TITLE: GOD'S PROVISION
TEXT: EXODUS 16:1-15
- We’re continuing our study through the book of Exodus.
- Last week, we talked about being tested by God.
- We saw the Israelites start to complain against Moses when they realized their only source of water was bitter.
- Moses turned to God, and God told him to cast a tree into the water.
- When he did, God cleansed the water and made it drinkable.
- We saw that this was a test from God, and the test was soon after their deliverance, the test was difficult but had a solution, and the test was for their benefit.
- This week, we’re going to look at God’s provision as He miraculously provides food for the Israelites.
- I don’t know about you, but when I desperately need something, and someone provides it to me, or I find it on my own, I feel like I’ve won the lottery!
- I’m reminded of my first day of basic training.
- We were carted over to our barracks on a bus and had all our bags containing all our uniforms and gear.
- Those bags were heavy!
- Once we got to the barracks, the Drill Sergeants started yelling at us and telling us to get in formation with our bags.
- I remember how hectic it was, as soldiers were running all over the place, and the Drill Sergeants were yelling in peoples faces, making some cry, and others just froze.
- Once we were formed up, the Drill Sergeants instructed us to take one of our duffel bags and lift it up over our heads and hold it there.
- That might not sound too hard, but the bag was probably about 70 pounds, and we were standing in the hot sun of South Carolina, in the middle of July, and they were still getting in our faces, yelling at us for different reasons.
- So, as I’m standing there, sweating profusely, shaking as I’m trying to hold this bag, all I can think about is how thirsty I am and how much I need a drink of water.
- Once the Drill Sergeants were done with this step, they had us march over to an area in the shade where they started handing us large canteens full of ice cold water and told us to drink the entire contents.
- I wanted and needed water so bad that I would have paid $100.00 just to drink from one, but I didn’t have to…
- The Drill Sergeants provided it by simply handing it to me, and that was probably the best tasting drink of water I’ve ever had.
- All of us here today have at one time or other been in desperate need of something, and God has stepped in and provided it.
- That’s where we find the Israelites in the passage this morning…in desperate need of food, and we’re going to see God step in and provide above and beyond anything they could have imagined.
FIRST: GOD LISTENS WHEN WE COMPLAIN- VS 1-9
- Sometimes, I complain too much.
- I’m reminded of my time in Iraq, and one of the complaints I kept bringing up to any of my buddies who would listen.
- The Armed Forces Network provided radio and tv broadcasts to troops over there.
- The guys in my unit loved to watch College Football when they had the chance.
- So, I remember watching a few times with some of the guys and noticing that the cameras kept showing the fans in the crowd.
- I couldn’t help but notice all these college kids smiling and cheering, some of them holding signs, others with their team colors painted on their bodies, and just having a good time watching a football game.
- I remember thinking, “Those kids are so lucky. They get to be safe at home, enjoying a football game, with their friends and family, and I’m stuck in the middle of the desert, in a war zone where people want to kill me! This really stinks!”
- Looking back, I realize that I had the honor of serving my country, and being a part of history, something most of those college kids in the audience would never have.
- Yet at the time, I just wanted to complain.
- That’s what we find the Israelites doing here in Exodus 16, complaining once again.
- It’s been about 30 days since their departure from Egypt.
- They’ve already seen God provide for them in a miraculous way by cleansing the water at Marah, so they could quench their thirst.
- Yet now, they run into another issue.
- Their bellies are empty, and they want food, but they don’t have any because they’ve already used all or most of what they brought with them.
- I don’t know about you, but if I miss a meal, my stomach starts to growl, my mind starts thinking about all sorts of great food, and I start to get a little grumpy.
- The Israelites were still walking around in the wilderness, and since they didn’t have food, you can imagine how grumpy they were becoming.
- So, just like when they wanted water, they started to do what they’re good at…they complained!
- I think it’s important to note here that the Israelites aren’t facing a famine here, and they’re not dying of starvation!
- It’s likely that they’re starting to complain either right before they run out of food, or immediately after.
- So, they haven’t even turned to God with their problem…instead, the first thing they do is complain against Moses and Aaron.
- I like how David Guzik puts it…he says, “They went from singing to complaining very quickly!”
- Complaining is bad enough, but notice what they do along with their complaining…
- They start to look back at their time in Egypt and say, “We were better off there!”
- Vs 3 tells us they said, “In Egypt, we sat by the pots of meat and we ate bread to the full!”
- Obviously, that’s not a true statement because they were slaves back in Egypt, and the Egyptians didn’t treat them well.
- So, while it’s true that they had food in Egypt, it wasn’t an all you can eat buffet like they’re describing here.
- So, in looking back, they weren’t thinking about the oppression they faced in Egypt…they were just thinking about food and were exaggerating.
- Not only were they complaining and exaggerating, but they also proceeded to attack their leader, Moses.
- They say at the end of vs 3, “You have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger!”
- Excuse me?! What a ridiculous statement to make.
- Moses sacrificed so much for his people…he left the palace where he was rich and powerful, and instead became a shepherd.
- Then, when God met with him at the burning bush, he obeyed God’s call on his life to lead his people out of Egypt and lead them to the Promised Land.
- So, Moses loved them, and was a good leader…their accusation was completely false and made no sense.
- But you know, when you and I complain, we’re not thinking rationally, so usually we say some pretty dumb things, things we know aren’t true, just like the Israelites did here.
- Thankfully, the Lord is full of patience, so instead of zapping them all with lightning and yelling at them to “Stop complaining!”, God instead heard and listened to their complaints.
- Look at what He says in vs 4… “I will rain bread from Heaven for you…”
- I can picture God smiling down at them, shaking His head at their stubbornness, and saying something like, “You miss that bread you ate in Egypt? That’s nothing. Wait until you try my bread from Heaven! It’ll be like nothing you’ve ever tasted before!”
- Hopefully, we’ll get to try some of this manna one day when we get to Heaven.
- Anyways, God provided the bread, enough for over 2000 people, but notice He said, “The people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day…”
- So, God was providing the blessing to His people, but it was up to the people to go out and gather it, so they could enjoy the blessing.
- Not only that, but they had to be obedient to the Lord…they could only gather enough to feed them for the day.
- God added this stipulation because, once again, just like with the bitter water, God was testing them…
- He wanted them to rely fully on Him and be obedient to His Word.
- It’s interesting because if you really think about it, they had to trust that God would provide enough manna for them every day.
- By gathering just enough to get them through the day, they were telling God, “I believe that you will provide more tomorrow, just as You’ve promised.”
- That took a great amount of faith!
- Then, because of the Sabbath, they’re told to gather twice as much on the sixth day, so they’ll have enough to feed themselves for 2 days, which again, was a part of God testing them.
- God was going to use all of this to show them that He was their God and they were His people and remind them that He delivered them from Egypt.
- Since the Israelites were still learning who God is, we can’t be too hard on them for complaining to Moses and Aaron and still seeing Moses and Aaron as their deliverers from Egypt…
- After all, they could actually see Moses and Aaron face to face, but they could only see God’s presence through the pillar of cloud and fire in the sky.
- Yet God wanted them to know Him, and that was Moses’s desire too…for his people to know God…
- That’s why we see him in vs 6-8 explaining that God brought them out of Egypt, and through the miracle of manna, they were going to see the glory of the Lord…
- Then, Moses reminds them that when they complain against him and Aaron, they’re really complaining against the Lord…
- They had no right to complain against God because He had done nothing but good for them…
- He judged their enemies the Egyptians and delivered them…then, He cleansed the bitter water, so they could drink it…
- Now, instead of judging them for complaining, Moses tells them that God has heard them and He’s going to provide for them once again, and not only that, but in vs 9, they’re told to “Come near before the Lord”, so they’re going to experience His presence in a special way.
- So, what does this mean for us as Christians?
- Well, let me ask you this…have you ever complained to God?
- I think all of us here today would have to answer yes.
- Our human nature likes to complain about things, especially when things aren’t going our way.
- But we’re told in Philippians 2:14-15, “Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world…”
- Then, in 1 Peter 4:9, we’re told to, “Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.”
- So, Scripture is very clear…stop complaining!
- The Greek word for “complainer” literally means, “one who is discontented with his lot in life.”
- So, if you’re complaining to God, or complaining about something He’s done in your life, then you’ve got a problem with discontentedness.
- When you and I complain, it steals our joy and it pulls us away from Christ.
- When we’re coveting something that someone else has or thinking about how much greener the grass must be on the other side of the fence, we’re committing a sin.
- We’re telling God that we’re not grateful for what He’s given us.
- We’re telling God that we want more, and our hearts and minds are set on worldly things instead of on Heavenly things and our Great God.
- Yet God hears our complaints, and He smiles down on us…
- I can picture Him putting His arm around my shoulder and saying, “My child, I’m all you need!”
- The Apostle Paul sets a great example for us in Philippians 4:11-12 where he says, “Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things, I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.”
- The great thing about God is that He doesn’t just ignore or disregard our complaints.
- No, He uses them in our lives to teach us, and to help us grow…
- And a lot of times, He’ll still give us whatever it is that we were complaining about.
- I remember complaining about something a while back and telling God how much I wanted this thing to happen, and it wasn’t happening.
- I got really upset about the situation and remember being really hurt by it.
- Then, a couple of months later, God made it happen, and I realized, “Here I was complaining to God, and getting upset that this thing didn’t happen. Yet God knew it was going to happen. Sure, it was later than I anticipated, yet God made it happen.”
- I learned from that, and I grew closer to Christ through it.
- Brothers and sisters, God does listen when we complain, and He does care, so always bring your complaints before Him, humbly and lovingly, and be willing to accept whatever His answer might be.
SECOND: GOD SUPPLIES BETTER THAN WE DESERVE- VS 10-15
- Every year, Sherri and I go to a Pastor’s Encouragement Retreat that’s organized by Phil Waldrep Ministries.
- We look forward to it every year, and it always comes in September, which is a time of year when Sherri and I usually need a small break to get some rest and be recharged.
- So, some wonderful people from the Bible belt donate money every year for New England Pastors to have a few days to do just that…get some rest and be recharged.
- This year it was at the Samoset Resort in Rockland, a beautiful place with a breathtaking view of the ocean.
- So, when we go, we know we’re going to be blessed and that it’s going to give us the rest and recharge that we need.
- If that was all that this ministry did for us, it would be more than enough!
- However, they don’t stop at just getting us a hotel room…they also provide each couple with what they call “Encouragers.”
- These are couples who are sacrificing their own time and paying their own money just to be with New England pastors, to encourage us while we’re at the retreat, and they also commit to praying for us all year.
- So obviously, that’s an extra blessing provided to us, but the organizers of this ministry don’t stop there…
- They also throw a banquet for us, where we get to eat lobster, steak, chicken, fish chowder, and lots of other really-delicious, fancy food…it’s an all you can eat buffet!
- So that’s another extra blessing that they provide, but they still don’t stop there!
- At the end of the supper, they always provide each couple with some type of monetary compensation…this year, they gave us $100.00 to use on whatever we wanted, so we used it for a date before we came home…
- So again, that’s another blessing that is above and beyond, but they didn’t stop there either!
- The day of our departure, before we left this year, our encouragers washed our feet while praying for each of us individually, which was a very emotional experience for everyone, and many tears were shed…but it was so special!
- Yet they still weren’t done!
- Before we left, they gave every couple a brand-new pair of LL Bean boots to take home!
- We’re talking over 200 people walking away with a pair of these…
- For Sherri and I, all we needed was a small break, yet Phil Waldrep Ministries did much more than just that for us!
- So, they blessed us much greater than we deserved!
- And that’s how God is with His children…blessing us more than we deserve!
- And that’s what we find happening with the Israelites here…
- God is providing what they asked for, but He’s going above and beyond, and giving them much better than they deserve…
- First, in vs 10, He literally appears in His glory in the cloud to Moses, and it’s in front of the people.
- Whether they could hear God speaking to them directly, or just hear the sound of His voice speaking to Moses is unclear, but what is clear is that the people could see this happening.
- That was a great blessing from God because He didn’t have to do it this way…
- He could have just spoken to Moses the way He did with the plagues in Egypt, privately, and the people wouldn’t have seen it.
- Yet seeing it happen was for their benefit.
- But God didn’t stop there…vs 12 and 13 tells us that God told Moses He would provide the people with meat in the evening by bringing quails to them.
- The people didn’t specifically ask for meat when they complained…
- They said they sat by the pots of meat and ate bread to the full, so if God only provided manna, that would have been more than enough.
- Yet God provided better than they deserved by adding meat to the menu.
- Then, in the morning, God provided manna, a small, round substance, and Moses says in vs 15 “…This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat.”
- Vs 31 tells us that it was like a coriander seed, which is about the size of a sesame seed, and it tasted like honey…
- Then, in Numbers 11:7, we’re told that its color was bdellium which is a pearl-like color.
- In Psalm 78, we’re told that manna is “the bread of angels!”
- So even though the people of Israel had been complaining, God again provided better than they deserved by giving them something no one had ever tasted before…manna, the food of angels!
- I’m speculating here, but I believe it must have been the best tasting food anyone has ever had, because it’s the only time in Scripture that we read about people eating the food of angels, which was food from Heaven.
- One of the other ways God provided better than the Israelites deserved was through the lessons He taught them through this provision.
- Deuteronomy 8:3 says, “So [God] humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD.”
- This was such a powerful lesson that Jesus Himself quoted it in the wilderness when Satan tempted Him by trying to get Him to turn the stone into bread.
- “It is written: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God!”
- So, God provided better than the Israelites deserved.
- What about us as Christians?
- Does God provide better for us than we deserve?
- I think all of us here today would say yes, God has provided better than we’ve deserved, and I bet we’ve all seen Him do it more than once in our lives.
- Yet if the only thing He ever provided for us was the gift of Salvation, that alone would be more than we deserve, and would be enough!
- We don’t deserve salvation, we don’t deserve His love, we don’t deserve to spend eternity with Him…and yet He’s provided it to us.
- Yet on top of salvation, He continues to provide us with blessings we don’t deserve!
- Romans 8:32 says, “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?”
- Ephesians 3:20-21 says, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
- Some of you might remember the day I quoted this verse when I proposed to Sherri from behind this pulpit, and the reason I used it was because it meant so much to me…
- God blessed me by bringing Sherri and Alan, Alex, and Shaelyn into my life 8 years ago…
- They were a blessing that was exceedingly abundantly above all that I could ask or think…
- I didn’t deserve them, and yet God brought us together, and made us a family.
- Yet before that, I remember telling God, “I’m so lonely! Why won’t you bring someone into my life?”
- I had no right to complain, and yet I did…
- So, God said, “Okay, you’re lonely, I’ll tell you what…instead of only sending 1 person into your life, I’ll give you 4 people!”
- I’m so glad He did.
- Brothers and sisters, maybe you’re at a point right now where you’re having a tough time, and you’re doing a lot of complaining to God.
- “Why can’t I have this?” or “Why is life so hard?” or “Why aren’t you answering my prayer, God?”
- Perhaps your complaint is something else…
- Complaining doesn’t mean you’re a bad Christian, it means you’re human!
- But brothers and sisters, please don’t stay there…
- Have faith, and trust that God knows best and He will provide better for you than you deserve…
- You might have to wait, but isn’t it easier to wait with your eyes on God instead of your eyes on that problem or that thing you want?
- God will supply better than you deserve.
THIRD: GOD PROVIDES SALVATION
- I’d like to close this sermon by summarizing God’s provision of Salvation.
- In the book of Genesis, we read about God creating everything perfectly, and then creating Adam and Eve without sin.
- They were perfect and had everything they needed because God provided for them, and He was with them.
- The only thing He told them they couldn’t do was eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
- Yet one day, our enemy, Satan, tempted Eve with the fruit, and tricked her into eating it, even though she knew she wasn’t supposed to.
- Then, she gave the fruit to Adam, and he ate it too.
- It was at that point that sin entered our world…
- Sin is everything that is against God, everything bad, and Adam and Eve’s sin was disobedience…
- According to the book of Romans, the wages of sin is death, so all of us are born with sin, and that means we deserve death, or judgment because of our sin.
- Yet God promised that one day, He would crush the head of the Serpent, and that’s what happened when Jesus came into this world.
- John 3:16 tells us that “God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.”
- Jesus died on the cross and paid the penalty for the sin of the world…
- That’s the penalty you and I deserve, death, because of our sin, but He took that penalty on Himself!
- Now, He offers salvation to the world, if we’ll turn to Him and receive the free gift of salvation He’s provided us.
- The Christian life is all about Jesus…
- He’s our everything, and He’s provided all that we’ll ever need.
- Unfortunately, if you haven’t given your life to Jesus, that means you haven’t received the gift of salvation that He’s provided.
- That means you’ve got a big hole in your heart that is meant to be filled by Jesus.
- Turn to Him today, give your life to Him, receive His gift of salvation, and start enjoying a relationship with God Almighty, the Creator of our Universe, our Great Lord and Savior!
- Let’s pray.
