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During one of the songs at the worship service last night, I started thinking about the Israelites wandering the desert after leaving Egypt, relying on God to provide them their food. I also thought about how God commanded them to take no more than they could consume in a day. If they tried to store up additional baskets of manna, the extra amount would rot and be useless.These people were forced to rely upon the Lord from day to day. When they went to bed, they didn't have food for breakfast the next day. But they trusted in God, and when they stepped out of their tents the next morning, their daily bread - the manna from heaven - lay all around them. What faith it takes for us to do the same; to look at our empty plates or bank accounts or lives and trust that God will provide exactly what we need, when we need it, and in the amount that will perfectly satisfy that need.
This was before the desert theme at the worship service was explicitly explained. One part of the service included a tub of sand in the middle of the floor. We were encouraged to reflect on a lonely, barren desert place, an analogy for seeking God's direction during difficult times in our lives. We were asked to come forward if we wanted, to run our hands through the sand and wait on the Lord, wait and listen to what He may say to us.
I was grabbing handfuls of sand, letting the grains fall through my fingers as I prayed. There were zip lock bags there, and we were asked to fill them with the sand and take it with us to remind us of the experience, of meeting God in a desert place.
I had a bit of sand on my fingers already, having let it slip through them when I decided to fill a bag to take with me. I began to reach for a fistful when I had a thought that was not my own, "Take only what you need." I didn't think I needed many grains of sand to remind me of the box or a desert, so the pinch that was already sitting on my fingers I sprinkled into the bag.
Then I came home and read the scripture about the manna, "This is the bread the Lord has given you to eat. The Lord has commanded, 'Each of you must gather what he needs' ... so the people of Israel did this, some people gathered much and some people gathered little ... each person gathered just as much as he needed" Exodus 16:15-18.
I believe this scripture and this encounter is God's way of reminding me to trust in Him and His provisions according to His will. I also believe I'm going to soon be in a situation where I have access to plenty, but should take only that which I need, lest the excess I bring into my life rots and stinks - as did the additional manna the Israelites gathered for themselves.
4 comments:
Good insight! I, too, was at that Saturday Night Gathering and sensed the Spirit speak to me and say "I am in the desert, too. There is no where you can go to escape my presence".
Also, as I read this posting, I was struck that we could all do some soul searching on our unchecked desire to "take all we can get our hands on" instead of "only what we need". What a challenging word to our consumer-driven and often wasteful lifestyles here in the Western world!
Man, Nathan that's mind blowing. I totally hadn't even thought of that. The total dependence on God that the Israelites had. It's really inspiring. Recently me and my wife have been trying to manage our income and learn to get a control on our spending. So we got a book called total money makeover. And it's teaching us to really curb our spending and stick to the budget. But it's funny now how many times I find myself holding back cause I don't want to run out of money for the week. Or go over the budget. It's teaching me to realize how much stuff I waist my money on. The same happens every time I fast. It's depressing how much we waist food or are under control by our stomaches. It control's us. Whenever I over eat and feel like a sloth I think about how hungry I was just the second before but now hate the site of food.
I guess what I'm saying is it's amazing how much we hoard and try and live in the moment when God would have us live in Him and trust Him. Rely on Him and He will provide it all for us. Thanks for the post that's really challenging for me.
Thank you Nathan for writing this posting. Even though I was not at the worhsip night last week (we just missed your phone call), your writings on the evening have given me insight on what God is doing in mine and Nathan's life. Nathan and I went to Lis and Harvey's church this week, it was a nice service, but we look forward to getting back in routine w/CLC. It has been a weird disconnected year for us at times. But like I said, God has purpose and I won't give up on that.
It's good to get feedback, thanks! This is challenging, and I think it's cool how God can use his kids to challenge and edify each other. This seems like a pretty good forum for doing just that.
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