The Meaning Of Life

https://biblehub.com/nkjv/exodus/16.htm

I’m certainly not bragging when I say that this will be the fourth or fifth time I’ve read the Bible through from beginning to end; the only reason I mention it is, this is I always find something I missed the first times I’ve read it, which to me says, “You can’t read the Bible once and be a good Christian, in fact it takes more than twice, and thrice…”

And I’ve always read the Bible looking for the things that tell me how God wants me to live, but this time, just reading the text as it is presented without any outside influence from a pastor or study guide, I’m more and more seeing the things that God is telling me what not to do.

Here we are, the children of Israel have been held captive by the Egyptians for 400 years, toiling in the heat of the day, making brick, likely by stomping straw into mud, not even slowing for fear of being between by the Egyptian guards, and now they are free. The Lord has set them free, and not by any easy means.

The Lord has split the Red Sea to allow them to escape Pharaoh’s army. He has spared their life. And what do they do?

Complain.

I once heard a pastor say that it was perfectly fine to be angry with the Lord. It was perfectly fine to voice your disapproval with how things are going.. But I look at that as, I would treat my Heavenly Father the same as I would my Earthly Father, will love and respect.

Yes, I could be angry with my earthly father, and to be honest, no, I couldn’t. My earthly father was a wonderful, wonderful, loving man, and I can’t remember one second when I was ever angry with him. My mother, that was a different story.

But you could still be angry about something, you could still disagree about something and discuss it, as long as you did it with respect and in a loving manner. Pray and explain how you feel, but also give thanks for the many blessing you do have, and to dare use a cliche, we need to be thankful for every waking and breathing moment.

But the children of Israel are not acting in a respectful way. They are not acting in a loving way. They are acting more like a toddler in their terrible two’s.

And I’m sorry for what I’m about to say about Moses, but he truly isn’t much better. There is scripture where he says, “…And what are we? Your complaints are not against us but against the Lord.” Why doesn’t Moses defend the Lord? Why doesn’t he remind everyone of the many blessings they have? Instead, he tries to shift the blame. Granted, he may not know how because the Bible hasn’t even been written yet, and the decalogue was written by Moses himself, but surely Moses can see the blessings. Moses had been in the presence of God. He has seen how loving God is…surely he could have talked some sense into the children of Israel.

But God is a loving God, a merciful God, a caring and giving God, so God heard the Iraelites’ complaints about the lack of food, and he sends them quail for meat, and manna for bread.

You can read for yourself what manna is, but it truly had to be a miracle food, because God commanded them to save some of the manna and put it in the Ark of the Covenant with the tables containing the Ten Commandments.

And if there is any question about how we should observe the Sabbath Day, the seventh day of the week that God commanded we keep Holy, this chapter partly explains it. For He didn’t even want the children of Israel to gather food on the Sabbath Day.

God made it so they gathered enough food on Friday to feed them for both Friday and Saturday. If they gathered too much food on Monday, by Tuesday it was spoiled and rancid. But the food they gathered on Friday was still delicious on the Sabbath.

And even today, the faithful Jews observe “Preparation Day” (as you will find when we discuss the crucifixion of Christ. And on Friday, the Jews prepare for the Sabbath Day. They get all of their needs taken care of, all shopping, preparation of their food for the Sabbath, even so far as washing the car, so they don’t have to do any work on the Sabbath Day.

In fact, the Lord commanded them to not even come out of their homes on the Sabbath Day.

So this chapter doesn’t tell me how to act like a Christian, but more how not to act like a spoiled, selfish, immature adult.

Father in Heaven, forgive me for those times I judge you. Forgive me for those times that I am selfish, and have a heart of stone where I do not show thanks for my blessing. The mere fact that I am breathing is blessing enough, you have protected me and my family, you have blessed our health, you have wakened us to another wonderful day of Your Creation. Forgive me for my stubbornness, and Lord, when I face hardships in life, forgive me if I blame you for those hardships, because I know hardships and heartache comes from Satan who is working hard to draw me away from You. Forgive me Lord, help me to have a grateful heart. Thank you for my life. Amen.