Exodus 16:1-36
16:1 A month and a half has passed and the children of Israel are still journeying away from Egypt. Their passage from enslavement to freedom is a metaphorical example of our own passages. God's love and protection, leadership and wisdom are immediately available to us. He releases the shackles but it is our mutual responsible to walk. God sees and plans and prepares the destination, enables us to get there, but we must make the decision to follow Him.
16:2-3 Along their and also our passage, we experience life events that prod us to grow in faith and spiritual strength, wisdom, patience and trust. Moses and Aaron begin to the hear the grumblings of the group again. This time, they are upset that there is no food. They are complaining that they are going to die of hunger out in the wilderness during the journey. They even say: God, if you were going to let us die, you should have let us die in Egypt... at least we had food there.
God has already shown them that He provides: He freed them from the Egyptians; He rescued them from Egypt's fierce army; and He produced water for them to drink when they thought they would die of thirst.
The children of Israel show us what life is like with wavering faith: full of worry, difficulty and inconsistency. To neglect this infinite and thriving source that is our God is to seriously deprive your life. God is able to provide for our physical bodies and for our spiritual bodies.
16:4-5 These two verses are predecessor to a wisdom given in the New Testament: What we produce on Earth is given to us doubly in Spirit. We are given to in order that we may give. God's gifts are meant to flow continuously. God provides and what we do with our provisions is paramount and observed.
We receive these gifts through our tunnel of faith. The channel through which we receive from God is dependent on our own establishment and maintenance of it. God will willing to provide for the hungry children of Israel and for His spiritually hungry children. He's going to send as much as He can through our tunnel of faith. How much fits through it is dependent on us.
The children of Israel have small and weak faith. Although it's disheartening to God that we doubt His love and ability, He isn't angry at us for needing time to develop our trust in Him. He prepares to send the children of Israel food little by little, steadily increasing the amounts as their faith grows.
Part of faith is the acknowledgement that God has provided today and another part is trusting that He will provide tomorrow as well. God explains to Moses that the more trust they give Him, the more benefits they will reap.
16:6-7 Moses and Aaron quell the group by explaining that God as again promised to fill their needs. Moses and Aaron explain that God hears their complaints. No other entity is listening as attentively as He is. Open wide that tunnel of faith, that channel of communication because through it will come everything you are asking for.
16:8 Moses explains that they will witness that the Lord has heard them: in the evening they will receive meat and in the morning they will receive bread.
Moses adds: "And what are we? Your complaints are not against us but against the Lord." The children of Israel are attacking Moses and Aaron but Moses quickly redirects them. Communicate with The One Who can actually help you. Moses and Aaron are instruments of God's work... beloved instruments, gifted instruments, but instruments all the same. Moses never wants the group to make the mistake of thinking that he is their leader. It is an act of humility on Moses' part but also an act of instruction.
16:9-10 Moses and Aaron are prodding the children to create and foster personal relationships with God (though humanity does not start to get the hang of that until the New Testament). The children of Israel receive visual reinforcement of God's presence.
16:11-12 The Lord has heard. He is intricately involved in their, and our, lives. He's going to provide but His blessings are no use to us outside on our doorsteps... we must welcome our divine-Deliverer inside.
16:13-15 Everything unfolds exactly as God promises. Quails arrive in their camp in the evening and in the morning, they receive something they do not recognize. Moses identifies it as bread from the Lord.
This peculiar arrival is descriptive of God's blessings. Because He understands our needs better than we even do, we often do not at first understand the gifts He gives us. They frequently look different from what we envisioned. We pray for something specific because we want to be fulfilled by it... but instead of giving us that specific thing, God gives us the particular thing that would truly and completely fill the need that caused us to pray to Him. He knows when we are asking for something we do not yet realize we would not really enjoy. The changes and replacements God makes are always comprehensively better.
Gain assurance of God's gift-giving ability from Matthew 7:7-12
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."
16:16-17 God's direction comes through Moses to the children: take only what you and your family need from this supply. Instead, some people take more than they need and some take less. What they take is indicative of the nature of their hearts and their faith: some people only take a small amount because they trust that the supply from God is abundant and will be consistently given. Others take a huge amount because they do not trust God and fear that they might die of hunger if they don't hoard more than their share.
16:18 What is interesting about this test of faith is that those who gathered more than their share ended up with nothing left over. Yet the people who only took a small amount (out of trust, humility, and compassion for others) never lacked.
16:19-21 Moses instructs everyone to eat their meal until nothing is left. To trust that the Lord will provide their next meal. Some people do not trust and stored their food... but their plan fails as the food spoils before they can eat it. This is another time in the Bible where God is pleading with His children: Hold onto Me not things. He alone is our abundant, consistent, and non-perishable source.
16:22-24 On the sixth day, the children of Israel receive double their ration. It is given to them to prepare for the holy day of the Lord the next day. This time, Moses explains, the food will not spoil. This time, they are the preserve the food in God's honor.
16:25-26 Moses instructs the children of Israel to gather food the entire week but to rest on the seventh day. To let it be a day of reflection. It is so imperative that we set aside time to contemplate spirituality's role in our lives. We need to remember and nourish that connection.
16:27-30 People do not listen. Instead of taking that time to rest and reflect, meditate and communicate with God, they go out to gather more...more...more. Stop and think before you judge. How often do we get swept up in the cycle of the world? We are take to consume! To procure! Greed never sleeps in our world. We rarely stop and reflect on what we already have. We are desperate to not miss an opportunity of gain. God is trying to explain here that our spirits need this time of rest in order to stay tethered to Him.
We need the time to remember that we are not sand in an hourglass. In Him, we are constant. In Him we have eternal life. Meaning that we literally have eternity to receive blessings from Him. Take the time to remember that because consistently skipping it pulls that eternal promise out of reach.
Remember that God's frustrating in this verse is because He knows how to provide for us and when He sees us rejecting Him, He sees us withering. It pains Him to see us wither. He's adamant because He cares. He wants His children to rest and be with Him, to constantly be able to recognize and receive Him.
16:31 The children of Israel name the substance Manna and describe it to taste like honey-dipped wafers. Food from God is sweet; it is packed with all of the nutrients our souls require: love, compassion, patience, blessing.
16:32-33 We are talking about more than just a substance of physical food. God instructs the children of Israel to keep the memory and promise of this Manna for generations to come.
16:34 Aaron establishes the manna as a testimony of God's ability and commitment to provide.
16:35-36 The children of Israel subsist on manna for forty years, right until they reach their destination: the land of Canaan.
