Taking Things Day By Day

Exodus 16—Manna and Quail

The Israelites left Egypt and were in the dessert. At this point, they were starving. They thought back to the times when they were in Egypt and had all the food they wanted. Now, they were blaming Aaron and Moses, saying “…you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”

Exodus 16:10—While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of the LORD appearing in the cloud.

God provided. He heard their grumbling and provided them with bread each day, with the exception of the Sabbath. On non-Sabbath days, the Israelites were to eat as much as they wanted on that day, but they could not keep the manna overnight because it would become filled with maggots and would reek. I think God might have done this to develop the Israelites faith day-by-day. It also caused the Israelites to run to God each day and remember Him. (It is in times of excess when we are more tempted to forget about God.) Each day they had to trust Him for that day’s bread. Each day they had to trust that God would provide.

I think that it is similar in following God throughout our lives. Many of us want to have everything mapped out from beginning to end. We want to know where we will be five, ten, twenty, fifty years in the future. Instead of promising us the map, God promises us His presence. He wants us to take it day-by-day. He wants us to trust Him every step of the way. He wants us to run to Him each day.  It would be so easy to forget about Him if we had the map, saying, "Well, I know where I'm going, no need to consult God."

One of the verses I like that speaks of following God is Psalm 119:105:

Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light for my path.

Someone once pointed out to me that if you put a lamp to your feet, you can only see where you will take your next step. That’s what it is like in following God—you only see enough to take your next step. I think sometimes God reveals more than just one step, but oftentimes it is only a step. But that’s what faith is—trusting that God isn’t going to lead you off a cliff if you follow Him.

Bleak Circumstances

"Submission frees us to embrace God's plan for our lifes, a plan He has put together with our very best interests in his heart and mind."  --Nancy Guthrie, The One Year Book of Hope, p. 315

For me, a lot of the times, I fail to submit to God because of a lack of faith in Him.  I too often look at the circumstances and say to God, "Do You see this?  It's so hard.  Are You sure You can do it?"

Today, my friend reminded me of a passage from Romans 4 that talks on the subject of faith:

Verses 18-21--Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be."  Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead--since he was about a hundred years old--and that Sarah's womb was also dead.  Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.

In reading this, a few things struck me:

1. Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed--Even though circumstances looked bleak, Abraham trusted in God
2. and so became the father of many nations--Because of his hope in God and trust in God, he then became the father of many nations.
3. Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead--Abraham was not in denial saying that there were no bleak circumstances.  He acknowledged the bleak circumstances, but didn't let them waver his faith.
4. but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had the power to do what he had promised--Instead of letting the bleak circumstances shake his faith, Abraham turned it into praise to God.  If anything, I think this verse means that he trusted in God even more in light of the circumstances and that his picture of God grew.  He trusted in God and was "fully persuaded" that God was able to do what He had promised.

In times of bleak circumstances, I think we can follow Abraham's example by doing four things:

1. Trust in God, despite the circumstances
2. Acknowledge the circumstances
3. View the circumstances as mediums through which God is going to display His power all the more
4. Give glory to God when circumstances are overcome, instead of minimizing the bleakness of the circumstances

In facing seemingly overwhelming circumstances, we can be discouraged or encouraged.  We can be discouraged thinking that God is not powerful enough to overcome anything, even though Jesus overcame death.  Or we can be encouraged knowing that God is faithful in keeping promises and that the circumstances will be means through which God will awe us with His power and show us that He truly is the Lord Almighty.