The Puprose of Your Manna
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35 The sons of Israel ate the manna forty years, until they came to an inhabited land; they ate the manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan.
Background
By a demonstration of awesome power, God delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt
The plan was to go through the wilderness
make a stop at Mt. Sinai long enough to get God’s plans (their constitution) for their new nation
and then make about a 11 day trip to the land of Canaan, the land that God had promised to their ancestor Abraham hundreds of years before.
but when they had a chance to go into the promised land, they did not believe that God could give them the victory . . . so God said that they would wander in the wilderness for 40 years until the unbelieving generation passed away
you can’t grow food in the wilderness
animals are scarce in the wilderness
so, how will you feed about two million people? . . . God gave them manna
Description
manna was bread that rained from heaven, the Bible states that when the dew fell on the camp at night, the manna would fall with it . . . and in the morning, the Israelites they would gather it
Sunday - Thursday: they were to gather just enough for a one day supply
Friday: two day’s supply for Friday and Saturday (their Sabbath)
what was left on the ground would melt away
if you took too much, and tried to save it . . . then during the night it would spoil and you would find worms in it (from Friday to Saturday it would not spoil)
The Bible describes manna as a fine, flake like bread, that tasted like wafers with honey . . . and this manna could be used in cooking
it was called manna because the first time they saw it, they asked, “what is it” and Manna sounds like the Hebrew word that means what is it
And God did this for 40 years until they came to the border of the promised land
12 The manna ceased on the day after they had eaten some of the produce of the land, so that the sons of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate some of the yield of the land of Canaan during that year.
Manna - a miracle/blessing of daily provision, just enough provision
daily miracle, not a life changing miracle but a life keeping miracle
not an overflow type blessing, but a sustaining type blessing
sustains you until you get to the promised land
This morning, we will look at the purpose of your manna
There is manna in your life
There is manna in your life
short term provision - daily, weekly, monthly provision
not life changing provision but life keeping provision
not overflow provision but sustaining provision
Financial Manna
the fact that you financially made it through the month is a miracle
funds always looking short, but somehow you made it
you made it because God supplied enough, but it was just enough, barely enough
and the next month already looms as another challenge
financial manna
Mental manna
people just don’t know how close you’ve come to snapping
you’ve often felt you were on the verge of losing your sanity
even now for you to sit here clothed and in your right mind, is taking all the mental strength you’ve got
but you keep making it day by day or week by week, because God will send someone with an encouraging word right on time
or at your lowest moment, God will someone to simply pat you on the back and say, “It’s gonna be alright”
or God will allow the preacher to say something that was exactly what you needed to keep you from going off the deep end
you when don’t know how you are going to keep it together another day, somehow/someway God gives you just enough peace to make it another day
mental manna
Relationship manna
important relationships holding by a thread every month/week . . . sometimes daily
alternate between liking them and can’t stand them (they would probably say the same about you)
you are putting in real work just to stay cordial
about one sentence away from never speaking to each other again
yet at the moment when the relationship would end, God causes something to happen or to be said that keeps the relationship going another day/week
keeps the husband/wife relationship going
parent- child
sibling
people would be shocked to learn how many times it was almost over - but God keeps providing relationship manna (one day at a time)
health manna
you are able to carry yourself from point A to point B, but it’s always an adventure
you have the activity of your limbs, but the activity is limited
medicines help out, but the unwanted side effects make you question whether they’re worth it
always a new pain, or new symptom
your health is a struggle from day to day, and you can’t remember the last time that your body felt good for an entire week
but God gives you just enough strength, just enough relief to make it
always sick, but also always getting well
health manna
and there’s probably more types of manna as it applies to you, your family, and even the local church
Commercial - Thank God for your manna
Commercial - Thank God for your manna
in other words, don’t complain that you’re barely making it, instead THANK God that you are making it
things are rough financially, but you are making it
things are rough mentally, but you are making it
things are rough relationship wise, but you are making it
things are difficult health wise, but you are making it
it might be barely enough, but it is enough
it’s not easy living from day to day (week/month), but God IS providing what you need daily, weekly, monthly
in the middle of your uncertainty, God is showing up!
in other words, God has been faithful!
so don’t complain, but be thankful that in this wilderness of life, we have a Jehovah-Jirreh, God our provider, who gives us manna
now let’s look at the Purpose for your manna, we turn to Deut 8.
3 “He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.
He humbled you
the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but humbleness is not far behind on the lesson plan
When you deal with God you must be humble
let me give you a simple definition of humbleness/humility - when you truly recognize that you ain’t nothing apart from God, then you can be called humble
When you understand that I am what I am, I have what I have, only by the grace of God
So God humbled you . . .
and let you be hungry
In order to get you to that place of humility, God let you face that “day to day” hunger
face that week to week need
face that month to month dependence on Him
but he did not feed you/supply with regular food . . .no, he
fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know
in other words, God blessed you with manna, but the manna was something couldn’t figure out
The Israelites said, “what is it?” and how does it keep showing up every morning?
how does it last twice as long on Fridays/Saturdays
They couldn’t figure it out, but someway/somehow God kept doing it
now for some people, you can figure it out, they have a regular type of supply
you can see how their lives go from point A to B to C
you can see how it all came together
you can see how their needs are met
you can see how everything is set up, adding up, moving forward
they seemed to be all settled and comfortable
but when God gives you manna, your life is in the wilderness . . . all over the place, just wandering, and God giving you just enough to make it
but you have to admit that you are making it, and somehow God keeps doing it for you
you can’t really figure it out, you really can’t explain it . . . what is it, and how does God keep making way?
this check showed up in the mail, and I didn’t even know that they owed me money! . . . .God keeps supplying your needs
I now understand the songwriter who wrote, “how I got over, how I got over . . . . My soul looked back and wondered how I got over”
Yes, God sent you manna to humble you
manna’s job is to strip you of your pride
because pride is one of the things that the Bible says that the Lord hates
the bible says pride goes before a fall
The bible says God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble
God does not want to go against you, he wants to be for you, so he provides manna to humble you
In modern times it is difficult to be humble because we live in a culture of pride
every man and every woman is a king and a queen, even if they don’t have any subjects
every lady is a boss chick, even if she doesn’t have any employees
I understand the idea of trying to build people up, but most have taken it too far
people with an narcissistic attitude of “look at me, look at me! I am somebody! I am great! I deserve this and I deserve that”
They have these giant egos . . . yet have not accomplished much of anything!
There is so much pride today, that you can’t even correct people because pride makes it almost impossible to admit when you’re wrong
if you make a valid argument, not many will say, “wow that’s a good point”
“huh, you maybe right”
“I never thought about that, let me give that some that some consideration”
no, you can make all the sense in the world, and pride responds with
“you’re just a hater”
“I am feeling so attacked right now”
“you’re just trying to control me”
“well that’s your truth” . . . . no, they told you the truth
we’re even prideful as a group. When our cities are faced with tragedy, what will the t-shirts say?
Ft. Worth Strong - indicating that we are a strong people, resilient , tough, we are a special group . . . . so we wear shirts that show what a great people we are
again I understand the notion of trying to build people back up
but a better t-shirt would be, “Ft. Worth prays” - indicating that we are a people that need help from above, need protection, need healing, need wisdom, need peace of mind that only God can give
And is this pride filled culture, God still sends manna to humble us
that he might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord
the same Scripture Jesus quoted when he was being tempted by satan in the wilderness (this humbleness thing is important!)
God wants you to understand that you can’t live without him
you can’t live by bread alone . . . that’s material things
in other words, you can’t make it by just seeking material things, you need God
we tend to have the “if I’s” . . . everything would be better . . .
if I had more money
if I had better health
If I had a house
If my spouse would act right
if I could get people to just leave me alone
rarely, do we say, . . . everything would be better . . .
if I had more scriptures memorized
If I could understand the Bible better
if I had more opportunities to go to church
if we had Bible study three times a week
if I could pray an hour at morning, noon, and night
our “if I’s” are hardly every spiritual, just material
and that’s why God gives us manna - so that we would learn to be more concerned about our spiritual well-being than our physical well being
When the Israelites were in the wilderness, if they wanted to survive, they HAD to listen to the instructions that God gave Moses for them
so they learned to lived by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God!
and God wants us to live by every word that proceeds out of his mouth
too often we live by our desires and not the word of God
too often we live by our emotions and not the word of God
too often we live by man’s wisdom and not the word of God
and then sometimes we live by some of the words, but not all of the words
the word of God that we like
but the verse says, “live by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord”
the next verse gives even more clarity
4 “Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. 5 “Thus you are to know in your heart that the Lord your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son.
during the 40 years in the wilderness, God did not give them new clothes or new shoes, but he did keep their clothes wearing out, and their feet from swelling . . . so despite the hardship of the wilderness, God was taking care of them
So God says that though it has been hard, you should know in your heart that
I care for you
It’s not a from lack of love or compassion, it’s just that I am disciplining you just like a father would discipline a son
you are my child and I am training you, preparing you, disciplining you
two ways to respond to discipline
rebel against it or accept it
I encourage you to accept the discipline and let the manna humble you
let the manna get you to a point where your desire for God is first on your list
let the manna get to a point where you will hunger and thirst after righteousness before the material things of this world
hunger after living bread - desire his Holy Word
thirst after living water - desire a constant and complete filling of his Holy Spirit
allow God’s discipline to teach you that you need more Jesus, more than you need more money
need more Jesus . . . more than you need more health
Jesus . . . a certain relationship
Jesus . . . promotion
for when you get more of Him. . . . then all of those things become possible
accept the discipline, and accept it quickly . . . How many years will it take for you to be humbled?
The purpose of manna is to humble us, but God wants to humble us, in order to do good for us in the end
16 “In the wilderness He fed you manna which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do good for you in the end.
The reason he wanted you to understand that you have to depend upon him?
He is planning to do good for you
God wants you to pass the manna test, so that he can do good for you
God wants you to get through the wilderness, so that he can do good for you
God wants to humble you because he gives grace to the humble
that’s undeserved favor and blessings
God gives manna because He wants to get you to a promised land
a place where you want have to struggle day by day
HE WANTS TO DO GOOD FOR YOU
but for his children, he won’t do it, if you’re not ready for it
if your understanding is bad
if you don’t know where your blessings come from
17 “Otherwise, you may say in your heart, ‘My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.’
if he skipped the wilderness experience, that pride would kick in and you would think that it was all about you
you would say look at me
look what I have accomplished
I am successful because I had more courage than others
I made it because I am more determined than others
I just got it like that
everybody ain’t built like me . . . .
if you were financially successful, you would say I made it because I was smarter than everybody else
if your family was strong and stable, you would say it’s just something about us Cavers, Johnsons, Williams . . . we come from good stock
if you were healthy, you would say that it’s only because you are more motivated than the average person
and you would look down on others who haven’t made it to your level . . . and forget that you would be no where if it were not for the grace of God
And when you think like that, you forget God
you don’t pray
you don’t come to church
you start living by your own words
any pastor knows that hurting people make the best church members
struggling people make the best church members
they don’t forget God
because those people daily face the realization that they need God
they’ll come up to you, text you, call you, “What was that verse you said the other day?” . . . . they know need that word
and it’s the members who are in the promised land, and don’t need manna that often fall off . . . and even though they need God just as badly, they start to think that “my power and my strength got me where I am today”
But God supplies us with manna, and leads us through the wilderness long enough to get us to the next verse . . .an oft quoted scripture
18 “But you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.
the purpose of manna is that when you make it, you will remember that it is God who gives you the power to make wealth
God who gave you the power to have
wealth of finances
wealth of relationships
wealth of mental strength
wealth of health
you will remember that it was God sent the blessing
sent the miracle
gave the wisdom to make better decisions
who provided the idea
who made everything click and now you finally got it
gave you the will-power to do what you know is good for you
gave you the determination to not give up
showered you with favor
opened doors
healed you
you will know that it was not you, but it was a God who confirmed his covenant . . . in other words, a God who kept him promises
you will give all the glory and credit to Him
you will always sing, “Jesus I’ll never forget what you’ve done for me!”
how you set me free
how you brought me out
Jesus I’ll never forget, no never
2nd verse says, “How can I forget? . . .
I can’t because my heavenly father trained me in the wilderness
he supplied me with manna until I became humble
so with every accomplishment, blessing, promotion, success . . . I will point back to God . . . he gave me the power to get this
There is a purpose for your manna
Invitation
Invitation
Becoming a Christian starts with humility
humbling yourself and admitting that you have fallen short of God’s expectations
humbling yourself and admitting that you have sinned
humbling yourself and admitting that you need a savior
Hallelujah that God did send a savior
Jesus came, lived, suffered, bled and died for your sins
and rose again proving that he was who he said he was and proving that he had the power to forgive you and offer you eternal life
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
today is a great opportunity, and I offer a great invitation to you
saved,
join this church
or both