Daily Dose

Friday February 13, 2015

My vitamins come in three fruity flavours. Fortunately, someone designed them to look and taste more like sweets than health aids. The contents include stuff like vitamin B-6, niacin and folic acid. Each serving contains enough supplements to last for one day. Every morning I have to consume another dose because my body has been busy using up yesterday´s vitamin supply.

The Israelites experienced a similar sense of dependence on the mysterious breadlike food that fell from heaven. Having arrived in the wilderness of Sin, they began to gripe, saying ,"[In Egypt] we sat around pots filled with meat and ate all the bread we wanted" (Exodus 16:3).

The Israelites' complaints reached God´s ears, so He decided to airdrop food from heaven. He told Moses, "Each day the people can go out and pick up as much food as they need for that day" (v. 4). They weren´t supposed to stockpile the stuff (vv. 16, 19), and those who did found that it turned into a smelly, worm-infested mess overnight (v.20).

Gathering the supernatural sustenance taught the Israelites to obey and depend on God every day. Eventually, depending on God became a way of life. "[They] ate the manna for forty years.... [until] they came to the border of the land of Canaan" (v.35).

God wants us to rely on Him as well. Consistent daily dependence leads to a lifestyle of reliance on God. Maybe this is why He often gives us a daily dose of His help rather than fixing our problems all at once. If we become disappointed when God doesn´t solve the big problems in our lives, we can remember that He´s still at work in the situation, supplying just what we need one day at a time. - Jennifer Benson Schuldt.

Read
Exodus 16:1-21
The whole Israrelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt. In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, "If only we had died by the Lord´s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death."
Then the Lord said to Moses, "I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days."
So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, "In the evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt, and in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we, that you should grumble against us?" Moses also said, "You will know that it was the Lord when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the Lord."
Then Moses told Aaron, "Say to the entire Israelite community, 'Come before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.' "
While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the deser, and there was the glory of the Lord appearing in the cloud.
The Lord said to Moses, "I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, 'At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.' "
That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, "What is it?" For they did not know what it was.
Moses said to them, "It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat. This is what the Lord has commanded : 'Each one is to gather as much as he needs. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent.' "
The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. And when they measured it by the omer, he who gathered much did not have too much and he who gathered little did not have too little. Each one gathered as much as he needed.
Then Moses said to them, "No one is to keep any of it until morning."
However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them.
Each morning everyone gathered as much as he needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away.

Psalm 125:1-2
Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion,
which cannot be shaken but endures forever.
As the mountains surround Jerusalem, 
so the Lord surrounds his people 
both now and forevermore.

2 Corinthians 1:8-9
We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.

Question to Ponder
How did God supply a daily dose of help when you faced a difficult situation?
In what ways can you practice reliance on Him this week?

**Article taken from ODJ (Our Daily Journey with God) Dec 2014 - Feb 2015