Vending Machine God

Jab 1

Vending Machines - How many have ever used a vending machine?

In Middle school the glorious gifts we would receive from the oasis of vending was priceless.

-Whatever I could do to find money in a couch, my room, asking my mom for loose change anything so I could have gotten something from the glorious machines that were the source of so much sugar and goodies to help get the day started right at school.

But then there were times that the vending machine didn’t quite work and something would get stuck or the pad wouldn’t compute the command to release the food

-this resulted in much frustration

-anger would ensue and even times where you could talk to the vending machine, hit the vending machine or even threaten the vending machine because it was keeping you from what you wanted or even what you thought you needed.

Right Hook

We are looking at a section of scripture where Israel looks at God as their own vending machine of goods. They even get to the point where if they could they would have kicked the God they looked at as only the source of the goods they needed or wanted.

Explanation

Exodus 15:22–16:14 NLT

Then Moses led the people of Israel away from the Red Sea, and they moved out into the desert of Shur. They traveled in this desert for three days without finding any water. When they came to the oasis of Marah, the water was too bitter to drink. So they called the place Marah (which means “bitter”). Then the people complained and turned against Moses. “What are we going to drink?” they demanded. So Moses cried out to the Lord for help, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. Moses threw it into the water, and this made the water good to drink. It was there at Marah that the Lord set before them the following decree as a standard to test their faithfulness to him. He said, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his sight, obeying his commands and keeping all his decrees, then I will not make you suffer any of the diseases I sent on the Egyptians; for I am the Lord who heals you.” After leaving Marah, the Israelites traveled on to the oasis of Elim, where they found twelve springs and seventy palm trees. They camped there beside the water. Then the whole community of Israel set out from Elim and journeyed into the wilderness of Sin, between Elim and Mount Sinai. They arrived there on the fifteenth day of the second month, one month after leaving the land of Egypt. There, too, the whole community of Israel complained about Moses and Aaron. “If only the Lord had killed us back in Egypt,” they moaned. “There we sat around pots filled with meat and ate all the bread we wanted. But now you have brought us into this wilderness to starve us all to death.” 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.” So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, “By evening you will realize it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt. In the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your complaints, which are against him, not against us. What have we done that you should complain about us?” Then Moses added, “The Lord will give you meat to eat in the evening and bread to satisfy you in the morning, for he has heard all your complaints against him. What have we done? Yes, your complaints are against the Lord, not against us.” Then Moses said to Aaron, “Announce this to the entire community of Israel: ‘Present yourselves before the Lord, for he has heard your complaining.’ ” And as Aaron spoke to the whole community of Israel, they looked out toward the wilderness. There they could see the awesome glory of the Lord in the cloud. Then the Lord said to Moses, “I have heard the Israelites’ complaints. Now tell them, ‘In the evening you will have meat to eat, and in the morning you will have all the bread you want. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’ ” That evening vast numbers of quail flew in and covered the camp. And the next morning the area around the camp was wet with dew. When the dew evaporated, a flaky substance as fine as frost blanketed the ground.

Marah

Three days ago from this situation at Marah they were praising the Lord for him saving them from the Egyptians.

-God had just parted the red sea and he created a path where there was not one

-way maker

-The women danced and celebrated and now 3 days later after the people had seen such incredible provision they are now complaining and back into their old habits again

Moses’ Response

-I love the example that Moses gives us Moses cried out to the Lord for help Moses understood something fundamentally that the people of Israel hadn’t learned yet God’s provision is his presence....not what he does for us.

.....as a leader this is something that I strive to do daily. There is no wisdom apart from the presence of God. Hearing his voice is all Moses needed in this situation.

Who would have thought to throw a stick in a pool of water to make it drinkable......?!?!?

Moses threw the wood in the water

What type of wood was it that Moses threw into the water?

Was it a hyssop branch?

-Many times scripture uses the hyssop branch as a symbol of purifying and healing.

-What type of wood was it that filtered the water so it made it drinkable for the people?

There was nothing special about this piece of wood......

-Moses instructions were descriptive....not prescriptive

1 . Moses Cried out for help....

2. The Lord showed him a piece of wood.

3. Moses threw it into the water

What’s up with the wood in the water?

-Similarly to Moses spreading his staff over the water

-God did not NEED Moses to participate in this miracle

-God instructed, Moses obeyed and God provided

God set a standard out to the people through Moses and He told them.

If you will listen carefully to the voice of the Lord and do what is right in His sight which means to :

obey what he says

-Listen and Do

I will heal you......What did the people of Israel need to be healed from?

The people journeyed again from Marah to an oasis and then from that Oasis out to the Wilderness of Sin between Elim and Mount Sinai.

Wilderness of Sin

Again the people started to complain…no food.

Moses had brought them out to this place and had not even thought about how he was going to feed the millions of people that he was leading.

-we had it better in Egypt....yeah we were slaves, but we had full pots of food and our bellies were full

-the Egyptians enslaved us, but at least THEY FED US!

God heard their cries and said I AM GOING TO RAIN DOWN FOOD FROM HEAVEN.....

-God gave the people specific instructions as to how he wanted them to follow in the provision of this blessing.

MANNA

I have learned a lot about Manna this week

-it is similar to coriander seed

-they were to gather about 2 quarts per person

-this would have been a considerable of work seeing many people had large families

QUAIL

Did you realize where God had lead the people of Israel was actually in the path of the migratory patterns of the quail that moved from Southern Africa north....sometimes as far north as modern day Europe.

-migrated to the sinai peninsula

-found shortest distance across red sea, but also had to wait for a wind to help them over larger bodies of water because they were so fat compared to what their bodies could carry.

-people of Israel didn’t know they were in the path of a migratory bird that would provide for them

THEY DIDN’T NEED TO KNOW GOD KNEW AND HE IS THEIR PROVIDER!

a few minutes ago I posed the question what did the people of Israel need to be healed from?

God was teaching them one truth he is still teaching us today!

The Provision of God is the Presence of God

Listen to that statement again carefully

The..... Provision of God......... IS ........ the Presence of God.

The provision of God is not what God was doing for the people it was the fact he was with them!

Israel was dependent upon people who provided the food, provided their housing, but all of that was in the process of their enslavement.

Remember God Said I AM WHO I AM....I WILL BE WHO I WILL BE.

When you are with me I am all you need.

You dont need food....you need me. sure Ill provide that food for you, but I want you to see that all you need is me.

you dont need protection....stay close to me I will be your protection

God was healing them in their understanding of who they were in relationship to Him. Jehovah Rapha was healing the hearts and minds of people who had been abused and treated less than human

Application

God provision doesn’t DO FOR us God’s Provision is WITH US.

-God’s provision isn’t the product that is provided for us in our need.....It is God Himself with us healing us into his image.

I look for the thing that God will do and that makes me dependent upon a result that is produced.....that was never God’s desire.

Listen carefully

Obey me

You will be with me and that is where my healing for you will be.

If something in our lives looks like it’s a mess....dont move!

-listen carefully

-obey what God is asking

He may still be working on your restoration and sometimes the only difference between restoration and destruction is the end product.

-things may look like they are a mess right now, but that’s only because God’s not done working.....stay close and keep listening.

The situation you find yourself in right now might be one where you say.....

How will I get through this?

what is going to happen when this is all over?

What will my life look like when.....

How will I get through today?

How can I plan for tomorrow when I don’t know.....

How can I forgive them when they didn’t even know they hurt me?

How can I trust again when I have been hurt many times before?

God just says come here....listen carefully, follow what I tell you and your healing your restoration, your provision will already be fulfilled.

-peace that we can’t understand will be found in Him

-love is found in Him

-strength for forgiveness is found in Him

-your daily bread will be found in Him

-your needs for today will be found in him

Deuteronomy 8:3 NLT

Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

Matthew 4:4 NLT

But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

God’s provision is not a thing we can grasp....God’s Provision is God with us.