Manna - The Word of God

Open your Bibles, please, to the book of Exodus, chapter 16. We are ready to begin our journey with the children of Israel across the wilderness. They have been delivered from the land of Egypt. Shortly after they had crossed the Red Sea, they came to their first real obstacle; they had no water. God miraculously provided water for them and led them to a place called Elim, where there were twelve wells of water and threescore and ten palm trees; and there they encamped by the water.

In chapter 16, we will see them traveling on a bit farther, so that they will have been six weeks away from the land of Egypt. Six weeks of journeying is not very long, and you would not think that disappointment and discouragement would arise so quickly after such a glorious deliverance, but it did. We will read the entire chapter so that we may get the sense of the Scripture:

EXODUS 16

This chapter, like the preceding ones, was included in the Word of God so that we might profit by the illustrations and types of spiritual truth which is contained therein. God did not record this experience of feeding the children of Israel in the wilderness just so we could say that God fed three million people with ordinary food. He recorded this experience because He was pleased to use manna as an illustration of something greater and more important than ordinary food, and we will be seeing what it illustrates.

First of all, let us notice what this chapter actually says. Only six weeks out of Egypt, and the marvelous deliverance at the Red Sea and the marvelous provision of the water in the wilderness seem to have been quickly forgotten when the children of Israel looked at the circumstances in which they found themselves. Like many of us, they did not evaluate those circumstances practically. They were hungry; there was no question about that, but you would think that they were much worse off than they ever had been in the land of Egypt. They either deliberately lied about their good days in the land of Egypt or they were deluded by the Devil. If you will look at verse 3, you will see how utterly foolish was their reasoning and how inconsistent were their statements:

EXODUS 16

Notice the last statement, "You brought us forth into the wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger." That was foolishness. After God provided the miracles in delivering the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, would He then kill them after He got them into the wilderness? I say this is foolish reasoning, but it is no more foolish than the reasoning of some of us who apparently are able to trust the Lord for the salvation of our souls, but not for the preservation of our lives.

Have you ever stopped to consider how inconsistent we are? We are willing to trust the Lord for the salvation of our eternal souls. Our only hope of Heaven is God's Word. We accept that; we believe it; yet when the first little trial in ordinary, everyday living comes up, we become panic stricken. We go to pieces, and we say, "Surely the Lord has forsaken us!" We almost sink beneath the waves of discouragement. Aren't we inconsistent? Just about as inconsistent as were these Israelites, who knew that God delivered them miraculously but now thought He was going to let them die in the wilderness for want of a little material food.

We are just as foolish as they; and our foolishness, because we do not control our thoughts, sometimes leads us to make as false and irrational statements as they did. They said, "When we sat by the flesh pots, we did eat bread to the full." If your memory serves you from the early part of the book of Exodus, this was everything but true. They were slaves. They did not have time to sit by the flesh pots and enjoy a good feast. They were slaves; they did not have bread to the full.

As a matter of fact, just before God delivered them from the land of Egypt, you will remember that Pharaoh ordered that all the straw should be taken away and that they should go up and down the length and breadth of the land and hunt straw to make brick and still produce the same quota of brick they were producing when the straw was provided for them. Think about that for a moment. When do you suppose they would have had the time to sit down by the flesh pots and eat bread to the full?

That is the way the Devil does. When we become discouraged, the Devil will even make us think that things which we could hardly stand when they were happening suddenly are the most wonderful things that could have occurred to us. He colors our thinking; he deludes us; he deceives us.

He loves to do it in moments of discouragement. He tells us that the world offers us far more than God offers us and that experiences we had before we endeavored to live yielded lives for the Lord were much more wonderful than we thought they were when they were happening.

The Devil had deluded the Israelites; and because they were thinking not rationally, but foolishly, they began to murmur against Moses. The children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. That was bad enough. Certainly Moses and Aaron had enough burdens without having to put up with the complaints of a disgruntled people, but the serious thing about it was that their murmuring against Moses and Aaron was actually murmuring against God. Look at verse 7:

EXODUS 16

It would have been bad enough for them to murmur against Moses and Aaron, making their service difficult; but their murmurings were more serious in that they murmured against the Lord. Therein lies a tremendous lesson for us. If we are in the very center of God's will, if we have asked the Lord to order our steps, and He orders our steps in different places and we murmur against the individuals involved, which we are quite apt to do, we are really murmuring not against those individuals, but against the Lord. That is what makes it very serious.

Sometimes children, when they are asked to do things by godly parents who feel led of the Lord to make their requests, murmur against their parents. They talk about how awful their mothers and fathers are because they make certain demands upon them. They are demands based upon the Word of God, and actually the children are not murmuring against father and mother; they are murmuring against God.

That is why we must not permit murmuring by our children about things that are righteous and right. It is not a mere matter of their murmuring against us as parents; it is a matter of their murmuring against the Lord. If we permit that murmuring without rebuke, if we tolerate that murmuring, it won't be long until those very same children will be murmuring openly against the Lord, and we will wonder why. We will even ask ourselves the question, "Why?", and we will be telling ourselves we have done everything we knew to do to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. We fail to remember that when we permitted disobedience to us, we were training disobedience to God; when we permitted murmuring against us, we were permitting murmuring against the Lord. We can take this passage of Scripture and make wide application of it.

If you are in a family where there are problems, and if the Lord is directing your steps, if you are there by His divine permission and you are murmuring and fretting about the conditions in which you find yourself, you are murmuring and fretting against the Lord and losing your spiritual victory. If you have asked the Lord to lead you and to direct your life, and you know that He has, and you are in some kind of position where things are difficult and you lash out at everyone around you, you are really not lashing out at those individuals; subconsciously you are lashing out against the Lord. That is why it is so serious. It is not a matter of mere discontent; it is not a matter of mere murmuring; it is a matter of complaining to the Lord about the place in which He has put you.

The Israelites were murmuring against the Lord, and Moses told them they were murmuring against the Lord, and the Lord spoke to Moses that He might give direction to them. Will you notice verse 4:

EXODUS 16

Is that what your Bible reads? Well, it is the way it ought to read, except for the grace of God. There are many illustrations of God's grace, and to my mind this is one of the clearest we have in the Word. This is what He said in verse 4:

EXODUS 16

This is grace; instead of raining punishment upon them, He provided food for them, bread from Heaven. I want us to notice the things that are said about the bread from Heaven so that we may have the facts fixed in our minds as we look later at the thing for which this bread stands. The bread was to be provided every day, and the people were to gather it every day. Glance at verse 13:

EXODUS 16

Several facts are now clear from these verses. First, the bread was to be provided every day. Then you will notice that the bread was to be provided every morning. It was described as a small, round thing on the ground, and the children of Israel called it "manna." God did not call it "manna"; the Israelites called it "manna." Why did they call it "manna"? Because they were familiar with the sap of the tamarus tree that gathered on the outside of its bark in little white globlets just about the size of this bread from Heaven. Because it looked like that, they said, "It's manna; that's what it is." Moses said to them, "This is the bread which the Lord hath given you; it is not manna--not that ordinary sap of the tree; this is God's supernatural provision."

Then notice verse 23:

EXODUS 16

You can see that this bread, provided supernaturally from Heaven, was real; it could be baked (the book of Numbers tells us it was ground up into flour and baked) and it could be seethed--that is, it could be stewed somewhat like a stew. Then look at verse 31:

EXODUS 16

You see, this food was practical, it was palatable, it was all one should desire. Some instructions are given in regard to the gathering of this food, which is important. Look at verse 16:

EXODUS 16

The instructions for the gathering of this manna were that every man should gather an omer for himself; and if he had the responsibility for several in his household, he was to gather enough for every member of his household; and it was to be equally divided, according to verse 17:

EXODUS 16

How much was an omer? In verse 36, we read that an omer was the tenth part of an ephah. If you take the trouble to follow that through, you will find that an omer was six pints. Six pints of manna were gathered by each individual for food for that day and that day alone. Notice verse 19:

EXODUS 16

This means simply, "Don't gather more than you will eat today--just an omer, that's all."

But in that day, as in our day, there were people who believed they could rationalize, that they could ignore the Word of God. They were like the people who say today, "Well, I know the Bible says that, but...", and then they go do what they want to do. I am quite sure that in that day when the word went out from Moses, "Gather just six pints for each man and eat it up today; don't save any of it for tomorrow," someone came along and said, "You know, this is the first day this has happened, and it might not be on the ground again in the morning. Six pints is quite a bit; we'd better not eat it all today." Someone said, "Moses said to eat it all today; don't leave any of it." "Well, I know Moses said that, but I think we ought to be practical. I think we ought not to be foolish; I think we ought to be conservative; I think we ought to save for a rainy day." "But Moses said..." "I know what Moses said..." So what happened? Look at verse 20:

EXODUS 16

They did not obey the Word of God; they knew more than the Word of God. You see the sad result in the same verse. When they awakened in the morning, instead of going out and gathering manna fresh, as they were told to do by the Lord, they went to their chests and got out the manna, and they had to hold their noses. That manna had bred worms and was stinking by the time they got to it. Oh, they knew more than the Word of God, they thought, but when practical application was made, they found out how little they knew. In verse 21, we read:

EXODUS 16

They had learned a lesson. You would think that it would be sufficient and that there would not be need for any more lessons, but any individual who thinks that he has learned it all in spiritual progress and has no more lessons to learn is not facing the facts of life. Notice verse 25:

EXODUS 16

"On the sixth day," Moses said, "gather enough for today, but gather enough for tomorrow, too." The people said, "Wait a minute; we are all confused. You told us to gather just enough for one day; now you tell us to gather enough for two days." But some of these folk who had not believed the Word of God at first had become believers overnight. They said, "Moses, wait a minute. We didn't believe you the last time, so we gathered for two days, and it has taken us a week to fumigate our houses. Now you tell us to gather for two days?" Moses said, "You gather for two days; that is what God said."

You see, they had to learn obedience, not on the basis of what they could understand, but on the basis of faith; and we must learn that, too. You see, if Moses had said to them the second time, "Don't gather it for two days," it would not have been hard for them to obey, because they had disobeyed and learned by disobedience that it didn't pay. Many people today obey, not because they walk by faith, but because they have learned by sad experience that it pays to obey. That does not appeal to the heart of God as obedience and faith appeal to Him.

Again there were some Israelites who just could not believe what Moses said. "Oh, we know Moses said it, but still, Moses doesn't understand." Notice verse 27:

EXODUS 16

You see, they did not gather enough on the sixth day for two days. They gathered just enough for the sixth day, and when they went out on the seventh day, there was not any, and they had to go hungry because they had not obeyed the Word of God. Verse 28:

EXODUS 16

Does that sound familiar? Look back in this same chapter and notice what was said in verse 4:

EXODUS 16

Did you wonder why that last statement was included in verse 4? How could God's providing bread from Heaven, to be gathered every day, prove their obedience? Now we have seen how it could prove their obedience. Because they did not trust the Lord, they disobeyed Him and gathered enough food for two days when they should have gathered for only one day. And because they did not trust the Lord, they refused to gather enough for two days and gathered only enough for one day. That elicited this response from God: "How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?"

Grace is the greatest instructor in obedience that you will find in the Word of God. Laws do not always teach obedience, but grace does, and these folk were learning by experience that the walk of obedient faith is much to be desired by the child of God.

You will notice in verse 35 that the children of Israel "did eat manna for forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat manna until they came to the borders of the land of Canaan." That is a tremendous statement. For the Lord to provide manna one day is a miracle; for Him to provide it a week is a miracle, indeed; but think of it, every day for forty years! When that dew came down, on the dew was the manna. Every day for forty years God provided their food. Here we are talking and thinking about it as though it were an unusual thing; yet we need not, because just as God provided manna for the children of Israel every day for forty years until they reached the land of Canaan, He provides for you and me every day of the world, once we have placed our faith and our trust in Him.

Do you remember what the Lord Jesus Christ said should be the principle of every child of God in regard to ordinary living? "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added" (Matthew 6:33). In the manna provided for the children of Israel we have an illustration of God's provision for us day by day.

Notice, please, Psalm 37, verse 23:

PSALM 37

This is God's promise. I am quite aware that this is a promise made originally to Israel, but the promises of the fathers become ours when we receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior (Romans 15:8-13). This passage of Scripture means exactly what it says. "I have been young," David said, "and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread." Someone says, "Well, David hadn't been around; he hasn't, but I have. I have seen the righteous forsaken, and I have seen the seed of the righteous begging bread." I would like to remind you that they did not have to. You may have seen it, but they did not have to, because the steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord. Just as certainly as God is able to feed three million people in the wilderness for forty years with manna every day, God is able to take you and me through this entire life meeting our every need. If we believe that, peace will be in our hearts.

What is the significance of manna from a spiritual standpoint? After having examined these various things about it--the manner in which it was supplied and the manner in which it was gathered--I would suggest that you turn to the Gospel of John, chapter 6. You will remember that the Lord Jesus Christ had performed a miracle; He had fed five thousand people with a few loaves and fishes. Notice verse 22:

JOHN 6

They had just witnessed the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand, but they were asking for another miracle. They were asking for another sign, and they explained in verse 31 why they wanted another sign:

JOHN 6

"No use to talk about a bread miracle; we are used to that sort of thing. God fed our fathers forty years on manna, and you have only fed five thousand for one day." Notice verse 32:

JOHN 6

The manna which God provided in the wilderness is a type of the living Word of God. Turn back, please, to the book of Deuteronomy and notice in chapter 8 these words:

DEUTERONOMY 8

We would remind you that the manna which God provided for the Israelites in the wilderness is not only a type of the living Word, but it is a type of the written Word as well.

Reread this chapter when you have time with these two things in mind; see how many times things related to the manna in the wilderness are applicable to our assimilation of the written Word and our fellowship with the Living Word.

As a guide, let me point out one or two things. The Israelites were to gather this food every morning. I believe in the verbal inspiration of the Scriptures, and I do not believe that words are used by accident. You will notice that when they were told to gather this manna in the morning, the morning did not mean high noon; it meant before the sun came up, because when the sun came up, the manna melted and was gone. I will not quibble about time, because I think you can do as much damage to your spiritual life with an empty form as you can without any effort at maintaining it, but I will suggest that if you don't learn to have some time with the Word before your day begins--whenever it begins--you cannot expect your day to amount to anything for the Lord or for yourself.

It is so easy not to have that time with the Word; it is so easy to begin the day without it. But you cannot begin the day without some assimilation of the written Word, you cannot begin the day without some fellowship with the living Word, and expect the day to meet your needs any more than could these Israelites have food for the day without gathering the manna in the morning. You have already learned, I am sure--certainly I have--that if you do not have that time in the morning, you will not find time during the day. You may start out by saying, "I don't have time right now, but I will take a little time during the day." You won't; the manna will be gone by the time you think you have time to gather it.

Notice, too, that if this manna was to do the work that God intended it to do, it had to be gathered every day; they could not gather enough for two days. I am amazed at how foolish some people are. They will go to church on Sunday morning and try to gather enough manna to last all week. It just won't work. It gets worms in it and stinks before the next time they come to gather manna.

The sad thing about our churches today is that many times that manna is half-spoiled already when you get it; it just will not last very long.

Not only is it necessary to have this manna in the morning, but it is necessary to have fresh manna ever day; it cannot be gathered to be stored up. Follow this suggestion through this chapter and see what a wonderful illustration we have of the living Word and the written Word.