Mana For The Sabbath (Ex. 16:22-32)

5/22/2008 9:58 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time           Focus:  Manna for the Sabbath

Bible Reading & Meditation               Reference:  Exodus 16:22-32

            Message of the verses:  “22 ¶  Now on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. When all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, 23  then he said to them, "This is what the LORD meant: Tomorrow is a Sabbath observance, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over put aside to be kept until morning."  24  So they put it aside until morning, as Moses had ordered, and it did not become foul nor was there any worm in it.  25  Moses said, "Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the field.  26  "Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none."  27  It came about on the seventh day that some of the people went out to gather, but they found none.  28 Then the LORD said to Moses, "How long do you refuse to keep My

Commandments and My instructions?  29  "See, the LORD has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you bread for two days on the sixth day. Remain every man in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day."  30  So the people rested on the seventh day.  31  The house of Israel named it manna, and it was like coriander seed, white, and its taste was like wafers with honey.”

            Exodus 16:4 reads as follows:  “Then the LORD said to Moses, "Behold, I will 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 or not they will walk in My instruction.”

God gave this instruction to Moses to give to the children of Israel, but as seen in verse 27 that some of them could not follow this simple test, and so in verse 28 the Lord shows His anger over their disobeying of this test.

            In verse 23 we see the first time the word Sabbath is mentioned in the Scriptures, for when God created the earth it is said that He rested on the seventh day and so the Sabbath day was not mentioned there.  The Hebrew word for Sabbath is similar to the word for seventh, and the word means to rest or cease from working and this day was given to the Jews as part of their covenant with the Lord, the Old Covenant.  Sunday is not the Sabbath in the New Covenant as some think it is and nine of the ten commandments are mentioned in the New Testament with the only one not mentioned is keeping the Sabbath. 

            The manna from the Lord was a miracle from Him to care for the children of Israel, and the keeping of the manna that was gathered from the sixth day to last for the seventh day was also a miracle that it did not spoil.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  One of the things that I don’t like about myself is at times I look over mistakes made by others as not being a big problem, this happened to me while working at my different jobs from time to time and it got me into trouble.  God gave Israel a small test to see if they would obey Him, and later on this test about the Sabbath will be one of the ten commandments that God would give to Israel and they were suppose to obey it.  By God’s grace I want to have discernment when I come upon these types of decisions in my life now.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I want to continue with the same steps of faith from the past two days.  Trust the Lord to guide me this day, Pr. 3:5-6; trust the Lord to teach me contentment, Phil 4:11; trust the Lord as I yoke up with Him, Matthew 11:28-30; and trust the Lord to keep me from falling into temptation, 1 Cor. 10:13.

Memory verses for the week:                      Matthew 11:28-30

28.    Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.

29.    Take My yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls.

30.    For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.