Gtcotr/ss042617
The
first 49 days after leaving Egypt were days spent by the Children of Israel in getting
to know God and learning to depend on Him. While the Children of Israel were
getting to know God, God was working on something else.
You
see, the Children of Israel had been living in Egypt for 430 years to the day
God delivered them. God used the first Passover, which occurred on the 14th
Day of the month called Nisan, to get His Children out of Egypt. However, God
knew it would take a bit longer and a lot more work to get Egypt out of them.
So,
those first 49 days after Passover are still called the Days of Omer. Omer is a unit of dry measurement. A few days after
the Children of Israel left Egypt and crossed the Red Sea they found themselves
in a wilderness desert where there was no food or water. They began complaining
and God proved Himself by providing an abundant fresh sweet water source and
quails that covered the whole camp.
Then,
God told the Children of Israel through Moses that each morning He would send manna from heaven sufficient for each day’s need. The
manna was light and fresh and tasted like a honey wafer. I have imagined it
appeared much like some of the honey flavored cereals we see in the grocery
stores today. At any rate, every family was to gather a specific amount for
each person in the family. That amount is called an
omer and is equal to a little more than a big heaping double
handful.
They
were instructed by Moses to gather only that amount and not try to gather more
thinking they could save it for the next day. Any extra gathered would only
become wormy and rank. Of course, every person who obeyed had just enough for
the family and those who gathered too much found it began to stink and bred
worms.
As
well, the Children of Israel were told that they were to gather an omer per
person each morning for six days and on the sixth day they should gather twice
that amount because there would be no provision and no gathering on the seventh
day, the Sabbath, which was a holy day unto the Lord and to His Children. This
special provision allowed that a blessing was on the sixth day as a double
portion day both in provision and protection. The extra gathered on the sixth
day and left to eat on the seventh day did not breed worms and was found to be
as fresh as if it had been gathered that very morning.
The
Children of Israel ate the manna fresh, they ground it and baked it into bread
and cakes and toasted it and dried it to eat throughout the day. It was very
good to the taste and no doubt very healthy however it was the same thing day
after day … and would be for 40 years. Of course, God never intended the
Children of Israel be in that wilderness for such a long time but that was
their fault, a result of their own bad decisions and another story all
together.
Every
year since the first Passover the Lord has instructed His Children to
commemorate this event with a Feast of Unleavened Bread
and the counting of the 49 Days of Omer. The
counting leads up to the next Feast which we have come to recognize as the Feast of Pentecost. Today at sundown in Israel began
the 17th Day of Omer. This simply means that today marks the 17th
day after the Children of Israel left Egypt and began their Exodus journey with
God.
Passover:
1.
Remembers God delivering His Children from Egypt.
2.
Points to a day when God would deliver His Children from sin.
The
Days of Omer are days of discipleship, if you will. Even though God got His Children out of Egypt at Passover, He knew it
would take a longer process to get Egypt out of them. Historically these
are the days when the Children of Israel were experiencing all the new things
which come with deliverance. All along they were walking towards Mount Sinai
where God was going to reveal Himself in a mighty way through thundering,
lightening, smoke and loud trumpets. From Mount Sinai God gave the Ten
Commandments and caused the people to understand His will.
When
we catch up with the Children of Israel in the Book of Exodus chapter 16 and
find them only a few days into their wilderness experience they aren’t going to
the Promise Land yet … oh no … in fact they are headed on a course that is
taking them farther from the Promise Land … they are still in the process of
leaving Egypt behind. They may have physically left Egypt but emotionally and
mentally they are wishing they were still there. The world and bondage and
slavery to pharaoh was so familiar that it was hard to leave all that
familiarity behind.
It’s
no different for people today. God gets people out of bondage to this world
through the salvation which comes when they receive Jesus as Lord and Savior. But just because Believers are out of the world does not mean
that the world is out of them. Let’s read from the book of Exodus and
observe the parallels and find the principles God was attempting to reveal to
His Children on their journey leaving Egypt. Remember, it can take time and
work and a change of attitude to leave this world behind after you have been
saved.
Exodus 16 NKJV
1 ¶ And they journeyed from
Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the Wilderness
of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second
month after they departed from the land of Egypt.
2 Then the whole congregation
of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.
3 And the children of Israel
said to them, “Oh, that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of
Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the
full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole
assembly with hunger.”
4 Then the LORD said to
Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go
out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they
will walk in My law or not.
5 “And it shall be on the
sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as
much as they gather daily.”
6 Then Moses and Aaron said
to all the children of Israel, “At evening you shall know that the LORD has
brought you out of the land of Egypt.
7 “And in the morning you
shall see the glory of the LORD; for He hears your complaints against the LORD.
But what are we, that you complain against us?”
8 Also Moses said, “This
shall be seen when the LORD gives you meat to eat in the evening, and in
the morning bread to the full; for the LORD hears your complaints which you
make against Him. And what are we? Your complaints are not
against us but against the LORD.”
9 Then Moses spoke to Aaron,
“Say to all the congregation of the children of Israel, ‘Come near before the
LORD, for He has heard your complaints.’ ”
10 Now it came to pass, as
Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they
looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the
cloud.
11 And the LORD spoke to
Moses, saying,
12 “I have heard the
complaints of the children of Israel. Speak to them, saying, ‘At twilight you
shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. And you
shall know that I am the LORD your God.’ ”
13 ¶ So it was that quails
came up at evening and covered the camp, and in the morning the dew lay all
around the camp.
14 And when the layer of dew
lifted, there, on the surface of the wilderness, was a small round substance, as
fine as frost on the ground.
15 So when the children of
Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not
know what it was. And Moses said to them, “This is the bread
which the LORD has given you to eat.
16 “This is the thing which
the LORD has commanded: ‘Let every man gather it according to each one’s need,
one omer for each person, according to the number of persons; let every
man take for those who are in his tent.’ ”
17 Then the children of
Israel did so and gathered, some more, some less.
18 So when they measured it
by omers, he who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered
little had no lack. Every man had gathered according to each one’s need.
The
Manna teaches us:
1.
We must work with God to provide for ourselves and our household
each day.
a. God demands we
participate in our miracles.
b. Idle lives make no
provision for the day …
2.
We should be content with enough.
a. Joy and contentment
should be the result of enjoying what we need and not in possessing more than
we need.
b. Give us this day our
daily bread …
3.
We can depend on God.
a. Our future is safer
and more secure in God’s storehouse than in ours.
b. We should not expect
that we are wiser or better managers than God and His providence.
It
is evident from this passage that God had gotten the Children of Israel out of
Egypt but it was also evident that He had not yet succeeded in getting Egypt
out of them.
Remember,
there is a difference between leaving the world and leaving the world behind.
Our
trust in God and His leadership is an indication of our Christian maturity.
Before God takes us to our greatest day He will search our hearts and try our
reigns so that He may know if we will obey Him in the abundant and blessed days
ahead. God’s desire is that we know Him and trust Him for a future that is out
of this world!
