WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO? Hidden Manna!
ENOUGH! SUFFICIENT! When God gives, it is always enough!
By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com This is a two part series!
Don’t forget --- manna was never God’s orginal plan.
God’s first plan was THE PROMISE LAND and MILK AND HONEY!
God has a second plan. If we mess up the first plan, God will love us enough to feed us anyway.
TEXT:
Matthew 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every
word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Luke 15:17 And when he (prodigal son) came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my Father’s
have bread ENOUGH and TO SPARE, and I perish with hunger!
2 Corinthians 12:9
(Note: Some of this verse is red lettered in a red lettered edition, that means the words were spoken by Jesus!)
And He said unto me, MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR THEE: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.
Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Matthew 6:33 But seek ye FIRST the kingdom of God, and His Righteousness; and these things shall BE ADDED
unto you. 34. Take therefore no thought of the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.
SUFFICIENT unto the day is the evil thereof.
Luke 14:28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down FIRST and counteth the cost, whether he
hath SUFFICIENT to finish it?
DEFINE:
ENOUGH --- having the quantity, quality, and scope to fully meet the need, demands, or expectations;
--- sufficient, fully, --- having the degree that satisfies,
SUFFICIENT: --- adequate, coming up with the required level.
OMER --- an ancient Hebrew dry measurement that was 1/10 of an ephah,
--- by today’s measurement about, almost 1/2 of a gallon.
Someone asked one of the Millionaire Rockefellow family --- HOW MUCH MONEY IS ENOUGH?
The reply was simple: ONE MORE DOLLAR!
Poor and content is enough, and rich enough.
Many of us have strength enough to bear others misfortunes, it is our own we cannot bear!
1. IF YOU DON’T HAVE ENOUGH, YOU MAY BE AT THE PIG PEN!
THERE IS ALWAYS ENOUGH AT THE FATHER’S HOUSE!
Luke 15:17 And when he (prodigal son) came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my Father’s
have bread ENOUGH and TO SPARE, and I perish with hunger!
SELFISHNESS, GREED AND OVERINDULGENCE WILL HURT!
Proverbs 25:16 Hast thou found honey? Eat so much as is SUFFICIENT for thee, lest thou be filled therewith,
and vomit it.
We have had many Preachers of doom and gloom say HOARD UP YOUR SUPPLIES.
With Y2K, the Stock Market, Kuwait, Saddam Hussein, you better stock up on duct tape, food supplies, etc.
How can you have enough to carry you through long periods of time? How could you have food and let your
neighbor go hungry?
I say if you are really worried, GIVE AWAY food and nourishment to those in need. God will remember you!
Matthew 6:11 Give us this day our daily bread.
It is not enough to know, but we must do.
It is not enough to help one up, we must teach them. Many have good minds, they just don’t use them!
2. JESUS NEEDS NO BODY GUARDS, HIS ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
ISLAM IS A RELIGION IN WHICH GOD REQUIRES YOU TO SEND YOUR SON TO DIE FOR HIM.
CHRISTIANITY IS A FAITH IN WHICH GOD SENT HIS SON TO DIE FOR YOU.
God loves you, He watches over HIS WORD TO PERFORM IT!
God’s eyes are going to and fro searching for a place to show Himself strong.
YELL WITH ME, HERE GOD, SHOW YOURSELF STRONG RIGHT HERE!
3. GOD’S PEOPLE HAD PRAYED FOR DELIVERANCE! THERE WAS A PROMISE FROM GOD FOR
DELIVERANCE. WHEN DELIVERANCE CAME, HOW ARE WE GOING TO MAKE IT FREE?
Slavery, bondage, and many dark nights had kept God’s children with their heads bowed low.
When Moses declared by faith LET MY PEOPLE GO, there would be a nightmare of needs to try to solve.
By today’s standards feeding over a million people would take train loads of food.
Pharaoh had ordered the death of God’s children’s sons, God allowed Pharaoh to pay to have God’s deliverer,
Moses, breast fed and educated. God made a way after Moses’ mother built the little basket.
God loves to make a way for His people.
4. GOD HEARS THE MURMURINGS OF HIS PEOPLE!
I have this beautiful picture by Erik Hollander titled JESUS WEPT.
YOU CAN FIND THE PICTURE AT: http://www.telapex.com/~jrnnell/index2.html
The earth is on the left, the moon on the right, and stars throughout the picture.
Jesus is looking at the earth and is crying? It is so touching.
My 5 year old grandson was looking at the picture and he asked me, Paw, why is Jesus crying?
I told him he would have to decide why Jesus was looking at the earth and crying?
We sat and looked at the picture, it was so quiet, then Matthew said, Paw, I know, I know why Jesus is crying?
OK, Grandson, tell me?
Matthew said, Paw, people on earth are being mean and hurting each other, they are being bad. And this hurts
Jesus’ heart a lot.
In sadness we sat there looking at the picture, when Matthew said, Paw, let’s me and you not hurt Jesus, OK?
Guard your head and your tongue, we cannot afford to lose our hearts!
Exodus 16:8 -9 And Moses said, This shall be, when the Lord shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in
the morning bread to the full; for that the Lord heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against him: and what
are we? Your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord.
9: And Moses spake unto Aaron, Say unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, Come near before the
Lord: for he hath heard your murmurings.
5. What is this? WHAT IS THIS? THIS IS A NEW THING!
THE EIGHTH ENCAMPMENT IN THE DESERT, THE SUPPLIES WERE RUNNING LOW?
WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?
God’s children left Egypt with all they could possibly carry, but no matter how prepared you are, there will never
be ENOUGH by man’s means. God’s kids were camping in the desert Sin, they were are the end of their rope?
What are we going to do? The worriers were worrying! The negative mouths were talking? Will we die in the desert?
Absolutely not, GOD HAD A PLAN! God’s people couldn’t see the PLAN!
This was a unique plan and has never been duplicated, but GOD WAS GOING TO FEED HIS CHILDREN!
God was going to force His people to RELY on HIM and HIS PLAN! Lean times can be good teaching times.
Exodus 16:14 And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there
lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground.
15: And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what
it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat.
6. WHAT IS MANNA?
MAN --- in Hebrew was an expression -- OF SURPRISE
NA --- means an ALLOTMENT or GIFT.
So the word manna means a GIFT OF SURPRISE from heaven.
Manna was the food miraculously supplied to the Israelites during their journey through the wilderness.
MANNA WAS LIKE A CORIANDER SEED. A coriander plant grows to be near two feet high, the seed
is about the size of pepper corn.
Manna was white, it represented the PURITY of God, and that God expected His people to remain pure before Him!
Manna came something like the frost comes today.
Manna represents blessings.
Manna is symbolic of Jesus Christ.
Manna was tasty wafers that tasted sweet like honey.
You could grind manna in a mill, or you could beat it in a mortar.
After this preparation you could boil manna, bake manna, or fry it.
Manna has come to represent Divinely supplied SPIRITUAL NOURISHMENT!
Manna today in a spiritual form means a sudden and unexpected source of gratification, pleasure, or gain.
Today when we speak of spiritual manna we are talking about godly support and comfort, those things which are very
helpful and as though sent by God. Today God can send manna, or God can use a man to help his fellow man as a
source of manna.
7. YOU HAD TO GATHER MANNA IN THE MORNING, symbolic of the window of opportunity.
While in Haiti I learned to enjoy the shade. But I also learned something. The crowd sitting in the shade had to
move real often, for the sun is ever moving. Opportunity does not wait for perfect conditions.
THE OPPORTUNITY IS ALWAYS FLEETING. Morning is soon gone.
If a person wanted to be stubborn and wait until evening to gather his manna, it would be gone.
Life is frail, fragile, and fleeting. Life is like a vapor, it is here and soon gone.
We must learn to observe opportunity. Time is where there is opportunity. Time is limited.
IT IS POSSIBLE TO STOP AND THINK AND ANALYZE UNTIL THE OPPORTUNITY IS GONE!
You have no guarantee that opportunity will knock over and over.
One of man’s greatest sins is procrastination, thinking he has more time.
8. EVERY PERSON HAD TO GATHER THEIR OWN MANNA!
God gave very clear directions.
The directions said an OMER, which is 1/10 of ephah.
Each person would gather about 1/2 a gallon of manna.
For a kid, gather an OMER. For a skinny person gather an OMER. For a fat person gather an OMER.
One OMER was ENOUGH, ENOUGH for each person!
Get an OMER and it would not be too little. Get an OMER was not too much. ENOUGH!
THERE IS A REAL LESSON HERE, YOU KNOW JESUS CHRIST OUR MANNA, AND OUR LORD AND SAVIOR
IS ENOUGH.
9. FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS AND ENOUGH WILL BE ENOUGH!!! ENOUGH CAN BE TOO MUCH?
God will test His people’s obedience.
The tree in the garden of Eden? A test!
Naaman go dip 7 times? A test?
Fill them water pots with water? Why? We want wine not water? A test?
Why get an OMER full? A TEST?
Exodus 16:16 --19 This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded, Gather of it every man according
to his eating, an OMER for every man, according to the number of your persons; take ye every man for
them which are in his tents. 17: And the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less.
18: And when they did mete it with an OMER, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that
gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating.
19: And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning.
10. GOD DOES NOT DEAL IN LEFTOVERS!
Why cannot men follow God’s simple instructions? WHY CAN’T WE FOLLOW GOD’S PLAN?
We cannot hoard up the gifts of God.
Exodus 16:20 Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred
worms, and stank: and Moses was wroth with them. 21: And they gathered it every morning, every man according to his
eating: and when the sun waxed hot, it melted.
11. DOUBLE BEFORE THE SABBATH.
The day before the Sabbath, each person would gather a double portion.
This second portion would not fail or gather worms the next day, it would be the food for the Sabbath.
God will take care of those that worship Him!
12. HAVE YOU EVER FORGOTTEN WHAT YOU ATE?
Moses told Aaron gather a pot of manna for a memorial or a testimony.
Exodus 16:33 And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a pot, and put an OMER full of manna therein,
and lay it up before the Lord, to be kept for your generations.
Man soon forgets what God has done. God wanted His Children to remember.
There were several things saved to go in the ARK OF THE COVENANT OR THE ARK OF THE TESTIMONY.
We must be ready to recall and tell others what God has done for us.
This pot of manna would serve as an outward evidence of God’s love and provisions for His people.
Today as we do communion, it to is THE BREAD OF REMEMBRANCE, just as this manna in the Ark.
God preserved His people with His Plan.
Hebrews 9:4 Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about
with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the
tables of the covenant.
When people failed to follow God’s instructions there was corruption and rottenness in the camp.
If you saved some manna until the next morning rotten and worms would appear in the extra.
13. THE TEST: YOU FEED THEM... WE DON’T HAVE ENOUGH!
John 6:5-9 When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he
saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?
6: And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do.
7: Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that
every one of them may take a little.
8: One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, saith unto him,
9: There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what
are they among so many?
It is easy to grow religion, we can have enough religion to make us hate!
It is much harder to have enough religion to MAKE US FEED and LOVE one another!
To be a good gardener, it is not enough to love the flowers, you must also hate the weeds!
14. FROG IN HOT WATER?
Drop a frog in hot water and he will immediately jump out to a safe place.
But if you drop a frog in cool water and gradually warm the water, the frog will lay there and grin
until he boils to death.
We humans are that way, God helps us with enough, and we complain and murmur until we
have discouragement and hurt all around us.
15. THERE WERE TIMES WHEN THE PEOPLE REMEMBERED GOOD FOOD MORE THAN THE OPPRESSION
OF EGYPT.
Numbers 11:5 We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the
leeks, and the onions, and the garlic:
But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, besides this manna, before our eyes.
There came a day that the people remembered the food, and not the terrible slavery of Egypt.
16. ONE DAY AS SUDDENLY AS THE MANNA STARTED, IT STOPPED!
THERE IS NO MORE MANNA TO EAT.
After 40 years of manna six days a week, 52 weeks a year, the manna stopped coming down.
The children of God crossed the JORDAN RIVER. (This river is a type --- symbol of death!)
God’s peoples journey took them to Gilgal. Gilgal means ROLLING STONES, lack of roots,
as they moved into the Promise Land they establish a home land and they will quit their wanderings.
The people now have food that was grown in the field, they now don’t need this bread from heaven.
Exodus 16:35 And the children of Israel did eat manna forty years, until they came to a land
inhabited; they did eat manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan.
Joshua 5:12 And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the
land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land
of Canaan that year.
There are many challenges we must face. When we get comfortable and expect God to do as He
always has, He shows us His plan is forever the same, yet it is forever changing.
17. THE NEW TESTAMENT HAS A LIVING MANNA FOR US!
John 6: 49 Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.
51: I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall
live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
We should remember God’s manna and love for His people. We must remember God’s provisions, His miracles,
and God’s wonderful MERCIES!
Today manna is a spiritual food God gives to us. Spiritual manna comes BY LOVE and BY FAITH.
Revelations 2:17 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that
overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the
stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.
Remember God had a plan. His plan was 40 years of manna, then God had a paradigm shift,
and a new plan. But there is hidden manna still available for us today. God still has a plan for you!
Will you accept God’s bread?
His servant, Wade Martin Hughes, Sr Kyfingers@aol.com
Will you help me? Will you pass this work on to someone else?
