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Bread from Heaven from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo.

Transcript: Today I am going to be talking about: “Bread from Heaven”. When Moses led the Israelite slaves out of Egypt, they camped at various places and stopped at the oasis of Elim. That is where we begin today.

Exodus 16:1-31 “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.”

The Israelites left the desert oasis of Elim where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, then God led them into the wilderness, and they were not happy about it. They began to whine and complain saying that Moses was trying to kill them 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.”

To the Lord, it was a test, not to starve them to death, but to see what they would do with the amount that He gave them. There was no room for greed or hoarding. They were to depend on God to give them what they needed for tomorrow.

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.”

When they Israelites were complaining about Aaron and Moses, they were actually complaining against God Himself.

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.

“What is that?” in Hebrew is “Manna” and that is the name it was given. Miraculous food, bread from heaven. 

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.

He that gathered much, did not have too much. He that gathered a little, did not have too little. It always worked out to be enough.

19 And Moses said, “Let no one leave any of it till morning.” 20 Notwithstanding they did not heed Moses. But some of them left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. 21 So they gathered it every morning, every man according to his need. And when the sun became hot, it melted.

As usual with people, they began to hoard what they gathered, save it up for a rainy day. But God wanted to teach them to depend on Him and not store up for later. I am certainly not against saving your money, you should. But never let it come between you and God, for what you have comes from Him.

22 And so it was, on the sixth day, that they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. And all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. 23 Then he said to them, “This is what the LORD has said: ‘Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept until morning.’ ” 24 So they laid it up till morning, as Moses commanded; and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it.

They were forbidden to gather on the Sabbath day, so they gathered twice as much on Friday and it was fine. Obeying His voice was what made everything right.

25 Then Moses said, “Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the field. 26 Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none.”

27 Now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found none. 28 And the LORD said to Moses, “How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws? 29 See! For the LORD has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let every man remain in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.” 30 So the people rested on the seventh day. 31 And the house of Israel called its name Manna.“  NKJV Exodus 16:1–31.

Again we see they disobeyed and went out to gather on the Sabbath day, though He had told them not to. All the provision was to test their character. To see if they would obey His voice, through thick and through thin.

Some thoughts on this:

- Will you trust God when you have little?

- Will you trust Him when you have too much for your own needs?

- Will you keep a day of rest because He said too, though you feel you need to go gather more?

There will be “just enough” regardless of what comes down the pike. We have had a very expensive year here. A simple skylight repair turned into a complete roof replacement, but there was enough. A/Cs have died and led to complete electrical panel replacements, but there was enough.

In your life, there will be enough. David said, I was young and now I am old but I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread, and neither will you when you surrender your life, and your wallet to Him. Let Him guide you, tell you what to give, and when. You cannot go wrong.