February 15 - Nº 46 Exodus 15:22 – 17:7
God rescued the nation of Israel and brought them out of Egypt where they had been slaves for almost 400 years. But their journey with God was just beginning. From the Red Sea, God led them through the desert to Mount Sinai. They traveled for three long, hot days without finding any water. They finally came to a pool, but the water was undrinkable. The people began to grumble and complain, so Moses cried out to the Lord for help. The Lord told Moses to throw a piece of wood into the bitter water. When he did, the water instantly became fresh and clean.
Over and over, God proved that He wanted to protect and provide for His people physically as well as spiritually. He confirmed it at their next stop. Elim was a beautiful oasis with twelve springs and seventy palm trees. They camped there for a while before heading back into the desert country that led to Mount Sinai.
Once again, the Israelites became unhappy. This time they were hungry. So, once again, they complained to Moses: “At least we had plenty of food to eat when we were slaves. Here we have nothing!” God heard their complaining. He told Moses to tell the people to expect meat that evening, then in the morning He would rain down bread from heaven.
God gave the Israelites specific instructions concerning the bread: Each day they were to gather just enough for that day -- except on the sixth day. That day they should gather twice as much, so they did not have to work on the Sabbath.
Sure enough, that evening, God caused a huge flock of quail to fly over their camp. The people caught them and ate them. Then the next morning when the dew evaporated, they discovered “bread” all over the ground. They called it manna, which means, “What is it?” They had never seen anything like it before. It was white and tasted like wafers made of honey.
Most of the people obeyed the instructions God had given through Moses, but the ones who gathered too much found it full of maggots and smelling awful the next day. And those who went out on the seventh day (the Sabbath) to gather bread, didn’t find any at all. God had designed it so that the seventh day would be a day to rest and enjoy time with Him. (This was something they had never been able to do while they were slaves in Egypt.) For the forty years that it took them to get to the Promised Land, God provided this manna every day.
As they continued toward Mount Sinai, the Israelites camped at a place called Rephidim. But this place had no water. Instead of waiting for God to supply it, they immediately began to grumble again. This time they were so angry with Moses that he thought they might kill him. God told him to take his staff and stand in front of a specific rock and hit it with the staff. When Moses did, water came gushing out. God provided enough water for all the people and their livestock!
Do you trust God to take care of your daily needs? Or do you start grumbling when you think you are missing out on something? Sometimes we hinder God’s blessings because we are too busy complaining or trying to take care of ourselves. We even stockpile things because we don’t trust Him to come through later. God wants to take care of our needs, but sometimes we get in the way.
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