32 - “Hidden Manna Every Single Day” Exodus 17-18, Matthew 21

#32 Do we know God’s Presence only when things go right? God rains down hidden manna every single day of our lives. Exodus 17:7  #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself

                                                                  

From Rain Clouds Fall Manna

From Lips Fall Teaching Like Rain - Deut 32:2

Just as Jethro's words meant something to Moses, I met a couple of friends exactly six years ago, and their words have fallen on me, gripped me so, changed my life. How does that happen? I had spent much of my life denying the evil within me, denying the pain I feel just about every day. I had given over to way-too-many thoughts that I couldn't see God's Power in six miscarriages and rape and loss of finances and loss of ministry and loss of friends and I could go on and on. When things go wrong, there's that entitlement within me that says I need a break, deserve better. Enough, LORD. Here are these Israelites in that kind of a boat. God hears their grumblings, mine too ~ Exodus 16:9. He gives them manna---40 years worth. They couldn't horde it, couldn't hold it over. He forced them to go to sleep at night and trust that it would rain down the next day. He forces you and me to go to sleep this night and trust His Good Hand. Forces us to rest physically and spiritually.

Today, we may be doing exactly what we are supposed to be doing.  Then, in the twinkling of a blink, trouble knocks on our story.  A phone call comes.  An unexpected word from work.  And it happened to the Israelites when they pitched tent in a new town.  No water there.  And the grumbling commenced.  So, they default to stoning Moses with words and threats.  They would rather be back in Egypt with food and water than trusting God in the middle of a desert. Back in Egypt where God could take their life there but not here.  But This Providence has designed, allowed, charted cisterns that men fall into; wilderness that have dried up full; and friends who forget you in the dungeons of life.  Discontent makes us look larger on that past of ours and lesser in the present moment.  What is this that God will do here for us today---what is it?  

"Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no." Exodus 16:4

And we must answer the same question that the Israelites faced in Exodus 17:7 "Is the LORD among us?"

Do we know His Presence only when things go right? He gives us the manna of His Word every single day of our lives to make our souls well. The comfort of the Spirit of God is Hidden Manna ~ Rev 2:17 ~ for you and me. 

Matthew 21:9 - "Hosanna to the Son of David!  Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord! Hosanna in the Highest!"  And when He entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, "Who is This?" The point is that a king would come riding upon a horse when he was bent on war; 

but he came riding upon an ass for he was coming in peace. 
This action of Jesus is a sign that He was not the warrior figure men dreamed of, 
but the Prince of Peace. No one saw it that way at that time, not even the disciples...
They were looking for the Messiah of their own dreams and their own wishful thinking.  William Barclay

Do I look this day for the Messiah of my own dreams, my own wishful thinking?  
Or do I embrace The Deliverer Who Has Come to Save Me and Set Me Free?

PHOTO:  The clouds 2,000 years later.