What God Teaches The Students in His University

God Created Israel to find their satisfaction in the worship of Him, but Israel wanted Him to worship them

The people of Israel have been privy to so many miraculous things. 10 plagues, passing through the red sea, submerging their enemies, their shackles had been lifted, but they were in psychological bondage. how do we know this the text says over and over that they grumbled.

Exodus 15:24 ESV

24 And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”

Exodus 16:2 ESV

2 And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness,

Exodus 16:7–9 ESV

7 and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord. For what are we, that you grumble against us?” 8 And Moses said, “When the Lord gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full, because the Lord has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him—what are we? Your grumbling is not against us but against the Lord.” 9 Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, ‘Come near before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.’ ”

Why were they grumbling? lack of faith is an easy answer. You can walk away and feel good that we have nothing in common with them. But when you examine why they had a lack of faith, it is because they were self-centered. It was about what they needed and what they wanted. They were self-centered. They were still Egyptians believing that their God was their stomach, living at less than their human capacity. Their stomachs and their appetites got bigger, but their souls were small and malnourished. They were hungry for life and for meaning and for joy, but their self-centeredness was prohibiting them from experiencing satisfaction and the core of their being.

Transition: I hope I didn’t come down your street and start reading your mail, because that’s precisely what happened to me this week when I discovered the Lord was talking to me.

God Created His People to find their satisfaction in his Son Jesus, but we want God to worship ourselves.

I told you I was creating that budget and the first thing we thought about was not about what we were going to do or give to the Lord. We thought about our food, our entertainment, our issues we wanted to solve, but I didn’t jump in thinking, how are we going to expand the kingdom of the one that satisfies me and can satisfy you and can satisfy other people.

Our God is our stomach. And consequently our prayers are always putting God to the test. God is always having to prove his love. When God doesn’t come through we say, “Where is he when I needed him?” I still haven’t gotten the man of my dreams. I got the man of my dreams but he’s become the man of my nightmares. We grumble because we have positioned God as the servant and our stomachs are who he serves. And when we are in positions that we feel are not comfortable we express the reality outwardly that is present inwardly. I am God and you are not. Give me!!!

God Teaches Israel in the Wilderness, He is all they need, because He was all they had.

How does God work this dilemma out in the life of Israel. He sends them to school in the wilderness.

Its a desert. There is no farmland to grow crops. There is no cattle. There are no people to buy, sell, and barter food with. desert. Willing pushes them into the desert. The bible says to prove them.

He could have fed them and kept it moving.

But he gives them specific instructions as to how they will be fed, what they will be fed with, and how they were to proceed to accumulate the provisions.

He’s testing them or proving them.

Exodus 16:4 ESV

4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to 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 they will walk in my law or not.

The wilderness is a school for them to learn obedience by the things they suffer. to help them shift their allegiances from them being at the center, to the Lord being the center using their stomach as a guide.

You want to eat, you will listen and obey me. You want tot starve, live life on your own terms.

manna — honey wafers

5 days get what you need for the day.

6th day - get what you need for two days.

Do exactly what I tell you.

What happened when they didn’t do it?

Exodus 16:26–30 ESV

26 Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none.” 27 On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. 28 And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? 29 See! The Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.” 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.

Why? So that they could know that the glory cloud they saw was a visible manifestation of all that they needed.

Exodus 16:12 ESV

12 “I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’ ”

Deuteronomy 8:3 ESV

3 And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

That the Lord is all you need.

Let’s go a little higher!

Jesus says that he is the fulfillment of God feeding Israel in the wilderness.

He will say that he is the true moses, the true bread, the true glory cloud, and the true Lord.

John 6:25–35 ESV

25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” 26 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” 28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” 30 So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” 32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” 35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

Jesus tells his disciples who constitute the 12 tribes of Israel that He will satisfy them. But they grumble too.

John 6:41 ESV

41 So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”

Jesus says I used the fact that we were out here far from everybody to help you see through a physical miracle a spiritual reality. I AM ALL THAT YOU NEED. BECAUSE WHEN YOU EAT ME, you will be satisfied.

Illustration: Junk Food

Jesus is Teaching you thru the up and down of life, that He is all you’ve ever REALLY needed

“You may never know that JESUS is all you need, until JESUS is all you have.”

— Pandemic

--- financial troubles

— difficult relationships

— every wilderness situation for the elect is geared towards your ultimate satisfaction in Jesus Christ.

and when you delight in something, you can’t help but to tell somebody else.

— What is your wilderness right now. I want you to shout with joy thank you for my school

We thank God for the lessons for they are the blessings that push us to our joy and satisfaction in him.