9/18/22 Exodus 16:2-15 “Manna; The Everlasting Bread”

9/18/22 Exodus 16:2-15 “Manna; The Everlasting Bread”

9/18/22   Exodus 16:2-15        “Manna; The Everlasting Bread”

A while back, I happened upon another of those great diet plans or scams that we see all of the time on the internet.  Please bear in mind that I’m one of those who believe very little that I see or read on the internet.  Anyway, the product will help a person lose up to 30 pounds in just a short time.  I don’t know if this works or not but it did get me to thinking about how we view ourselves.  I would guess that if we went around the room today and asked if you were at your perfect weight, most of us would say that we could lose a pound or two and there might be one or two who could gain a pound.  I might be the only person who thinks they are at their perfect weight.  It took me years to get into this rounded shape and I kind of like it.  I also think that there is not a person here who is not at their perfect weight and shape.  Remember that God made you and He don’t make no junk.  Anyway, diet is an important thing for us as it is for everyone.  In order to live, we have to eat.  In today’s Scripture we have the nation of Israel on the march but they don’t seem to have enough to eat and they are complaining.  Let’s see if we can find some lasting bread from this passage and be grateful that we found it.

Charles Degner reminds us of the famous painting by a man named Enstrom of the old man sitting at the table with a bowl of soup in front of him and he is praying.  Do you remember this great painting?  The story behind this painting is that this old homeless man knocked on the door of a struggling artist looking for some food.  This happened in a town in northern Minnesota.  The artist invited the beggar in to join him in some soup and bread that he had just prepared to eat.  The artist went to the refrigerator to get something and when he turned back, he saw this poor man bowed in prayer and thanksgiving.  This was one of those moments that was etched into the artist’s mind and after the man left, he painted this famous painting.  Here was a man who had nothing and was grateful to God for this warm meal.  This is something that is hard for most of us to imagine.  What is it like to not have food available?  What is it like not to have any money or that the money that we have is worthless?  Who knows, we may be heading for this!

In today’s reading we have the Israelites out in the wilderness after they had crossed the Red Sea.  They have been on the move for a little while.  God has shown them his power by parting the Red Sea and other great miracles.  Just prior to this, He had given them water to replenish their supply.  But finally they are running out of food.  They do not have a supermarket or food market to go and get food.  But they do have a lot of money in the gold and things they took with them when they left Egypt.  Of course, they have no place to spend it on food.  They are in the wilderness and things are looking a little bleak.

As we begin I think that we should try to figure out just what is manna.  As a matter of fact the word manna means, ‘what is this?’  This is one of the mysteries of the Bible even though the Bible gives us a description of the stuff.  It was apparently some sort of white substance that tasted a little like honey and could be used for many things.  Remember that these people were used to flour and grains and many other kinds of different foods.  But they have never seen anything like this before and they ask, ‘what is this?’  Obviously this was something of a mystery to them.

Often times with things we have never seen or done before, we do a lot of complaining.  This is what happened to the Israelites.  They complain.  They have already forgotten what God has done for them in just this short period of time prior to this.  So here comes something new and they complain.

They should have been ecstatic.  After all, they were really on the brink of starving to death.  God gives them this food called manna.  There has been a lot of speculation about this stuff and no one knows for sure just what it was as it has never been seen again.  This is food from God.  Please note that their complaining about manna stopped after this.  We don’t hear it again.  I would say that this was a wonder food of the ages.  They could cook many different things with it and it came out good.  If it hadn’t, there would be more written about it.   After all, they did eat this for 40 years without complaint.

Have you ever noticed that probably the worst thing that happens when we complain is that it becomes contagious?  If I stood up here and said I just can’t stand it because it is too hot, it wouldn’t be long before someone else did the same thing; and then another person.  This is what happened to the Israelites.  It doesn’t take too long when they run out of food to get everyone worked up in the wrong way.  So these people are all riled up and it will be over nothing.  It is kind of like our Congress where everyone is riled up, pointing the fingers of blame at each other, and they have all forgotten that there are some serious problems to solve.  Maybe it’s time to dissolve Congress and try again.

Anyway, it is a very important lesson for these people and us to trust God.  This manna is food from heaven, from God.  This food from God will get these people through 40 years and they will not complain after this first barrage.  This food will satisfy a million people.  Science wants to tell us that this must have been a certain plant that produces something like this in the morning during a certain time of year.  But this really doesn’t make sense and it isn’t possible because there were just too many people.  This was a wonder food that the people would get used to and it would work great for them.  All they had to do is trust God.

When was the last time you went out and had a great steak dinner with a nice potato and maybe some fresh vegetables?  Maybe you had a nice salad before this and you followed the meal with some pie or cake.  You left this meal really full and satisfied.  Then a strange thing happened the next day.  You became hungry again.  All the food you ate at this meal did not stay with you and you would have to eat again.  No matter how hard we try, the food of this world does not satisfy us.  And if we ate the same thing for 40 years, we would have many deficiencies in our diet, but not with manna.  Manna had it all.

Another way of looking at this is if you had this same steak meal every day for 40 years, you would probably be pretty tired of this stuff by then.  We could probably care less if we ever saw a steak again.  A person like me might, and I say might, even be tired of pecan pie by then.  One of the miracles of manna was that they ate it and they were ok with it.  It would have to be one of those foods that could be served many different ways and it still was good.  The food from God and heaven satisfied the Israelites and it will satisfy us.

I want us to take a look at something here that we don’t think about very often.  As I just said, they ate this manna for 40 years and there were no more complaints that we know of.  This is what God did.  He made this manna exciting.  He made it come alive.  This mundane meal was made exciting through God.

I want you to think about this.  God makes the mundane exciting.  For those of you who think that you have a mundane, boring life, get together with God.  These people were satisfied with the same thing for 40 years.  You can have the same thing in your life.  We get ourselves stuck in a rut then we have to go to Jesus to help us out.  The expression goes something like, ‘same old, same old.”  With Jesus, there is no same old.  Every day is different and He makes everything exciting.

You all know that I worked for 25 years at the Post Office and at least 10 of those years I didn’t know Jesus.  And during that time, I had a terrible time with the boredom of the job.  It was the same thing over and over, same old, same old.  But after I got to know Jesus, He helped me to be satisfied and even excited about this mundane job.  Jesus can do anything so don’t forget to ask Him to help you to make your life a little more exciting.  He will do it.

So, to have all of this, you have to trust God.  This passage also tells us that you have to do what God says.  There is just no getting around this one.  The Israelites could get the food they needed if they gathered it every morning and a double portion on Friday.  If they tried to gather more, the manna would rot.  If they didn’t gather enough, they would be hungry.  This went on for 40 years.  This would only happen if they were obedient.

We have talked of this before.  I think that because we don’t like to trust God with everything in our lives, we are not obedient.  This is a trap that is easy to fall into.  It is so much easier to go along with the ways of the world than it is to follow Jesus.  When we go out and love someone whom the world deems unlovable, how do you feel?  Contrast that feeling with the one that you get when you hate someone.  There is really no comparison so why do the hating?  There are enough people in the world, in our community who hate.  They don’t need your help.  They only want to drag you down.  Don’t go there.  Take the high road where you won’t meet as many people but you will get much more satisfaction.

Also, next time you are in your prayer time and you feel that Jesus is talking, listen.  When you get that idea that seems to come from nowhere, act on it.  It was probably put there by Jesus.  Jesus wants you to obey Him so that you can have a better life.  Jesus doesn’t operate in secret and He doesn’t want to hide anything from you.  This isn’t one of those other religions where we have all sorts of secrecy.  Jesus is out in the open and He wants to help you in any way possible.

I also think that many times we get so caught up in trying to understand God that we aren’t obedient.  Please understand me here in that I’m not saying that we shouldn’t have Bible studies.  But we should have Bible studies in order to understand ourselves and not God.  These studies are to be helping you to do what you are supposed to be doing.  Far too often in our scientific society we get to thinking that we should understand God and the Bible.  God doesn’t care if we understand Him or not.  He only wants you to follow Him and obey.  I ran across a woman one time who finally understood this.  She told me that if I ever run across someone who says they understand the Bible, then I have run across a liar.  You will all understand when you get to heaven but you don’t need to understand before that.

But you do have to understand some things.   The most important thing that you have to understand is the love the God has for you.  Notice in our reading again all the grumbling and complaining.  The Israelites were not doing very well.  They weren’t trusting.  They were on the verge of not obeying.  And they definitely weren’t in a loving mood.  So what does God do?  He loves them anyway.  He will not turn His back on His own people.  He sends them manna and quail.  He sends them a feast.

We complain.  We have too much rain.  We had a frost that was too early.  We can’t accept our crooked government anymore.  We complain about our economy.  We complain because our ice cream is cold.  The list is endless.  Please remember that these kinds of comments are not what God wants to hear from you.

However, if you decide that you have to keep on complaining because summer is over and winter is coming or that no one appreciates all that you do for your family or even the church, then I want you to know this.  Jesus Christ will love you anyway.  He will keep on trying to get you to change your ways, but He will love you.  I’m not real sure but I think that He is powerful enough to give you an even better fall and winter than you had a summer.

For those of us who profess to be Christians, Jesus will continue to love you.  For those of you who are not, Jesus will continue to love you.  It doesn’t matter who you are, Jesus will continue to love you.  If you don’t know Jesus yet, then ask Him into your life.  Then your life will become better and better.  You will learn to trust God, obey God and love God in all that you do.  When you have Jesus in your heart, then you can really begin to live!

C.H. Spurgeon told the story of a preacher who was walking in the countryside and he stopped by a farmhouse for a drink of water.  The old farmer who lived there went out to talk to the preacher.  As they were talking the preacher noticed that the barn had a weather vane on it that was spinning around in the wind.   He also noticed that the words, “God is love” were engraved on it.  The pastor said to the man, “I don’t think that is a very good way to talk about God’s love.  It seems that you are saying that God’s love is wishy washy and changes depending on the way the wind blows.”  “No, no,” said the farmer.  “That weather vane is saying, ‘No matter which way the wind blows, God is Love.’”

Brothers and sisters in Christ, remember that God is love.  You cannot have any love unless you belong to Christ.  And no matter what happens in this world, no matter how bad it gets, God will always love you.  His promise to you is to look you right in the eye and say, “I love you.”  I don’t think that it can get any better than having the maker of the universe and all things in it, say this to you.  Thank you, Jesus, for showing us how to love.  Let’s pray.

 

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