Pieces of Manna: Surviving Your Wilderness SeasonSample

Day 2: Obedience

Notice how when God provided for their needs it came with a set of instructions? God told Moses and Aaron that He was going to use that to test the people to see if they would be obedient or not. That same test applies to us as well. Will we follow God’s instructions?

Everyone wants to be blessed by God. Everyone wants God to provide for them. No one wants to follow His rules. And that is a major problem. We can have no expectation that God will provide for us if we are not willing to obey Him.

It’s like a rebellious teenager who wants their parents to give them money, buy them clothes, feed them, and take them wherever they want to go, but don’t keep their curfew, don’t do their chores, and get bad grades in school. It doesn’t work that way.

In the Bible reading today you will see that even from these simple instructions Israel did three things wrong which showed their lack of trust in God. They kept the manna overnight. They gathered twice as much as they needed to on the 6th day. And they went out to gather on the Sabbath day.

In each of these things they showed they did not trust God to provide so they were going to make sure they had enough via their own methods. In every case they faced consequences for their lack of trust. When they kept the manna overnight it spoiled, grew worms, and stank. When they gathered twice as much on the 6th day they did double the amount of work that was necessary. (God had told them when they prepare it the manna would double so they would have enough for the Sabbath day). And when they went out on the Sabbath day to collect it, again they did extra labor that they didn’t have to.

It works the same way with us today. When we choose to disobey God and do our own thing, we make our wilderness season HARDER not easier. We make it take longer, and we face consequences we never had to.

Notice God’s grace as well. Yes the people messed up, but He still kept feeding them until they reached their destination.

As you read the Bible entries for today think about times you didn’t follow God’s rules in your wilderness season. Think about the ways you tried to solve it on your own and the consequences you faced because of it. Ask God to forgive you, and from now on do it His way.