What's This?

The word is so good and never returns void. That is a huge gift that the Lord has given us. I have been digging through Exodus 16 this past week. I can tell you that there are many lessons in Exodus 16 and I strongly encourage you read through it yourself. Remember that I am not the voice of the Lord for you.

Exodus 16 starts out with the Israelites leaving Elim and entering the Desert
of Sin. It is named Sin, pronounced CEEN. This is because of nearby towns, not
because of sin as in transgressions. When the people set out, they grumbled to
Aaron and Moses again. They also spoke about how they had life so much better
when they were in Egypt. They spoke of having their fill of food and wanting
for nothing. They had immediately forgot the hardships they suffered during enslavement.
They are grumbling because they are hungry. They are claiming that Moses
brought them to the desert to starve to death. The Israelites are generally not
happy with the Lord or his plans. They are not trusting that the Lord will take
care of them or that he will fulfill his promises. The Lord then tells Moses
that he will make it rain bread from heaven. Every plague that the Lord brought
to Egypt happened exactly how Moses said it would. So when Moses tells the
people that God is going to provide them with meat and bread, they believe
exactly what they hear. The Israelites are acting as if God is going to walk up
with bread on a platter. That is not exactly what happens. The bread comes in
the form of dew. At first. The morning that the bread is supposed to have
rained down, there were not thousands of beautiful artisan loaves of bread everywhere.
There was dew. When the dew dried there were small white scale like particles
everywhere. The Israelites had no clue what they were looking at. The word “manna”
literally means “What’s This?” This is what the Lord sent them to eat. He did
not send them what they expected. He sent them what they needed. There are times
 when I read through the Old Testament and
think, man the Israelites were so dumb! Then I look in the mirror and try to
figure out where I am in the story. How often do we pray for something and not
get what we want? How often do we grumble with God when we feel the slightest
inconvenience? How often do we question the Lord’s plans for us? How often do
we throw our hands in the air and say, “What’s this” when the Lord doesn’t always give
us what we expect, want, or ask for? I encourage you to read all of chapter 16
to see how the manna works out and I also encourage you to read John 6:22-59.
Grace and Peace