Daily Dose of the Word of God - Exodus 16: 13-18

Gregg DeMey, Lead Pastor

Transcript

Gregg DeMey  0:07 

Good morning and welcome to Elmhurst CRC's Daily Dose of the Word of God. It's Thursday, October 2 and this is Gregg DeMey. We are walking through the Bible, reading today from Exodus 16, verses 13 to 18. Let's notice how God is at work for good in the world.

 
Gregg DeMey  0:25

That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was.  Moses said to them, “It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat. This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Everyone is to gather as much as they need. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent.’”  The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. And when they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little. Everyone had gathered just as much as they needed.

Gregg DeMey 1:14

When the Israelites first saw this new food on the ground on the desert floor, they asked, "what is it?" In Hebrew, it only takes two words to ask the question and it sounds like "Manu" from which we get, manna. There's going to be a lot of manna for the Israelites in the years to come - 40 years worth. One Christian singer has a song that uses the phrase,  "bamana bread and mannacati. Hopefully, the Israelites found lots of creative ways to eat and prepare the manna - the what is it. It's no accident that when Jesus taught his disciples to pray, he taught them (and us) to ask for our daily bread. It's not just, "Hallowed be Thy name and Thy kingdom come and will be done" Jesus also teaches us to ask for what we need today, just to make it through and survive. Does something come to mind when we put it that way? What do you need for God to provide today for your daily bread?

Gregg DeMey  2:21  

Let's pray. Dear God, Jehovah, Jireh, the one who sees what's what and the one who provides. We come to you today with our daily and basic needs - won't you prove your faithfulness again in our lives? We'd love to serve as a case study of what it means to be poor and needy like those Israelites, so hungry in the desert but surprisingly sustained by your spirit and your provision. We long for that this very day. In Jesus' name, amen.