Man's Hunger And God's Provision Series

HUNGER AND GOD'S PROVISION

SCRIPTURE READING:

Exodus 16:1-35

INTRODUCTION:

Exodus chapter 16 is the chapter that talks about the Israelites two months after they have came out of Egypt and out in the Desert of Sin.

They started grumbling against Moses because they were hungry and without food to eat.

And God heard their cry and there, the glory of the Lord appeared among them in the cloud.

Then, God told them that they will be provided with bread in the morning and meat in the evening.

But God gave them specific instructions on how to gather these food in order to test their faith.

Everyone is to gather as much as they needed.

And so, it came about that in the evening, quail came and covered the camp while in morning, there appeared in the camp a thin layer of dew.

When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground or manna appeared on the desert floor.

The people of Israel called the bread manna.

It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey.

Some gathered much, some little.

And when they measured it, the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.

Everyone gathered just as much as they needed.

Then, Moses told them that no one is to keep any of it until the morning.

But some of them paid no attention to Moses.

They kept part of it until the morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell.

So, Moses was angry with them for not following God's instructions.

Each morning, everyone gathered as much as they needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away.

But on the sixth day, they gathered twice as much to save it and it did not stink or get maggots in it to prepare them for the Sabbath because they will not find any.

Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather it, but they found none.

And God was angry because God wanted His people to rest on the Sabbath Day.

It was a painful lesson for them to learn.

And so, to commemorate this incident, the Lord commanded Moses to take a portion of that manna and keep it for generations to come so that they will remember how the Lord provided for them food to eat in the wilderness.

And so, they put the manna with the tablets of the covenant law so that they will be preserved.

The Israelites ate manna for forty years until they came to a land that was settled in the border of Canaan.

To summarize, this chapter is about how the Israelites experienced hunger and how the Lord provided them food to eat.

But you see, hunger is a reality that exist even in the present times.

There are people all over the world who are dying due to lack of food to eat.

The children are the most affected.

Here are some world hunger facts according to freedom from hunger website.

This year, nearly 9 million children younger than five years old will die needlessly, more than half from hunger-related causes.

Few of these deaths are related to outright starvation, but rather to common illness such as diarrhea, malaria, and measles that move in on vulnerable children whose bodies have been weakened by hunger.

In the developing world, more than 1.4 billion people currently live below the international poverty line, earning less than $1.25 per day.

Among this group of poor people, many have problems obtaining adequate, nutritious food for themselves and their families.

As a result, 1.02 billion people in the world are undernourished.

They consume less than the minimum amount of calories essential for sound health and growth.

Undernourishment will negatively affect people's health, productivity, sense of hope and over-all well-being.

A lack of food can stunt growth, slow thinking, sap energy, hinder fetal development and contribute to mental retardation.

This then is the reality of the problem of hunger and poverty in the world.

These are troubling and heart-breaking statistics considering that we are here in the United States enjoying abundant food that we sometimes throw away because we cannot consume them anymore.

We don't know the real situation until we are presented and face to face with this truth.

But do you know that hunger is also prevalent in the United States?

According to the world hunger.org article, six years after the onset of the financial and economic crisis, hunger remains high in the U.S.

In fact, the financial and the economic crisis that erupted in 2008 caused a dramatic increase in hunger.

In 2013, about 14.3% of household or 17.5 million people, approximately one in seven, were food insecure.