Wilderness University - Week 5

Exodus 16:1-15

Introduce the Wilderness University

Wilderness = a desolate, uncultivated, barren place that is challenging for one to live in, both physically and spiritually. It is a dry place. It is a lonely place. It is an unpleasant place. But it is also a NECESSARY place. God teaches us lessons in the Wilderness that He does not teach us anywhere else. It is a place of hardship, but also a place of learning and preparing.

From Chapter 5-15 God has been doing some amazing things in the lives of Moses and the Hebrews.

10 plagues

Passover

Parting of the Red Sea

Song of Moses

Made the bitter waters sweet.

Then God leads them to Elim, where it was an oasis in the middle of the wilderness. It was a place of rest and enjoyment. But the people of Israel couldnt stay in Elim forever. They had to continue on with their journey, and that journey led them through the wilderness.

We often blame the devil, sin, or other people for why we go through the wilderness, and sometimes that is true. But there are also times when God is the One Who leads us into the wilderness, as was the case here, and we ask “why would God lead us into a place like the wilderness?” Because the wilderness is His classroom, and He’s got some things He needs us to learn.

I. The People and their Murmuring (1-3)

The Children of Israel at this point have now left the Oasis of Elim and have entered into a different Wilderness, this time the Wilderness of Sin (Zin).

This happened exactly 1 month after God had delivered them out of Egypt.

They left Elim = a place of rest and comfort and were headed towards Sinai = a place to meet with God, but in between was a wilderness.

Israel begins to complain (murmur) against Moses and Aaron because they are hungry and apparently dont have much food.

The supplies they carried with them out of Egypt were probably beginning to run out at this point, and now they would need to be sustained in a different way out in the wilderness.

However, their starvation was more anticipated than experienced. There is no record of them going weeks without food. Instead, they probably began to feel hungry, noticed they were low on supplies, and began to panic.

Their complaining caused them to think irrationally and twist reality. They had lost sight of God’s future for them and also twisted the past to support their complaining. Heres 3 examples from the text

God had already promised them that He was going to lead them to the promised land, so therefore, God would not let them die out in the wilderness from starvation. Their complaining made them forget about that promise

They were miserable in Egypt as slaves. The Bible says multiple times that they cried out to the Lord in distress. Yet their complaining warped their memory of how the past was. They began to say that life was better off back in Egypt as slaves.

Moses and Aaron very obviously cared about the people of Israel. No one would have gone through what they had just gone through for a people that they didnt care about. Yet, in their complaining, Israel began to think irrationally that Moses and Aaron did all of this just to have them die in the Wilderness.

This is what complaining does!

Ive already mentioned this, but the Wilderness IS an unpleasant place. Im sure the Children of Israel wouldve loved to go back to Elim where things were easy and relaxed, but God has now led them back into the wilderness, and things are getting hard again, and instead of remembering how God had done all these miraculous things to get them this far, they instead resort to complaining and panicking

Its easy to cast judgment on them, but dont we do the same thing? God gives us a season of rest and enjoyment, and all is good. But then the moment something gets hard, we throw all of that out the window and begin murmuring like they did! And sometimes, like Israel, we exaggerate how “bad” things are when we are in the wilderness.

II. The Promise of the Manna (4-12)

A. The Provision of God

God responds to their complaints by promising that He would provide bread in a miraculous and unexpected way… He would have it rain down from Heaven!

This reminds us that God may provide from resources that we never knew existed

Ephesians 3:20 KJV 1900

20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,

Testimony about the Origin of Species book

The blessing of the bread came with the responsibility of obedience

They could not gather more than they needed

On the 6th day they were to gather double so that the 7th day could be a day of rest

B. The Reminder from God

Moses says in v. 6 “at even, then ye shall know that the Lord hath brought you out from the land of Egypt”

You would think that with everything Israel has experienced so far, they would already know that the Lord has delivered them. Yet experiences dont change the heart as much as we think. Israel still needed reminders of their deliverance

Sometimes, we too need reminders of our salvation. We need God to remind us that we are His.

If you are in a season of doubt, God may be using this “wilderness” to remind you that you are truly His!

The daily provision of God was a reminder of their deliverance

C. The Glory of God

Moses then tells Israel that in the morning, they would see the glory of God. Some commentators say this refers to God appearing in the cloud in v.10. Some say he doesnt mean theyre going to see His glory in enthroned radiance, they instead are going to see His glory in His great, loving provision for His people! I think both things can be true, but I think I lean more towards Moses referring to the Manna because of what he says in v. 8

God shows His glory by displays of mercy and goodness. God didnt send them hell, He sent them bread. He also did not command that they stop complaining before they could eat. God loved and fed those who acted like His enemies, because that’s just Who God is!

We want to see God’s glory the way Peter, James, and John did at the transfiguration. But God shows us His glory every day by the simple fact that He loves us and cares for us!

Their complaints werent against Moses and Aaron, but were against the Lord, and yet, the Lord still fed them and cared for them!

God’s response to Israel’s complaining shows His great mercy toward them.

Israel had no right to complain, God had done enough for them already! Its not even been a month since they were delivered, yet God did not rebuke them, He simply gave a promise that He would provide!

Even when Israel disobeyed God’s simple commands about the Manna later in the chapter, He didnt stop providing the Manna. Why? Because His provision was not based on their complaints, or upon their ability to obey, but rather upon the promise He gave them!

This is a display of His glory!

III. The Precepts of the Master (13-15)

Once again, God had some lessons He wanted Israel to learn through this time in the wilderness.

A. The Lesson of Total Fulfillment

According to Jewish legend, Manna tasted like whatever dish a man desired to have. The same food had a different taste to everyone who partook of it, according to his age. To the little children, it tasted like milk. To the youth, it tasted like bread. To the older men, it tasted like honey. To the sick it tasted like barley steeped in oil and honey. It was also said to taste bitter and unappetizing to the Gentiles.

This is interesting when we think about what Jesus said in John 6 when He claimed to be the Bread of Life. Jesus is like the Manna of old. He is exactly what every person needs, as well as what every person truly desires. To little children, Jesus is like milk: soft and gentle and helping them to develop and grow strong. To the youth, Jesus is like bread, filling to the belly and the staple of our “spiritual diet”. To the old, Jesus is sweet like honey, giving them a taste of the paradise to come. To the sick, Jesus is like barley steeped in honey and oil, providing healing. To the unbeliever, Jesus is bitter and unappetizing.

John 6:32-33; 35

God wanted Israel to see that He is everything that they needed and He could fulfill everything that they desired.

B. The Lesson of Total Dependence

God also wanted to teach Israel about total dependence upon Him.

He not only wanted to provide for their physical needs, but also wanted them to constantly depend on Him for those needs.

Jesus is the perfect example of Abiding Dependence upon God. Everything He did, He did it in total reliance upon God

They could eat today, but what about tomorrow? There would be more bread! God wanted them to not only depend on Him, but depend on Him EVERY DAY! They had to depend on Him for food because food wasnt exactly in abundance in the Wilderness, it had to come from God.

He was going to give them water from a rock in Ch. 17

EVERY DAY FOR EVERYTHING

C. The Lesson of Total Obedience

God gave them specific instruction on how to go about gathering the manna. They had to do it in the morning, they could only gather what they needed for THAT day, on the 6th day they needed to gather 2 days worth. He was very clear on this.

But of course, you had some who didnt listen to God’s instructions. Some gathered more than they needed, and it bred worms and stank (v.21)

Some waited until later on in the day, but by that time the manna had dissolved

Some tried to go out and gather on the Sabbath day and found no bread

God got frustrated with the lack of obedience. (28) But once again, never stopped giving Manna

If you go back to verse 4, God also said He would give the provision of manna to “prove them” or “to test them”. He wanted to see if they were going to keep obeying Him

God was leading Israel to the Promised Land, but He knew they werent ready for the Promised Land just yet, they needed to learn some valuable lessons first before they got there.

Conclusion

Dont allow the wilderness to make you a complainer. God hasnt forgotten you! Even though things may be hard, He’s still caring for you

God may have put you here to give you a reminder of your deliverance, a glimpse of His glory, or both!

Dont miss the lessons God is teaching you in these times:

He is everything you need and everything you could ever want

He wants you to depend on Him every day for every thing

He wants you to learn to obey Him.

The wilderness wasnt going to last forever. They would eventually get to Sinai, but they had to learn some things along the way. Dont miss what God is teaching you in the Wilderness