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| Manna |
When the Children of Israel saw the Manna revealed by the lifting dews, they
asked, “What is it?” to which Moses responded, “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.” (Ex 16:16) The Gospel of Christ, too, is
given in equal shares to all who will take, and it is always enough; however,
all do not consume in equal shares; but there is always sufficient to satisfy
completely the hunger of each day.
The Manna came, undeserved, at the precise moment of greatest need. Israel was
famishing in the Wilderness of the World when God supplied their need. How does
this remind you of Christ? “For when we were yet without strength,
in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” (Romans
5:6)
The Children of Israel had done nothing to deserve mercy from God – in fact,
they were murmuring against Him after His miraculous salvation. Does this, too,
remind you of the Wilderness of sin in which you found yourself when Christ
died for you? “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
The Provision of God is sufficient for our needs. 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. (Ex
16:17-18) No matter
your station in life or level of education, is that grace supplied by our Lord
sufficient for you? 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. (2
Cor 12:9) No one is given more grace than another, but we get that
grace that we seek. Oftentimes, we seek less than we should have sought.
The Provision of God is Essential and Satisfying: “O taste and see that the LORD is good.” (Psalm
34:8)
The Children of Israel could not have survived in the Wilderness without God’s
physical provision; neither can the Christian survive the Wilderness of this
World and Sin without God’s spiritual provision. And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never
hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. (John
6:35)
But that Bread, like Manna, must be gathered DAILY!
The Provision of Daily Bread is without cost – it is a GIFT of God. Just as
Manna was given freely to a belligerent people, so is that salvation made
available in Jesus Christ. It cannot be earned by good works or character – it
must be given AND received freely. For the wages of sin is death; but the
gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans
6:23)
There was not a man, woman, or child among Israel that were not hungry before
the raining down from Heaven of Manna. The whole world suffered a great hunger
for the salvation of Christ, and none had it until it was given. We were all
like the distant Prodigal Son is a Far Country before Christ came, and we made
the same utterance: “I perish with hunger!” (Luke
15:17)
he cried as he remembered His father from whom he was separated (not by
distance only, but by sin). From Adam to Christ, we were separated from God by
sin. Then came the Bread of Heaven! Having Truth alone is not enough for even
the devils believe and tremble. We need something that is not abstract –
something that we can see and feel to fortify our longings in faith. That
something was the Lord Jesus Christ who came in the body of a man, walked among
us, taught us, revealed mysteries never before uttered, worked miracles, healed
the sick, restored sight to the blind, and made the lame to walk. This was
real! This was absolute. And this is now a matter of established fact.
The marginal believers are quite slovenly in their faith. They are ready and
willing to accept the gift offered, but they do not desire to abide by the will
of the Giver. 19 And Moses said, Let no man leave
of it till the morning.
(Ex 16:19)
Do you suppose the greedy heart of man complied with this commandment? 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. (Ex
16:20-21) The gift
of grace and love cannot be hoarded in barrels. It must be constantly
replenished just as the truth of God’s Word must be replenished daily, else it
will grow stale. There are times when I may find myself pressed for time in
preparing a sermon (I never prepare before Sunday morning – the time of need).
This is true especially when I am traveling. If I take up a sermon on the
Gospel text for the day that I have previously delivered, for some reason, it
seems flat and dead. It is not living as it was the moment that I put it to
paper the first time. God desires that we get into His Word daily. And He
desires ALL to do so – not just clergy and committee missionaries – but
EVERYONE who calls upon His Name. Your soul needs the food of the Gospel DAILY!
What you learned yesterday will grow flat and melt unless fortified with a
daily study of the Word.
We are lazy by nature. We take shortcuts in life when we would grow stronger
going the proper distance. But when the Lord is the Captain of our Souls, there
seems no need for shortcuts. In fact, we desire to walk the flower-lined path
and to hear the beauty of nature sing in our ears. 22 And it came to pass, that
on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man: and
all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. 23 And he said unto them, This is
that which the LORD hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto
the LORD: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe;
and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.” (Ex
16:22-23)
Obedience to God in all things will always reap rewards. It does not make sense
to the human rationale that Manna gathered on the sixth day should remain fresh
over the Sabbath when not on other days; but faith is not rationale or logic –
it is a mystery of God.
Please consider the rank fickleness of the human mind. When God said “do not
gather a day ahead”, they attempted to do that very thing. When God said, “Gather
a day ahead of the Sabbath”, they did not, but attempted to gather on the
Sabbath like any other day. 24 And they laid it up till the
morning, as Moses bade: and it did not stink, neither was there any worm
therein. 25 And Moses said, Eat that to day;
for to day is a sabbath unto the LORD: to day ye shall not find it in the
field. 26 Six days ye shall gather it; but
on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none. 27 And it came to pass, that there
went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they
found none. 28 And the LORD said unto Moses,
How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?” (Ex
16:24-28) Though we
may study diligently the Word of God and know it well, we will find not
blessing in it if we do not OBEY it. We will find the fields devoid of Manna.
29 See,
for that the LORD hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the
sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go
out of his place on the seventh day. 30 So the people rested on the
seventh day. 31 And the house of Israel called
the name thereof Manna: and it was like coriander seed, white; and the taste of
it was like wafers made with honey. (Ex 16:29-31) God made the Sabbath for the
rest and benefit of man, but man does not know what is good for him, so he
violates even those Commandments of God that are of greatest obvious benefit to
Him. But Moses (their minister) bore down on them with the Word of God and they
relented. Too many ministers go along with what the people want instead of what
God has spoken.
Here is what Adam Clarke, in his Commentary, says to conclude this chapter: “God
would have the Israelites continually dependent on himself for all their
supplies; but he would make them, in a certain way, workers with him. He
provided the manna; they gathered and ate it. The first was God's work; the
latter, their own. They could not produce the manna, and God would not gather
it for them. Thus the providence of God appears in such a way as to secure the
co-operation of man. Though man should plant and water, yet it is God who
giveth the increase. But if man neither plant nor water, God will give no
increase. We cannot do God's work, and he will not do ours. Let us, therefore,
both in things spiritual and temporal, be workers together with HIM”—Adam
Clarke's Commentary
32 And Moses said, This is the thing which the LORD commandeth,
Fill an omer of it to be kept for your generations; that they may see the bread
wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you forth from the
land of Egypt. 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. 34 As the LORD commanded Moses, so
Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept. 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. 36 Now an omer is the tenth part of
an ephah. (Ex
16:32-36) This
Manna was laid up in the Ark as remembrance of what God had done in blessing
Israel while they were yet in the Wilderness of Sin. You will recall the
striking similarity of that Bread of Heaven that was laid up in the Garden Tomb
that likewise saw no corruption. It is that Bread of His Body that we consume
in the Holy Communion, and that Wine of His Blood that we drink in
commemoration of His death and sacrifice for us. Forget not the blessings of
God.
I am appending a beautiful prayer of Sir Francis Drake given on the day of the
English Fleet’s engagement of the Spanish ‘Invincible’ Armada. Nothing is ‘Invincible’
against the Winds of God:
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| Golden Hind under sail |
Prayer
of Sir Francis Drake
Logos
of St Andrew - Dec 99
On
the afternoon of the day that the English fleet sailed forth to meet the
Spanish (Invincible) Armada, The Admiral of the Fleet, Sir Francis Drake,
offered this prayer up to God for his men and himself. Note the tenor and
charity of it:
|
M
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ost merciful and loving Father, we
beseech thee most humbly, even with all our hearts, to pour out upon our
enemies with a bountiful hand whatsoever things thou knowest may do them good;
and chiefly a sound and uncorrupt mind, wherethrough they may know thee and
seek thee in true charity, with their whole hearts, and love us thy children,
for thy sake. Let not their hating of us turn to their harm, neither let us in
any wise hurt them. Seeing that we cannot do them good for want of ability,
Lord, we desire their amendment, and not their punishment. Separate them
not from us by punishing them, but join and knit them to us by thy favourable
dealing with them. And seeing we be all ordained to be citizens of the one
everlasting city, let us begin to enter in that way here already by mutual
love, which may bring us right forth hither; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen.
Miraculously, the out-gunned and inferior British fleet was
victorious over a naval force of unquestioned superiority. The forces of nature
(and of nature's God) combined to deal a decisive defeat to the would-be
invaders of England. Perhaps the only difference in the outcome was due to the
prayer of Sir Francis Drake.
What think ye?
