Grace For The Grumblers
Notes
Transcript
Exodus 15:22–16:36 (NASB95)
22Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness and found no water.
23When they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter; therefore it was named Marah.
24So the people grumbled at Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”
25Then he cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a tree; and he threw it into the waters, and the waters became sweet. There He made for them a statute and regulation, and there He tested them.
26And He said, “If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the LORD, am your healer.”
27Then they came to Elim where there were twelve springs of water and seventy date palms, and they camped there beside the waters.
1Then they set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the sons of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departure from the land of Egypt.
2The whole congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.
3The sons of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the LORD’S hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
4Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether or not they will walk in My instruction.
5“On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.”
6So Moses and Aaron said to all the sons of Israel, “At evening you will know that the LORD has brought you out of the land of Egypt;
7and in the morning you will see the glory of the LORD, for He hears your grumblings against the LORD; and what are we, that you grumble against us?”
8Moses said, “This will happen when the LORD gives you meat to eat in the evening, and bread to the full in the morning; for the LORD hears your grumblings which you grumble against Him. And what are we? Your grumblings are not against us but against the LORD.”
9Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, ‘Come near before the LORD, for He has heard your grumblings.’ ”
10It came about as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud.
11And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
12“I have heard the grumblings of the sons 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.’ ”
13So it came about at evening that the quails came up and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp.
14When the layer of dew evaporated, behold, on the surface of the wilderness there was a fine flake-like thing, fine as the frost on the ground.
15When the sons 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, “It is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat.
16“This is what the LORD has commanded, ‘Gather of it every man as much as he should eat; you shall take an omer apiece according to the number of persons each of you has in his tent.’ ”
17The sons of Israel did so, and some gathered much and some little.
18When they measured it with an omer, he who had gathered much had no excess, and he who had gathered little had no lack; every man gathered as much as he should eat.
19Moses said to them, “Let no man leave any of it until morning.”
20But they did not listen to Moses, and some left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and became foul; and Moses was angry with them.
21They gathered it morning by morning, every man as much as he should eat; but when the sun grew hot, it would melt.
22Now on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. When all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses,
23then he said to them, “This is what the LORD meant: Tomorrow is a sabbath observance, a holy sabbath to the LORD. Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over put aside to be kept until morning.”
24So they put it aside until morning, as Moses had ordered, and it did not become foul nor was there any worm in it.
25Moses said, “Eat it 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.”
27It came about on the seventh day that some of the people went out to gather, but they found none.
28Then the LORD said to Moses, “How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My instructions?
29“See, the LORD has given you the sabbath; therefore He gives you bread for two days on the sixth day. Remain every man in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.”
30So the people rested on the seventh day.
31The house of Israel named it manna, and it was like coriander seed, white, and its taste was like wafers with honey.
32Then Moses said, “This is what the LORD has commanded, ‘Let an omerful of it be kept throughout your generations, that they may see the bread that I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’ ”
33Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar and put an omerful of manna in it, and place it before the LORD to be kept throughout your generations.”
34As the LORD commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the Testimony, to be kept.
35The 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.
36(Now an omer is a tenth of an ephah.)
Introduction
What does it take to have a truly great working relationship with someone? Some of us have coworkers we work with everyday, but even if you’re volunteering on a project at church, we all have a general idea of the people we work well with. I may be wrong, but generally speaking I think we work best with people who have one of two things: A good attitude or a some competence in their work. Let’s say you’re working with the new hire. There’s not a lot of competence there yet, a lot to learn, but he or she has a good attitude about work. There’s a good chance that person would make for a good coworker and would be relatively easy to work with. On the other hand, maybe someone doesn’t have the greatest attitude about work, but when you need help achieving a deadline, they’re going to help pull the project over the finish line. Again, probably someone you could work with for some time. When you get both however, that’s when you’ve really won. Every day you go to work and your coworker has a great attitude and they have all the competence to get the work done. Even when the work ahead is extraordinarily difficult it makes all the difference when you have great working relationships. There’s one scenario that we haven’t considered. What happens when the people we work with have neither? Every day they have a bad attitude and they can’t get the work done?
If we look at Israel for just a moment it’s apparent there really isn’t a great attitude there, and they’re not all that responsive to some very clear instructions. What is God going to do with the grumbling Israel who will not listen to His instruction? What would we do? .. God is found full of grace and faithfulness for His covenant people! From an earthly perspective there’s nothing that makes this relationship work, but by the grace and faithfulness of God the people will persevere in their journey to the promised land.
When the people of God grumble in faithlessness, God is gracious and faithful!
When the people of God grumble in faithlessness, God is gracious and faithful!
Grumbling People
Gracious God
Faithless People
Faithful God
Grumbling People
Grumbling People
In case you weren’t here last week we concluded our time with Israel singing, dancing, and celebrating the victory and majesty of the LORD.
“Sing to the LORD, for He is highly exalted; The horse and his rider He has hurled into the sea.” (vs. 21)
As you likely noticed in our reading, the overall attitude has changed substantially.
Moses has led the people three days into the wilderness of Shur only to find bitter water that is undrinkable. They call the place Marah which literally means bitter. We may not realize it initially, but this is a pretty perilous situation. There’s only so much water you can carry with you on a journey like this. It’s likely they’ve been without water for at least a day. In a wilderness like this, a lack of water for even a day can become a crisis situation.
Haven’t we been here before? And not weeks or years ago been here before. Four days ago.. Israel found themselves with an army at their back and a sea at their front. They were on the verge of either being enslaved again or simply killed at the hands of the Egyptians, yet God did not forsake them! He delivered them in the most miraculous fashion by parting a sea for them so that they could walk across on dry ground and finally utterly burying their greatest enemy beneath the sea... What did you do last Thursday? If it were just an ordinary day there’s a chance you’ve already forgotten what you did, but if God walked you through a sea and you watched your enslavers buried under a sea last Thursday morning, you’re probably not going to forget that so easily. You would think you wouldn’t so easily forget the absolute miraculous deliverance of God and His majesty put on display before your eyes after three days, but it seems that’s exactly what Israel has done. They go right back to where we found them grumbling and complaining to Moses before the Red Sea.
24 So the people grumbled at Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”
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It only takes three days to go from singing to grumbling.
We’ll look to God’s response in a moment, but I’d like us to look down to verse 1 of chapter 16. Unfortunately, Israel isn’t done grumbling. It’s been about a month since they left as they’re on there way to Sinai and they enter the wilderness of Sin. At this point food has become scarce and “the whole congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron...”
What do they say?
3 The sons of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
This is starting to sound really familiar isn’t it? Remember what they said back in chapter 14 before the Red Sea?
11 Then they said to Moses, “Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt? 12 “Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”\
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Same script as before. You brought us out here to die! It was better back in slavery! and no mention of God whatsoever. It’s all Moses’ fault. To make it all even worse they attributed to Moses what God has done and given it the most sinister motive. “… you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly...” No one would say such a thing before God, and yet that’s effectively what they’ve done.
There’s one great lie that Israel has believed in both of these circumstances that brings them to this point of grumbling. They’ve believed the lie that hardship is equivalent to death! They’ve turned it into a decision between two deaths. It kind of makes sense if you think about it - if it really is true. Would you rather die in the wilderness due to starvation or die in slavery with all the comforts of home well fed in a warm bed? I don’t know about you, but I’d rather die at home than in the middle of a hot wilderness. That isn’t really what’s going on here though is it? Their hardship is not leading to death! Their hunger is not the end! The LORD their faithful deliverer is still with them and hasn’t changed. He’s still true to His Word and He will bring them to the promised land. The presence of trial and wilderness does not mean God has forsaken His people to death.
We might ask ourselves, “Am I tempted to believe the same lie at times?” When life is difficult and real suffering hits us out of nowhere, do we elevate them to the degree we think God has abandoned us? Do we turn hardship into a matter of survival? If I don’t find relief from this difficulty then it’s all over! It’s in elevating our hardship to death, survival, and godforsaken suffering that our hearts turn to grumbling and in that grumbling we tend to look to worldly comforts for life.
How do we address this grumbling at the source? .. Firstly, let’s address that lie and make sure we believe the truth. The devil and the world would have us believe there’s death on both sides why not pick the comfortable one? What did Jesus say to this lie?
25 “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
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In one sense there’s a hint of truth to that temptation, but it’s a twisted truth and as good as a lie. There is death on both sides, but one is eternal and one is only for a time. The way of comfort and slavery leads to eternal death. The way of the wilderness, the way of the valley of the shadow of death leads to the promised land and eternal life.
We know full well that one day we will be with Christ in glory. As Christians we have our comfort and assurance in the fact that there is eternal life waiting for us in Christ, yet let’s not fall to that temptation before we get there. The temptation that says, the comforts of the world and slavery to sin is better than bearing our cross in the wilderness. Let’s stand confidently in the truth knowing that in bearing our cross, putting the slavery of sin behind us, there is life! It might feel like starving in the wilderness trials now, but a promised land awaits us!
The good news is that when we do believe the lie. When we do grumble and despair before God’s sovereign leadership in our lives, when we forget the miraculous deliverance he Has accomplished for us, he is gracious with us!
Gracious God
Gracious God
How is it that God responds to this grumbling?
When the people grumble and ask, “what shall we drink?” The LORD shows Moses a tree (15:25). He throws the tree into the water and water becomes sweet. Without even a word of rebuke against the people, the LORD graciously provides.
When the people grumble and accuse Moses of trying to kill them in the wilderness, what is the LORD’s response? “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you.” (16:4)
I really don’t think the grace and patience of God can be overemphasized at this point!
Anyone ever heard the phrase, “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.” That’s exactly what Israel is doing!
Let’s say for a second you invite some good friends to go on vacation with you. You’re paying for the whole thing! The flights, the hotels, the amusement park, the food the whole nine yards. You tell them to just bring their luggage, and you’ll take care of the rest. A couple days into vacation you stop for lunch, you pay for everything, and your friends start complaining about the portions of the meal. The natural response might be, “Well you’re happy to find lunch for yourself!” God doesn’t act according to the nature of men though! He is far more gracious!
God has provided the people with everything they need. Food and water, but he goes further! Before that though, Moses wants to make very clear to Israel that they have wronged God. They haven’t wronged Moses, they’ve sinned against God in their grumbling, and there’s no punishment for their wrongdoing, only the continued, gracious provision of God.
If we look at verse 6 of chapter 16 Moses begins to show them what they’ve clearly forgotten.
6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the sons of Israel, “At evening you will know that the Lord has brought you out of the land of Egypt; 7 and in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, for He hears your grumblings against the Lord; and what are we, that you grumble against us?”
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In spite of their grumblings the LORD who brought them out will once again provide and they will see the glory of the LORD! It goes against all the natural instinct of sinful man! If someone shames you in the midst of your generosity, what are you going to do? It would seem reasonable to say, “Well I’ll take my generosity elsewhere.” Yet God is determined for His covenant people to see His glory even in their grumbling. As Moses pointing to God’s provision, He makes sure the people know exactly where they stand.
Between verse 7 and verse 12 the people are reminded of their grumbling 5 times. And Moses makes it very clear, “You’re not grumbling against Me. You’re grumbling against God.”
Verse 7 “He hears your grumblings against the LORD; and what are we, that you grumble against us?”
Verse 8 “when the LORD give you meat to eat in the evening, and bread to the full in the morning; the LORD hears your grumblings which you grumble against Him. And what are we? Your grumblings are not against us but against the LORD.”
...
You’ve grumbled against the LORD, You’ve grumbled against the LORD, You’ve grumbled against the LORD… You’re guilty, You’re guilty, You’re guilty...
Then what does Aaron say to the people. (vs.9) “Come near before the LORD, for He has heard your grumblings.”
If someone had just told you how badly you had just wronged someone who destroys entire nations who gets in His way and brings plagues upon His enemies what might be our natural response? Run! Make like Adam and Eve and hide? Yet what does Aaron tell Israel to do? Come near before this just and holy God! How is this possible? In what world does this make any sense? Only if God is gracious can such a statement be said! Only if God is gracious can we even imagine drawing near to holy God in the midst of our sin and grumbling.
God in His grace puts His glory on display before them (vs.10) and states in His own words through Moses,
12 “I have heard the grumblings of the sons 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.’ ”
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Amidst all their sin, Israel is beholding the glory of the LORD and the abundance of His provision... What a gracious God! If Israel knowing a bodily salvation in the Exodus can know the grace of God like this, how much more for us who know the eternal salvation in Christ?
When we forget the faithfulness of God to us and grumble and complain, we can answer the call of Aaron and run to God because He is gracious!
When we look into our hearts and realize we'd rather put off the cross of Christ which we’ve been called to bear, we can yet run to Christ for mercy and grace.
When we are tempted to pursue the comforts and pleasures of the world instead of the path of Christ, we can always run to our gracious God knowing He will forgive us!
There is no reason to hide!
...
The guilt of man in their grumbling and the grace of God are evident here, but there’s also another important theme in the first half of this passage: The instruction of the LORD. I’d like to take a moment to notice how God leads His people just in this small narrative because it’s consistent with the whole book of Exodus as we step back.
Firstly, God finds His people guilty and grumbling, crying out to Him.
In response He provides an abundant provision according to His grace.
That provision is followed by instruction.
If we look back to 15:26 God provides some pretty clear instructions on the heels of giving his people sweet water to drink.
26 And He said, “If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the Lord, am your healer.”
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Notice as well, on the heels of granting his people manna and quail He provides instructions in Exodus 16:16
16 “This is what the Lord has commanded, ‘Gather of it every man as much as he should eat; you shall take an omer apiece according to the number of persons each of you has in his tent.’ ”
19 Moses said to them, “Let no man leave any of it until morning.”
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If we take a step back and look at the whole of Exodus, it’s structured in these three elements.
The cry of the people in their slavery marks much of the first half of the book.
The extraordinary grace of God in His deliverance and provision as the people cross the Red Sea.
And like we’ve seen in this smaller passage, much of the latter half of the book is instructions for Israel.
From the whole of Exodus and this simple passage let’s recognize, God’s grace is not contingent upon the obedience of the people of Israel. God will establish a covenant with Israel in which their blessing will come through their adherence to the law, but even in that Covenant, God’s grace is not bound to the obedience of the people. God saves, delivers, and provides according to His grace before laws and instructions are even administered.
We can’t let our sin and our disobedience keep us from looking to the grace of God in Christ as if our sin somehow makes God less gracious or our failures make God less willing to forgive.
I’m afraid at times we try to put the ten commandments and Israel at the foot of the mountain before the Exodus. God didn’t deliver the law to His people in order to deliver them from slavery. God delivered His people according to His grace in order that they would receive His law.
Only Christ can fulfill the law, and He has done it! Why would we try to achieve what Christ has already done? Why would we try to deliver ourselves again when God has already provided a way in Christ, the way, the truth, and the life.
For by grace we have been saved through faith, for it is not of ourselves, it is the gift of God. Not of works so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
It’s on the heels of this grace and gifts from God that Israel receives their instructions.
Give heed to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His sight
Gather enough manna for every man and no more. Leave none leftover.
And one more piece of instruction
22 Now on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. When all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, 23 then he said to them, “This is what the Lord meant: Tomorrow is a sabbath observance, a holy sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over put aside to be kept until morning.”
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There’s a big question we begin to ask here from this short text that is really the question of the whole book of Exodus.
“Will Israel listen and obey?”
How will the people of Israel respond to the extraordinary grace of God?
Faithless People
Faithless People
20 But they did not listen to Moses, and some left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and became foul; and Moses was angry with them. 21 They gathered it morning by morning, every man as much as he should eat; but when the sun grew hot, it would melt.
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In response to one simple command, Israel has already failed to listen, and in response to another they will fail again.
As Moses gives instructions for rest and the Sabbath in verse 23 they do not listen and disobey once more.
27 It came about on the seventh day that some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. 28 Then the Lord said to Moses, “How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My instructions?
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Let’s put this in perspective. If you work a salary position, you work hard to be faithful to your boss and the company, but at the end of the day your wages don’t change. If the boss walks in three hours before close of business and says, “Why don’t you guys head home! We’ll pick things up tomorrow.” Generally speaking we wouldn’t argue with that would we?
God tells Israel, don’t do more work than is necessary for today, and don’t work on the Sabbath! You’ll have all your wages, and there’s no catching up to do next week. Even then Israel doesn’t listen. They’re working late when the boss has let them go home - really commanded them to go home. They’re coming in on the weekends when there’s no fruitful work to be done.
Why?
One might simply conclude that it’s the rebellious heart of man. We don’t listen to the instruction of God like we should. This is true, but I believe there’s more to it.
What’s going on in the heart that refuses to rest? What does the heart believe that drives one to wake on the Sabbath, look at all you need for food right before your eyes, already gathered, and still go out to work?
It’s unbelief! Maybe I won’t have enough tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow I’ll be behind so I better work a little harder today. Maybe I’ll be sick later this week, so I better work more today. It all boils down to doubting that God will provide for them tomorrow.
In one sense, they’re still behaving like slaves. There’s a quota of bricks to be fulfilled and if we don’t we’ll be beaten. There’s no rest for a slave!
God is providing instructions to His people that is consistent with their new freedom. They will do no more work than is necessary for the day and no work is to be done on the Sabbath because God is their provider! God is the one who delivered them out of the hands of slavery, and He is the one who will sustain them. He is their rest!
The reason the people disobey is because they still believe they’re fending for themselves like slaves, and God may not be there tomorrow.
When God gives His people a Sabbath rest it’s so much more than a command to not work on a particular day; It’s a call to faith! God is calling His people to trust Him with their well-being.
When we approach the topic of rest, what first comes to mind? With our busy schedules and accumulating demands we start think about vacation a little more so we can rest. It’s Tuesday and we’re in the thick of work demands and maybe we can’t wait for the weekend so we can rest. Some days family life just has us counting down the hours until we can go to bed, so we can rest.
Our bodies and our minds do need rest! God is not unconcerned with that. Adam in the perfection of the garden had a day of rest for his body and mind, yet how does Christ speak of rest when he talks to His disciples?
28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 29 “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
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Jesus did not ignore the Sabbath. He fulfilled the Sabbath! And yet when he calls His followers, His church to rest where does He point them? Not to a day, but to Himself! Not only for the good of their bodies and minds, but for the good of their souls! Even in Exodus God is concerned for the hearts and souls of His people that their faith would be in Him! Their trust for their material well-being would be in Him! When Christ comes His fundamental concern is that our souls would find rest in Him through faith.
The writer of Hebrews speaks of Israel explicitly stating that the rest provided them in the Sabbath was incomplete!
8 For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. 9 So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.
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What is this remaining Sabbath rest for the people of god?
the culmination of chapter 4 is Christ!
14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. 16 Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
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The rest for our souls, that true and eternal rest is found when in faith we look to Christ, our great high priest who atoned for our sins in His own body on the tree. Through faith we surrender our own righteousness, admit our guilt before Him, and throw ourselves before the throne grace that we might receive His mercy.
The Sabbath is more than what our bodies are doing on a particular day, it’s what our souls are doing for the whole of our lives!
...
Perhaps your soul is restless this morning and you stand like Israel did on Sabbath morning looking at all you need for the day already gathered and still wondering, “Is it enough?” If you’re looking at Christ, the bread of life, graciously given by God. He’s enough! There’s no more work to be done. There’s nothing you can add to His perfect record of righteousness.
He’s given us a promise. “Come to me all who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest.” Believe Him! Rest in Him!
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In spite of Israel’s grumbling, their disobedience, their unbelief and faithlessness, they do come to have a taste of the LORD’s rest.
30 So the people rested on the seventh day.
Faithful God
Faithful God
At this point Moses zooms way out to look at the faithfulness of God, our final point. From this point forward the people will have another reminder of the LORD’s faithfulness to them, not only in this instance, but a faithfulness that will bring them into the promised land. Never will the Lord stop feeding his people, showing Himself worthy of their faith.
32 Then Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded, ‘Let an omerful of it be kept throughout your generations, that they may see the bread that I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’ ” 33 Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar and put an omerful of manna in it, and place it before the Lord to be kept throughout your generations.”
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For generations to come there’s this continual reminder as the people come before the presence of God, God is faithful to us! God is the reason we can rest.
Moses adds one more detail to emphasize the point!
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.
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Unfortunately, this is not the first occurrence of Israel’s blatant disobedience. The very reason there are forty years of wilderness wandering is their unbelief. Their fear before the people in the promised land supersedes their faith in the LORD and His promises! In just a couple chapters we’re going to find Israel worshipping a golden calf at the foot of the mountain. There’s more grumbling to be found before they enter the promised land. Men will rise up in revolt against Moses and Aaron. Time and again the people will sin in unbelief, idolatry, and rebellion, yet God remains faithful. God will continue to provide the manna through the whole of their wilderness wandering. God will continue to call them to rest! God is faithful to His promises and is always deserving of the faith of His people.
This passage is the first of many in which God will bear with the sins of His people - The first of many instances in which God’s faithfulness holds up an unfaithful people.
The character of God has not changed. He’s still the same faithful God to this very day. Though we are a new covenant people, with new hearts, and the presence of the Spirit we remain in desperate need of His faithfulness!
As Christians this morning we can say with assurance:
By His grace we have been saved!
By His grace we have matured in our faith!
By His grace we will be glorified!
But today we still battle with sin! We never move on from our need of the mercy and grace of God.
8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
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Until the day we enter the glory of the heaven and the Lord welcomes us home, we lean on the faithfulness of God to forgive us - to sustain us in our wandering as sojourners and strangers. We may grow more faithful, but we will never outgrow our need for His faithfulness.
Praise God for His grace in our grumblings, and might we readily give thanks for his faithfulness in our faithlessness.
Let’s pray.
