ARE YOU LIVING ON YESTERDAY’S MANNA?
SCRIPTURE READING: EXODUS 16: 13-20
- THE ISRAELITIES HAD JUST BEEN SET FREE AS CAPTIVES OF THE EGYPTIANS, GOD HAD DONE A GREAT MIRACLE IN THEIR LIVES, PARTED THE RED SEA AS THEY WALKED THROUGH ON DRY LAND AND DEFEATED PHAROAH’S MIGHTY ARMIES. THEY BEGAN, HOWEVER, TO COMPLAIN WITHOUT CAUSE ABOUT BEING STRANDED IN THE WILDERNESS WITH NOTHING TO EAT AND THE COMPLAINT WAS WITHOUT CAUSE BECAUSE UP TO THAT POINT GOD HAD JUST SET THEM FREE, DEFEATED PHAROAH AND WAS PROVIDING AND WOULD HAVE CONTINUED TO PROVIDE FOR THEM. BUT THEY DID NOT LIKE THE WAY GOD WAS DOING THINGS AND GREW IMPATIENT.
- NOTE HOW HUMAN NATURE IS MUCH THE SAME WAY….ALWAYS WORRYING ABOUT WHAT WE DO NOT SEE AND ALWAYS COMPLAINING ABOUT WHAT WE DO NOT HAVE….YET GOD HAS ALWAYS BEEN FAITHFUL TO PROVIDE.
- HOW QUICKLY SOME OF US FORGET THE BLESSINGS AND FAITHFULNESS OF THE MIGHTY GOD WE SERVE. HE DOES MIRACLES IN OUR LIVES, AS HE DID THE ISRAELITES ON ALMOST A DAILY BASIS AND YET LIKE THEM, WE STILL FIND REASON TO COMPLAIN AND NOT WALK BY FAITH AND TRUST IN HIM.
- IN RESPONSE TO THE COMPLAINTS OF THE PEOPLE, GOD PROVIDES MANNA BY MORNING AND QUAIL AS FRESH MEAT BY EVENING. (VS 13-14)
- THEY WERE TO EAT ALL THEY GATHERED OF THE MANNA AND LEAVE NOTHING UNTIL MORNING (VS 15-19)
- THE BIBLE TELLS US THAT THEY DID NOT LISTEN TO MOSES BUT HAD LEFT OR KEPT SOME OF THE MANNA OVERNIGHT UNTIL THE NEXT MORNING….PROBABLY BECAUSE THEY WERE TOO LAZY TO GO OUT AND PICK FRESH MANNA AND HAD SIMPLY PLANNED TO EAT WHAT THEY HAD RECEIVED AND PICKED UP THE DAY BEFORE. THE RESULT OF THEIR DISOBENDIENCE WAS THAT THE MANNA…THE BLESSING THAT CAME FROM GOD TO SUSTAIN THEM ON FOR THE PREVIOUS DAY…TURNED FOUL TASTING AND BRED WORMS. (VS.20)
- WE MUST ASK WHAT THIS ALL MEANS.
- HOW COULD THE BLESSINGS OF YESTERDAY TURN SOUR AND INTO WORMS TODAY? THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE MANNA AND THERE WAS A REASON.
- THE ISRAELITES WERE INSTRUCTED TO COLLECT FRESH MANNA EACH DAY WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE SABBOTH WHERE ON THE SABBOTH THEY WOULD COLLECT ENOUGH FOR TWO DAYS. HOWEVER, APART FROM THAT IT WAS TO BE COLLECTED FRESHLY EACH DAY.
- THIS IS A TYPE OF HOW OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH CHRIST ALSO MUST BE. YOU SEE, WE CANNOT SIMPLY LIVE OUR ENTIRE LIVES ON YESTERDAY’S BLESSINGS. WE MUST SEEK THE LORD ON A DAILY BASIS FOR FELLOWSHIP, A FRESH REVELATION OF HIM AS WE WALK.
- I AM CONVINCED THAT SOME PEOPLE DO NOT SEE THE MIRACLES IN THEIR LIVES THAT THEY COULD BECAUSE THEY WOULD BASE YEARS OF THE REMAINDER OF THEIR WALK WITH GOD ON SOME SPECTACULAR THING…A MIRACLE…A PAST EXPERIENCE OR REVELATION THAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY OR IN THE DISTANT PAST. MANY CHRISTIANS ARE LIKE THAT….ALWAYS TALKING ABOUT WHAT THE LORD DID IN THEIR LIVES YEARS AGO BUT NEVER HAVING ANYTHING TO SAY ABOUT WHAT HE IS DOING IN THEIR LIVES TODAY. LIKE THE DISOBENDIENT ISREALITES, THEY COLLECTED MANNA, HELD IT LONGER THAN THEY WERE TOLD TO WITH THE INTENT OF LIVING OFF IT LATER AND IT SOURED AND ROTTED….GREW OLD AND STALE…EVEN BRED WORMS, WHEN RIGHT OUTSIDE OF THE DOOR OF THEIR TENT ON A DAILY BASIS WAS FRESH NEW MANNA…IF THEY WOULD JUST NOT BE SO LAZY AND GO OUT AND GET IT. SOME CHRISTIANS TODAY…MANY OF THEM…ARE TOO LAZY TO KEEP WALKING WITH GOD AND SEEKING A FRESH REVELATION OF HIM AND THEY ARE DETERMINED TO ONLY LIVE IN THE PAST AND ON YESTERDAY’S BLESSINGS.
- GOD HATES THIS, BROTHERS AND SISTERS. IT IS NOT HOW WE ARE TO LIVE.
- WHAT GOD HAS DONE IN THE PAST IS IMPORTANT, BUT IT WAS INTENDED FOR US TO LEARN AND GROW IN THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD….NOT BUILD A MONUMENT TO IT AND STOP MOVING! IT WAS INTENDED TO BE SPOKEN ABOUT AS A TESTIMONY TO OTHERS ABOUT THE GOODNESS OF THE LORD. OUR PAST EXPERIENCES IN CHRIST SHOULD BE OUR TESTIMONIES TO OTHERS BUT GOD NEVER INTENDED THAT WE LIVE OUR LIVES BASED SOLEY ON PAST EXPERIENCES WITH GOD. WE ARE NOT TO WALK THAT WAY. WE ARE TO SEEK THE FRESH MANNA THAT GOD PROVIDES ON A DAILY BASIS. WE ARE TO SEEK A FRESH DAILY WALK WITH HIM. WE ARE TO KNOW HIM BETTER. SEEK A FRESH REVELATION OF THE LORD.
- THERE ARE SOME WHO ONLY TALK ABOUT THE PAST. THEY LIVE IN IT. THEY ARE STILL TRYING TO EXIST TODAY BASED ON AN EXPERIENCE THEY ONCE HAD WITH GOD AS A CHILD, OR IN THE 70’S AT SOME REVIVAL..OR SOME OTHER POINT IN TIME AND EXPERIENCE. THOSE THINGS IN THEMSELVES ARE NOT BAD. GOD PROVIDED MANNA FOR THE ISRAELITES AND IT WAS NOT A BAD THING. BUT IT BECAME BAD WHEN THEY WANTED TO HOLD ONTO OLD BLESSINGS THE NEXT DAY AND EAT OF THEM WHEN GOD WAS SAYING, “MY BLESSINGS FOR YOU ARE NEW EVERY MORNING….GO OUTSIDE OF THE TENT AND COLLECT FROM FRESH MANNA FOR TODAY AND FOR EACH DAY!”
- WE MUST DO THE SAME. WE WILL NEVER GROW BUT ALWAYS WALK IN A STATE OF INFANCY AS CHRISTIANS IF WE ARE NOT CONTINUALLY SEEKING GOD, GROWING AND PARTAKING OF THE FRESH SPIRITUAL MANNA THAT HE PROVIDES US ON A DAILY BASIS.
MAY GOD BLESS THIS WORD TO YOUR HEART.
EVANGELIST MISCHA SAFDIE’
01/12/2014
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Mischa Safdie' Ministries, 136 N. Grand Ave., Ste. 278, W. Covina, CA (951) 796-3936