Manna and trusting God

[B-A-C]

We all know the story of how God fed the Israelites Manna in the wilderness.

Exod 16:4; Then the LORD said to Moses, "Behold, I will 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 or not they will walk in My instruction.
Exod 16:5; "On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily."

Notice that God tells them... only gather"a day's portion". Do this every day. He doesn't say do this once and gather up all you can store.
In fact it says He is doing this to test them. To see if they really trust Him. Yes God, I know you gave me manna today, but I'm not sure you'll
give me manna tomorrow.

Exod 16:16; "This is what the LORD has commanded, 'Gather of it every man as much as he should eat; you shall take an omer apiece according to the number of persons each of you has in his tent.'"

You were only to gather whatever you would eat, don't gather any more than that. In fact, if you gathered too much....

Exod 16:19; Moses said to them, "Let no man leave any of it until morning."
Exod 16:20; But they did not listen to Moses, and some left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and became foul; and Moses was angry with them.

Why did they gather more than they needed? Were they selfish? Maybe, but it seems that they didn't really trust God to provide for them tomorrow.

Ok.. that's a great story but what does it have to with the New Testament?

Paul talks about this.

1 Cor 10:1; For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea;
1 Cor 10:2; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
1 Cor 10:3; and all ate the same spiritual food;
1 Cor 10:4; and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ.
1 Cor 10:5; Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness.

Even though these people ate the same spiritual food. It wasn't just food, it was spiritual food from God.
..and even though they the same spiritual water... not just any water, but water from the rock (which was Jesus).
They still didn't make it to the promised land.
In fact many of them were "laid low in the wilderness".

We often quote verses like...

Prov 3:5; Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding.

And we say "I trust God". But do we really? We say we believe in God, we believe in Jesus... but do we really when the times get tough?

Another often quoted verse is....

Heb 13:5; Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, "I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU,"

This verse starts off talking about the love of money... and being content. It quotes a verse from the old testament.

Deut 31:8; "The LORD is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed."

Now even though the Lord was with them.. in fact He was with them the entire way... Manna from heaven for 40 years, water from the rock for 40 years,
clothes didn't wear out for years... God was with them. He parted the Red Sea for them... He was with them....

I think some of us wish we could win the lottery... so we would "be set for life" and never have to worry about anything ever again.
But if we really ever were "set for life". Would we be trusting in God... or trusting in our money?

But yet some of them never learned to really trust Him. ...as a result of this...

1 Cor 10:5; Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness.

 

[B-A-C]

Matt 6:25; "For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Matt 6:26; "Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?
Matt 6:27; "And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?
Matt 6:28; "And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin,
Matt 6:29; yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.
Matt 6:30; "But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!
Matt 6:31; "Do not worry then, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear for clothing?'
Matt 6:32; "For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
Matt 6:33; "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Matt 6:34; "So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

The familiar passage in right in the middle of the sermon on the mount. Jesus's longest sermon by far.
This is really about trusting God. The key to this passage is verse 33.

"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

What is your priority? To take care of yourself... or to seek God, so that He can take care of you? Where is your trust? In you or in God?