Since I won't be in the pulpit or teaching Bible class weekly, at least for awhile, I decided I needed a studying/teaching outlet, and you are it! Each Monday I will put some devotional thoughts on the blog entitled Monday Morning Manna. I also plan to put something else up on Wednesdays (Getting Over The Hump). Hope you will check in to read it, enjoy it and that your faith will be fed by it. Because of internet access limitation, I may not always have it up on Monday/Wednesday, but I will write them on those days and put them on as soon as I have internet access. In the interest of honesty, the following was taken from a preacher I was listening to on the radio on my way to Chattanooga this weekend (it was the only station I could pick up, but I'm glad I did).
While the children of Israel were stranded for four decades in the wilderness, unable to enter the promised land, God sustained them daily with manna from heaven. This food was necessary to keep them alive, it was provided by God and they had to go get it themselves. The parallels to our spiritual lives are overflowing. Have you ever felt like spiritually, emotionally, you were lost in the wilderness, just wandering around, getting nowhere, accomplishing nothing? If so, perhaps this will help. Look in your Bibles at Exodus 16.
#1 - The help you need in the wilderness is not available from man. Apart from God they would have starved. God fed them, daily. God gave them food to survive. No one had the ability to meet the food needs that they had in the wilderness. Have you realized that yet? Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz, Oprah, the president, no one can help you with the food for thought and food for the soul you need. Only God has the answers to the questions you are asking. Only God has the guidance and direction you are seeking.
#2 - The held you need in the wilderness is not attainable without your cooperation. God did it, but He wanted them to be a part of the process. They had to choose to bend over, pick it up and eat it or walk on it. They could get no nourishment from manna on the ground. God is wanting to nourish you, feed you and sustain you, but He will not force feed you. He will provide the manna for your soul, but you must get it and take it in.
Additionally, they were only to get what they needed for the day, use it that day and it could not be carried over to the next day. Many of them ignored this and it bred worms and stank. The exception was the day before the sabbath when they gathered for two days and it kept without spoiling. The application to us is profound. If you think you can come to worship on Sunday and gather all of the manna you need for an entire week, you are going to have some stinking manna by Wednesday.
#3 - The help you need in the wilderness is not accessible in large doses, but bite size daily doses. What they took that day, they had to take in that day and come back for fresh manna the next morning. It wasn't enough to collect it, they had to live on it throughout the day. What they gathered in the morning they ate all day. It gave them strength through the day. They could not eat enough today to have strength for days to come, but one day at a time. Your daily time of devotion with God is necessary to keep you strong enough to overcome temptation and respond with godliness in adversity. You can't get enough on Sunday to keep you strong on Friday.
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