Exodus - Part 10- Manna - The Bread Of Life Series

Exodus- “The story of God’s presence’

Part 10

“ Manna – The bread of life”

Exodus 16

Philippians 4:19

John 6:22-58

I had an old friend named Shorty

I am not really sure why he was called Shorty

I never asked

But

It was a funny name

Because Shorty was about 6 ‘1 or 2

He had been the Forman on the Flat Creek division of ANLACO

For many years

And had retired shortly before I took over in that position

Even though he was retired

Shorty would work for us when we were busy

And he had a real knack for blowing up beaver dams and beaver houses and we would use him nearly every summer to help us get the water off the bottom land and open up valuable grazing land

Shorty was always full of good advice and homespun wisdom

And one of the best lessons he taught me

Other than making your dynamite fuses longer than you think you might need

Was about money

Specifically wants verses needs

Shorty would often tell me and the other hands at Flat Creek

That anytime you thought you wanted to buy something

Ask yourself

Is this a want or a need?

He said if it is a need

Open your wallet and pay for it

If it is a want

Close your wallet and put it back in your pocket

And before you know it you will need to go to the bank to offload all the money in your wallet

I will tell you all of Shorty’s needs were met

And I will also tell you

That man had more money in his overstuffed wallet than anyone I have ever met

He had mastered the wants verses needs issue that many of us struggle with

I wish I could say that I learned the lesson that Shorty taught so well

But

I often still struggle with wants and needs

Today we are going to continue our study of Exodus

But first open your bibles to Philippians 4:19

A well known verse

That like Shorty’s good advice

If taken to heart

Can change the way we look at things

Philippians 4:19

19 And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.

Paul is writing to the Church at Philippi

Thanking them for supporting his ministry and assuring them that God will also meet their needs

This verse in this context gives us this assurance as well

That

God will supply our needs

Please focus on that word

Circle it in your bible

Needs

God will supply our needs

Not our wants

This verse says nothing about our wants

Sometimes he gives us our wants

But it is our needs he is most concerned with

I pray as we study Exodus this verse will begin to enlighten us on this subject

Let me recap just a bit

Then we can dig back in

The Israelites

God’s chosen people

Have been delivered by God from 400 years of bondage

God led them though the desert

Provided for them

Protected them

God parted the red sea for them

He changed the bitter water at Marah to sweet for them

Took them to a place of rest at Elim

And God did all of this in spite of their

Ingratitude

In spite of their grumbling and complaining

He did all of this in spite of their lack of trust

Why

Because God loved them

He provides for us because he loves us

Once again in today’s passage we see

The Israelites griping and complaining

They had left Egypt in a hurry

Under the cover of darkness

They had packed for a trip

They thought it would be a short trip

But now they were running out of food

Water had been an issue and we saw two weeks ago that God made that huge issue into a non issue

You would think that they would start to get it

But they did not

Please open your copy of God’s word to Exodus 16

Let’s read verses 1-3

Then the whole community of Israel set out from Elim and journeyed into the wilderness of Sin,[a] between Elim and Mount Sinai. They arrived there on the fifteenth day of the second month, one month after leaving the land of Egypt.[b] 2 There, too, the whole community of Israel complained about Moses and Aaron.

3 “If only the LORD had killed us back in Egypt,” they moaned. “There we sat around pots filled with meat and ate all the bread we wanted. But now you have brought us into this wilderness to starve us all to death.”

Remember I told you 2 weeks ago that the road we as Christians must travel is often rough