April 11, 2023

A LESSON FOR EACH DAY

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Look, I’m going to rain down food from heaven for you. Each day the people can go out and pick up as much food as they need for that day. I will test them in this to see whether or not they will follow my instructions. On the sixth day they will gather food, and when they prepare it, there will be twice as much as usual.”

Exodus 16:4-5 NLT

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TODAY’S THOUGHT

We learn in Exodus, chapter 16, that the children of Israel had been out of Egyptian slavery for one month when they began to become angry with Moses and Aaron. They forgot their struggles in Egypt and complained about a lack of food in the wilderness. They were talking about “the good old days” back in Egypt where they had plenty of food to eat. It is interesting how quickly we forget the miracles of God in our lives. It is also interesting how we seem to sugarcoat the past. We make the past look a lot better than it actually was. Our memory forgets much of the difficulties and develops a longing to go back to a time when we fantasize that life was so much better. The truth is that the “good old days” weren’t that good when we were living in them. God is merciful to the children of Israel. He tells Moses in the evening they will have meat and, in the morning, a new type of food. The food will eventually be called manna. Every morning it will show up and the children of Israel will have to gather it and prepare it. Every day they are to gather only enough for that day. The exception will be on day six—on that day they gather for two days because there will be no provision on the seventh day. The seventh day is to be a Sabbath of rest. God tells Moses this will be a test of the people’s ability to trust Him. We learn from the story that some people fail the test. They gather more than told on day one and try to store it up for the next day. But the next morning it stinks and has maggots. Everyone around them knows they disobeyed. We also learn that at the end of the week some people went out on day seven to gather and found nothing. They didn’t plan on day six and obey God to pick up twice as much as normal. God was teaching the children of Israel to learn to trust Him daily. This is a lesson we must learn today. We must learn to trust God each day. We must daily spend time in prayer and the Word because we can’t survive on one big spiritual meal a week. We need daily bread. We also must learn that it is okay to rest. God wants us to trust Him that we don’t have to work seven days a week to accomplish His will for our lives. We can rest. We can trust that God will be our Provider. This trust comes into play when we practice tithing. Believing that with God’s help 90% of our income will go further than 100%. This is the same kind of trust the children of Israel had to have on the sixth day. Believing on this one day the meal would not rot and get maggots. God would provide when they obeyed. God will provide for us when we obey Him daily. Let’s decide to start today to obey God. Let’s choose to meet with Him each day for a time of prayer and the Word. Let’s choose to trust Him with our finances by being faithful to tithe and give above the tithe when He directs.

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TODAY’S PRAYER

Holy Spirit, I invite You to guide my life. Help me today to walk in obedience to Your will and Word.

“Scroll down to share what you feel God is saying based on today’s reading.”