just to see they're grumbling, more grumbling, and then to see how the Lord responds to the Lord's provision.

[7:27] So verses 2 through 3, we see them expressing that they are dying of hunger. They talk as though God brought them out or Moses and Aaron brought them out to die in the wilderness for lack of food.

[7:41] But we will see in chapter 17 that they still have livestock. It's not as though they were starving yet. There was still the possibility of meat. There's livestock they could have killed of their own. But it seems to be the case that they're beginning to be worried about where they are and they think they're not going to be taken care of.

[7:57] They've been slaves for so many years and though life was hard, they were at least taken care of. They weren't having to provide for themselves. And so they're worried now.

[8:09] Psalm 78 talks about it being a craving that they have. The desire, they wanted something. Maybe a way of expressing that might be, I kind of resonate with this.

[8:20] If you've ever, I mean, just imagine having to go without meat for a while. All of a sudden, now they're craving something. They really want a big juicy steak. You know, they desire one.

[8:30] They haven't had one in a while and so they're desirous of it. Here's Psalm 78, 18 and 30. It says, they tested God in their heart by demanding the food that they craved.

[8:41] But before they had satisfied their craving, while the food was still in their mouths. And so I'll just point that out because the second reference may actually be to another time that's recounted in numbers.

[8:52] But before they had satisfied their craving, you get this idea that they wanted something very particular from the Lord. They demanded that God or Moses and Aaron provide for them exactly what they wanted.

[9:06] And in some ways, it may remind us of the child who only wants to eat one thing at dinner. The parents make something that's really good for them, but it's not chicken nuggets and so they're pouting about it.

[9:18] And so they're really upset at this point because they haven't gotten the meat that they wanted. This could be an expression of confusing wants and needs. At this point, they're not yet starving.

[9:29] God's supplying what they want or what they need, but what they want is a different menu. They want something that would fit with their cravings. We also see in this expression of it being universal throughout all of the people.

[9:47] Verse 2, And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. If it wasn't every single one, it seems to be representative of all the people.

[9:58] There's a universal grumbling against Moses and Aaron who brought them out there. And now they're having to go without this meat. And then they express again a longing for Egypt.

[10:12] A longing for Egypt. And I think we can contrast that with their former cries. When they were in Egypt, remember, they cried out to the Lord begging to be rescued.

[10:25] Now they get out of the wilderness and they cry out against the Lord begging to go back into slavery. Can we relate to that? I mean, really, they have already forgotten what life was like being a slave.

[10:40] One month removed from being a slave and they've already forgotten what life was like and they imagine it to be better. They seem to remember the volume of food that they were given.

[10:52] When they used to sit by the meat pots and get their fill of bread, we had all the food we'd ever want back there. And so they remember how good things used to be. I think our expression is usually the grass is greener, right?

[11:06] The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. We always think that if we just had this that life would be better. And then what happens? They get what they ask for and they realize that life's not better at all.

[11:19] At least they think life's not better. They remember what they had before and they miss that. And so really it's an expression of they're not happy no matter what the circumstance is. They're complaining against God no matter how He cares for them.

[11:34] And so they oppose Moses and Aaron. And they accuse Moses and Aaron of bringing them out into the desert to kill them by starvation. This is I think all the more condemning of the people because think of what Moses and Aaron have gone through what we've seen in the book of Exodus already.

[11:55] They've had to stand against Pharaoh. They spoke up for God's people. They risked their lives to rescue them only to be accused. May I just say they risked their lives to save the lives of God's people only to be accused of bringing them out into the desert to kill them.

[12:12] There's that opposite of what they were seeking to do. And I think Moses and Aaron do such a great job of pointing out that the complaining really isn't against Moses and Aaron at all, is it?

[12:24] It's against the Lord. Look at verse 7 and 8. The second part of verse 7. They say, For what are we that you grumble against us? And Moses said, When the Lord gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full because the Lord has heard your grumbling that you grumble against Him, what are we?

[12:44] Your grumbling is not against us but against the Lord. So they kind of repeat it twice. You've grumbled against Him and you've grumbled against Yahweh. So they're grumbling against God. Again, Psalm 78 that recounts the wilderness wandering.

[12:59] It says, Yet they sin still more against Him rebelling against the Most High in the desert. So grumbling against God is one expression of that. Psalm 78 sums it up as rebelling against the Most High.

[13:11] This is an expression of rebellion. They weren't willing to submit to what God was doing. They wanted God to do something different. They rebelled against God and grumbled against Him. And I think, again, as we think about our lives, is there ever a circumstance in which we can grumble that isn't in some form a grumbling against the Lord?

[13:33] If we understand our God to be sovereign, that God brings whatever circumstances in our life that we would face, then we also understand that if we grumble against those circumstances, we're really grumbling against the providence of God in our lives.

[13:47] That doesn't mean we cannot cry out for God to change circumstances. But when we grumble against God or when we grumble against those circumstances, we need to understand we're complaining against God, not ultimately against the one at whom we point the finger, but against God.

[14:04] Their desire to go back is really an expression of the fact that they wish never to have been saved at all. I mean, let that sink in again. As we think of the spiritual implications of this, they're in bondage in Israel, and we've said already this correlates to bondage and sin.

[14:20] God rescues them by the blood of the lamb and leads them through the wilderness wandering, ultimately to lead them into the promised land. And so here they are one month away from, removed from being saved, and they're wishing they never would have been saved at all.

[14:37] Life seemed better. If I could put it in spiritual terms for today, life seemed better before I was a Christian. Life is hard as a Christian. I didn't realize it was going to be this hard. It sounded pretty good, and now I'm out in the wilderness, and I don't have the meat.

[14:51] I know life was hard, but I don't have the good things that I enjoyed before. I'm having to forego maybe it's even sinful things that I enjoyed before. And maybe we, like they, regret ever being saved.

[15:07] We wonder what it would be like to go back. Understand as well that why, the reason why God brought them out of Egypt was a worship issue.

[15:19] So that they would no longer serve Pharaoh, but that they would serve God. And we talked about that the service here is an issue of worship. So Pharaoh desired that he would be worshipped as God.

[15:33] And Yahweh, the true God, rescued them from that and instead freed them so that they could worship the Lord, could worship Yahweh. And so now for them to say, we wish we were back in Egypt, in some way saying we wish we were still under Pharaoh's reign.

[15:49] We wish we were worshipping him and not you, even if that's not directly expressed. We also think about what happened to so many of the people in Egypt.

[16:02] Even to go back, Pharaoh's dead now. His army, the firstborn throughout all the land, many who suffered from the pleds, the livestock, what must Egypt be going through now?

[16:13] And they imagine that is better than what God has brought us into. And so we see their grumbling and we see ultimately that their grumbling is against the Lord.

[16:26] But we also see the Lord's provision. Look at verses 11 and 12. And the Lord said to Moses, I've heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, at twilight you shall eat meat and in the morning you shall be filled with bread.

[16:39] Then you shall know that I am the Lord. I am Yahweh, your God. So how does God respond? Well, he provides for them the meat that they craved and he says that he filled them.

[16:52] He gave them bread to the full. But there's a reason behind this and verse 12 expressed that. This is further evidence of who God is. He's teaching them who he is.

[17:04] Then you shall know that I am the Lord. I am Yahweh, your God. Now go back to what we saw with the pledge. This is what God was teaching the Egyptians and also teaching the Israelites.

[17:18] Who is Yahweh? And so all the pledged were meant to teach them who he is and they still haven't understood. And so they grumbled because they didn't have water. And did God provide water? Yeah.

[17:29] And so they've seen who Yahweh is. And we might already say that Yahweh is one who provides for his people, who cares for his people. And yet here they are again.

[17:40] Rather than praying, they grumble. They don't believe that the Lord's really going to provide for them. They believe that he brought them out there to kill them. Way back in Exodus chapter six, verses two through three, God spoke to Moses and said to him, I am the Lord.

[17:57] Again, that word Yahweh. I am Yahweh. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name, the Lord, I did not make myself known to them. And we argued back then that this whole movement has been teaching the Israelites to know the Lord.

[18:14] Who is Yahweh? That they might worship him. And so God very graciously responds to this, grumbling. Let me just say that there will come a day later down the road that almost exact same complaint happens again.

[18:29] And that time, even though God gives them what they desired, also he brings judgment upon those who complained. But now it's early on in the life of the Israelites. They're still learning.

[18:40] God's graciously bearing with them and teaching them to know who he is. We also see verses 6 and 7 that talk about the glory of the Lord, that God's doing this, he's manifesting his glory.

[18:54] At evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt. How are they going to know it's the Lord that brought them out of the land of Egypt? God's going to rain down man, I'm sorry, he's going to rain down quail upon them.

[19:07] They're going to have meat to eat. And then verse 7, and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord, for what are we that you grumble against us?

[19:18] So, how are they going to see the glory of the Lord? Well, it's going to be manifest in the quail, and it says, you'll see it in the morning, which is obviously a reference to the manna itself.

[19:33] Again, look at verse 10 that says something very similar. And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud.

[19:44] And even though we know that the cloud was God's Shekinah, his glory being manifested, this is the first time that God's word uses that phrase, the glory of the Lord. And so the glory of the Lord was shown to them.

[19:56] It appeared in the cloud. So all along, this cloud we talked about was probably a pillar of fire that at night you saw through the cloud, you could see the fire glowing through.

[20:08] And during the day, the light, the fire was somewhat obscured by the cloud. So that during the day it was a pillar of cloud, and the night it was a pillar of fire, but it was one manifestation, one theophany of who God is.

[20:22] But now, as Aaron's speaking these words, look at verse 9 and it says, say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, come near before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.

[20:35] Can you just imagine that? Come near to the Lord because he heard your grumbling against him, as it said in verse 8. That doesn't sound very good, does it?

[20:48] again, if we put this in terms of parenting, if I were to, or maybe if my wife were to say to our kids, dad has heard your grumbling against him, now go and appear before him, right?

[21:04] They know it's coming. It's evident. It isn't a meeting that they're looking forward to, we'll say. But here we see, Aaron says the same thing, come near before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.

[21:19] And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared to them in the cloud. So, something I think extraordinary is happening beyond the already miraculous fact that this cloud has been leading them all along.

[21:37] They look and God's glory is manifested. The cloud has been there all along. For 40 years, it was always there. But as Aaron speaks, the cloud does something that manifests the glory of the Lord in a way they had not yet seen.

[21:51] Now, my best guess would be an intensification of the fire itself. There's a glowing that's visible during the day, perhaps like the sun appearing before them, outshining the sun.

[22:02] They see the light there, the glory of the Lord appears. And again, come before the Lord. He's heard your grumbling. And then boom, there's fire out there.

[22:13] There's this glow. There's this power. God's glory is manifest. You have to imagine that there was fear in their hearts. But all of this, this purpose of showing them God's glory is really preparing them for worship.

[22:27] God doesn't consume them. God just reveals to them again that he is glorious, that he is the Lord, he is Yahweh. And then he provides for their needs. And so he's teaching them as they move through the wilderness one day to enter into the promised land, how to worship, who he is that he deserves worship.

[22:49] And so the Lord says that he will give them meat and give them bread. And then the Lord fulfills his promise in verses 13 through 15. It says, In the evening quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning dew lay around the camp.

[23:03] And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine flake-like thing, finest frost on the ground. And when the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, what is it?

[23:15] 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. So really we see the fulfillment of that there. And a lot of people have made a lot of trying to decide, was this a natural occurrence, or was this a miraculous occurrence?

[23:33] And I think this is much like what we talked about with the water. There are some natural possibilities that could have contributed to this, and yet there are many reasons why we would say this is a miracle.

[23:45] Partly because of the timing and quantity of it. So if we start with the quail, we know that quail migrate from Africa up into Europe, and they travel over the Sinai Peninsula in the spring, the time in which they would have been there.

[24:02] So the fact that quail would have been traveling through the area is nothing new or surprising. And in fact, when they travel, they fly so far, they fly until they basically tire out, and they land somewhere to roost for the night, usually on the ground, sometimes in a bush, but there weren't really many trees for them to roost in, and they would roost low to the ground.

[24:22] And so there are records even now that people can go out and catch these fatigued quail by hand. Right? So it's not surprising that there could be quail that would show up.

[24:35] What is surprising? Well, we talked about already, there are two million Israelites there, and on top of that, there's a timing of it.

[24:45] They've had no meat to eat for a month, at least from the wilderness that has been provided by God. And so they're crying out for meat, and on the very day that God says he will send them meat, at the very time in which he said that he would send it, the quail come.

[25:02] Now, we can say God's all-knowing, he knew they came, but our sovereign God is also the one who orders the whole universe. It's not beyond the scope of reason to say that God made birds to migrate over Sinai because one day his people would be traveling through, and they would need that food.

[25:18] I mean, however you want to look at it, God provides for them, and enough meat. I mean, quail aren't large. If any of you have ever, I once in Alabama went on a quail hunt.

[25:29] There were a lot of birds shot. There were not a lot of birds eating for dinner. Imagine a flying chicken nugget. You know, I mean, they're not very big. You don't get a lot of meat out of that. Somehow I managed to get chicken nugget into this sermon twice.

[25:42] But little birds flying, I think we shot something like 16. It probably fed two people. I mean, you can eat six or eight a piece. Two million people. I mean, again, I'm no expert on quail, but assuming everybody ate a few birds, you're talking eight, ten, twelve million birds landing in the exact area that they were, tired enough to be caught, prepared, and needed.

[26:08] And so God's provided. Psalm 78, 27. Again, Psalm 78 relates or recounts this same story of their wilderness wandering. And our passage says particularly that God will rain down on them manna.

[26:22] It doesn't specifically say it would rain down meat. But Psalm 78, 27 says, He rained meat on them like dust. Weaned birds like the sands of the seas.

[26:34] So imagine how much dust is there in the desert. If I had visual aids, I could show you guys. We were in Utah a few months ago and driving around on dirt roads.

[26:47] And at one point we stopped and we took a picture of the back of the van because you couldn't even discern the license plate or the window. I mean, it was solid dust. Like dust in the desert, God rained down meat upon them.

[26:58] And so is it miraculous? Yes. Could there be some natural explanation? Perhaps. But God does what he has designed to be natural. in spectacular, supernatural ways to feed his people.

[27:12] Then secondly, God provides manna. And the name manna comes from what they say there. They go, what is it? And the word what is man in Hebrew.

[27:23] And so it works out manna is some form of what. Or maybe even expression of they named it, what is it? I remember, you guys know I'm from Georgia, just south of Atlanta.

[27:35] Atlanta and I think it was 96, 96 Atlanta got the Olympics. And every host city is tasked with developing the mascot for the Olympics.

[27:48] And guys, some of these mascots have been horrible, but Atlanta took the cake. I mean, they were the top one for the ugliest, strangest mascot you've ever seen. I mean, I don't remember exactly, but it seemed like it was a blue amoeba type water drop thing.

[28:02] And it had for like on its tail, all the Olympic rings were like on its tail or something. And they came up with the brilliant name of what is it? I mean, like they all they combined it into one word and I think it had a Z like what's it?

[28:17] What's it? And that was the mascot that Atlanta developed for the Olympics. And all of Georgia kind of sat back and said, why? What is this?

[28:30] This isn't in Alabama. Okay. But I'm sorry, I should say New Jersey right here. Okay. But we're like, what? Sorry, I know some of you are coming from New Jersey.

[28:41] We I'm sure everyone here loves New Jersey too. This is basically what they name it. They don't know what it is. And so they just call it what is it? So that's where the name manna comes from.

[28:52] There's a description of verse 31. If you look there now the I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Yeah. Now the house of Israel called its name manna. It was like coriander seed white and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.

[29:10] Okay. So, uh, coriander, I really should have done my research, but if I remember correctly, there is cilantro seeds that have dried that you then use men, am I right?

[29:22] Okay. A few of you. Okay. So we've grown cilantro in the garden. We've harvested the coriander. We've used it to eat. We've used some to replant our cilantro, but if you've seen it, it's a very small ball.

[29:33] I started to say kind of like an ochre seed, but that may mean very little to many of you as well, but it's a very small little ball. And this says it's more like a flake, but it resembled coriander in some way, except it was white instead of black.

[29:46] And, um, the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. So as we think about this, God gave them bread or literally food. And it was more like grain.

[29:56] They would have to do something with, they'd have to harvest it. They'd have to make bread out of it. It wasn't the finished product. God basically rained down a type of grain that had a sweet taste that they were able to make something out of.

[30:09] Again, could this be a natural occurrence? I've read all kinds of reports of possible things that could make something like this, but several observations. One, first Corinthians 10, three, Paul calls this spiritual food.

[30:24] God gave them spiritual food in the wilderness, meaning of a spiritual nature. Paul calls it supernatural. It's not something that would be a natural occurrence. Secondly, even after they harvested it, verse 20 tells us it only lasted 24 hours and that's probably being generous.

[30:40] I mean, they'd wake up so and find it to be rotten. So maybe it lasted 16, 17, 18 hours, but it had a very, very specific and short shelf life beyond probably any food that we could probably think of today that would be of that type of a grain of some sort.

[30:58] And then if they didn't collect it before the sun really got hot, then it melted away and disappeared. So it only appeared for a few hours. If they harvested it and saved it together, maybe in the shade of the tent, it remained all throughout the day.

[31:15] But if it was left in the sun, it melted. Okay, so again, that seems odd. But probably the most striking thing we see in verse 26 is it did not appear on the Sabbath. So for 40 years, there was manna day after day after day after day after day, but not that day.

[31:35] For 40 years. On the seventh day, there would be no manna whatsoever. And so any kind of possible natural occurrence we could ever imagine, nothing operates like that on God's schedule the way this did.

[31:53] And probably even more miraculous or more remarkable than the fact it did not come on the Sabbath was that the manna that they collected that was just like all the other manna, the manna that they collected on Friday lasted for 48 hours instead of 24 hours.

[32:09] They were able to keep it overnight and it didn't get maggots and it didn't rot and it didn't stink. And they could eat it the next day, but if they tried that on Monday, no, it didn't work.

[32:23] And so again, God's miraculously providing for them. Psalm 78, 23 through 25 says, yet he commanded the skies above and opened the doors of heaven and he rained down on them manna to eat and gave them the grain of heaven.

[32:38] Man ate of the bread of the angels. He sent them food in abundance. abundance. And so we see there God's provision. As far as we know, angels are spiritual beings.

[32:48] I don't think he's saying this is literally what the angels eat, but it's expression of the spiritual food. God provided something supernatural for them. And what does this teach them? What teaches them to look to God for their daily needs, to look to God for their daily needs.

[33:05] They have to trust God to provide for them each day. Deuteronomy 8, verses 2 through 3 says, and you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these 40 years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.

[33:28] And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

[33:45] You guys are probably aware that's what Jesus quotes when he's tempted by Satan in the wilderness to turn a rock into bread. Later on, Jesus will pray the Lord's prayer.

[33:58] He teaches us to say, give us this day our daily bread. I think both of those reflection back on what happened here and knowing that the Lord provides for us. He cares for us each day.

[34:08] And so God's humbling them by teaching them to look to him each day for what he supplies. Now, remember, they're coming from Elam. They just lived in the oasis.

[34:21] They've had 12 springs to drink from every day. They probably had grass and we know they had palm trees. There's plenty there. They lived really well for a few weeks.

[34:32] And it probably required them not to depend on God each day. They forgot about when they were out of water and had to cry out to God. Now they have water in abundance.

[34:44] And what does that produce in them? It causes them not to be grateful. It causes them to think that they can take care of themselves. And then when they don't get what they want, it causes them to grumble against God.

[35:01] How might that have reference to us? Before I draw that back to us, let me just say as well, notice what happened if they gathered too much. If they tried to hoard it, they tried to save too much.

[35:15] Maybe they think I'm only going to work today and I'm going to sleep in tomorrow. And so they gathered extra and some did. We read that. I think it was verse 21.

[35:27] Verse 20. But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning and it bred worms or probably maggots and stink. And Moses was angry with them. All right.

[35:38] So if they try to gather too much, if they trusted in their own efforts, I'm going to work hard today, I'll sleep in tomorrow. It rotted. It got maggots or worms. It stink.

[35:48] It was not able to be eaten. And so the provisions that they stored up gave them a sense of security, but it only lasted for one day. And the next day, again, they were dependent upon God to gather what they needed.

[36:02] And so as I see this, I think about how we live today in America, much like they probably lived in Elam, probably far greater. We're used to not having to look to the Lord to provide the things we need.

[36:17] Now, we probably would acknowledge that God indirectly or in some form in his sovereignty, he provides for what we need. God's providing farmers somewhere who are working, who are shipping that food to Walmart or Aldi or Giant or wherever you're shopping.

[36:33] Weiss. It gets there. We go pick it up. God's providing indirectly. But we also get very used to the fact that we have money. We can buy food.

[36:44] And we go and buy whatever we need. And so I think we, like them, tend to forget that it's the Lord who provides every day. And probably the more we have to depend on, maybe the larger our nest egg.

[36:58] You know, we're storing up money in the savings account. We'll be fine. And the larger that gets, the more that we think we can provide for ourselves.

[37:09] And we forget that we, too, are dependent upon God to provide for us, to take care of our every need. But God is teaching them.

[37:19] God wants them to look to him to meet their daily needs. And so he's teaching them this as he goes, as they go throughout the wilderness. They're constantly having to look to him to take care of their needs.

[37:34] I think our experience is very much like theirs, isn't it? There are times of refreshing followed by times in the wilderness. And we, too, need to be taught like them to look to God, to know that God cares for us, that he provides for us.

[37:50] We need to see as well, like they were taught, that grumbling and complaining about our circumstances, even about people, maybe it's our boss or people around us, is ultimately a form of complaining against God.

[38:07] Either we're complaining for what he has not given us that we want him to give us, or we're complaining about what he gave us that we're not happy with what it is that he gave us. And we, like the Israelites, often imagine the grass is greener on the other side.

[38:27] I think we also, along with the idea of grumbling, we should be taught to rejoice in the Lord no matter our circumstances. If we know that God provides and that he cares for us, that he is a loving Heavenly Father, then we can do, like Paul says in Philippians 4.4, rejoice in the Lord always.

[38:43] Again, I will say, rejoice. I think God's still working today, just like he was then, to show, to manifest his glory, to teach us to be a worshiping people.

[38:55] And we need to be reminded that God provides for us. Ultimately, we see God providing for us. So the demonstration of God's provision is in the personal work of Jesus Christ.

[39:11] And I really want to spend some time discussing that. And so, with manna, it obviously ties to the idea that Jesus is the bread of life. But I'm going to stop here today, and we're going to pick up, Lord willing, next week and really look at this idea of manna again and how God provides for us his own son as the bread of life.

[39:33] But for today, understand, God does provide for his people still. He's teaching us to look to him daily for what we need. But even now, you can know and understand that ultimately, what we most need is not just physical needs, but spiritual needs.

[39:46] We need Jesus Christ to save us, to redeem us, to bring us into his family, to make us a part of his people, ultimately to bring us into his presence in eternity, that we may dwell with him forever.

[39:59] Let's pray together. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word and how it instructs us and teaches us. And Lord, we pray that we would not be a grumbling, complaining people, but a people who look to you knowing that you are a God who cares for us, that you provide for us, that you take care of our every need.

[40:21] And Lord, we pray that that would be exactly what we would find to be true, that we would see that over and over again, and you would receive the glory and worship that you so deserve. Lord, we pray that if there's anyone in this room who has never trusted in you, who, Lord, believes still that they can provide for themselves, not just physically, but spiritually, who imagine that one day they will stand in your presence and say, God, I'm good enough to get in, that you would humble them even as you humble the Israelites, that they would know that they cannot provide for themselves.

[40:59] But we, just like the birds of the air and the lilies, have to look to you for its provision each and every day. We thank you that you are a God who cares and provides.

[41:13] And we pray that all of us would look to you for the provision that you give physically, materially, but Lord, also spiritually the provision that you have given us by providing for us your son, in whose name we pray these things.

[41:29] Amen. Amen. Amen.