When to Gather Manna

When to Gather Manna

   Many of us may struggle day to day with staying connected to Christ. Or, many of us are uncertain that what we are doing to stay connected is enough; as if something is lacking. This could be any one of us. But, praise the Lord, our eyes can be opened through this Bible study on Exodus 16. This study is presented in a way that gives a pattern to follow so as to have a close relationship with Christ.

   Here, we catch up with the Israelites in this section of Exodus just coming from Elim into the Desert of Sin. They have been complaining once again. This time they complained about the fact that they didn’t have any food to eat instead of having faith in their redeemer. What we will be focusing on in this study is the gathering of the manna.

   Please read Exodus 16 through once and then we’ll begin to break it down. Now that you’ve read that chapter once to refresh yourself of the exact details, it’s time to look at a selected number of verses where the word GATHER is: Exodus16:4-5, 16-18, 20-21, 26-27. This segment of scripture tells us how manna was the ‘bread from Heaven’, sent down to feed the people.  In addition to this passage, there is another area in scripture that points to manna. In John 6:32-35 Jesus calls Himself the manna, ‘the Bread of Life’. If Jesus is the Bread of life what does that mean about His word. In John 1:1 it says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” And 1:14 reads, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”  So if Jesus is manna, which is the Bread of Life, which is the word, then the only conclusion is that Jesus is our manna! How would it read if we replaced manna (food) with manna (Christ/word of God) in these selected verses? Reread those passages now, putting (Christ/word of God) in the place of the manna. Find anything interesting?

Let’s first start by looking at Matthew 6:13. It says in the Lord’s Prayer, “Give us today our daily bread”. The Lord is willing to provide that manna that we so need, but we have to be willing to gather it up daily for it to be of any benefit. In Exodus chapter 16 we read that God provided manna for Israel. The manna that He provided the Israelites was physical food. What we will examine is that of the Spiritual food. Now read those verses once more and replace Israel with yourself and manna with Christ.

   In Exodus 16:4-5 it says, “Then the LORD said to Moses, "I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days." Again replacing us for Israel and God for manna….God instructs us to gather manna (connecting with Christ) everyday. But what are we to do on the 6^th day (Friday) that is different than the rest of the week? At this point, He tells us to collect twice as much manna (word of God) on the 6^th day because there would be no manna provided on the 7^th day (Sabbath). This doesn’t mean that Christ won’t be with us on Sabbath. Instead, it means that we are to gather manna (the word of God, connecting with Him through prayer and study throughout the week) and on Friday, the 6^th day, we are to spend more time with Him in prayer and study (gathering) so that we can share on Sabbath what the Lord has done in our lives throughout the week.

   Let’s break it down even further. In Exodus 16:16-18 it says, “This is what the LORD has commanded: 'Each one is to gather as much as he needs. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent.' The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. And when they measured it by the omer, he who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little. Each one gathered as much as he needed.” Here God is describing how we should go about gathering the manna – the word of God. God is telling us that each person should gather what he needs for that day. The Bible says that, “some gathered much, some little”.  This means that what I need to study today may be more or less than what I need for tomorrow. Or, what I need for any certain day will be different than that of another person.

    If we continue reading a bit further, you’ll notice in Vs.20 that if they kept the manna past morning it went bad. It says, “However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them.” Once more, we are taking the view from the point of Spiritual food. How many times have we felt like we really need to spend an hour or two with the Lord to really get the full benefit of staying connected with Him? Only to remember a small portion of what we just studied? Or we may have spent so long on our knees in prayer that we fall asleep during it. Doesn’t that sound like a portion of manna going bad? It’s not so much about the amount of time we spend with Christ but the quality of time that we take with Him. Therefore, doesn’t it make sense that the time we spend with God be just the right amount of time we need to connect with the Lord to sustain us throughout the day?

   Continuing on in Vs. 21 Exodus16 says, “Each morning everyone gathered as much as he needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away.” The manna that we gather or time that we spend with Christ is very precious and will start our day off right. When we connect with Him in the early part of the day this helps to set the tone of how the rest of our day will go. However, if we continue to wait longer and longer over the course of the day or days to connect with Christ, we may forget altogether. And before we know it some situation will arise and when we could really use God’s strength to see us through that moment it isn’t there; because we didn’t invite Him to walk along with us throughout our day to begin with. Therefore, if we gather our manna each and every morning; seeking God in prayer and study, then we won’t have to worry about our day getting away from us and we forget to collect our daily manna; letting our manna ‘melt away’.

   The last verses that we need to look at are in Exodus 16:26-27. It reads, “Six days you are to gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any. Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather it, but they found none.” This is where all of these verses really come together and bring it home. Why did the Israelites not find manna on Sabbath? Why won’t we find our manna on the Sabbath?

   Many times we have all found ourselves at some point forgetting to connect with God throughout the week. We get so busy with life’s routines and circumstances that we fail to realize that a week has just gone by and we barely spent any time with Him. Then, we expect to go to Church on Sabbath and receive [our manna] from our Pastor that will sustain us for the next week or even make up for the week that we just lost. This is what this passage is talking about!

   The Lord suggests us to gather our manna throughout the week so that when Sabbath comes around we have time to give back to Him. Don’t expect to be fed on Sabbath. We should already be prepared by Friday for the coming of the Sabbath; we can take that time to digest the things that God has shown us. Every relationship is about give & take. God gave us six days to take what we need from Him by connecting with Him through study and prayer. Sabbath is the time to give back to God. Instead of sitting listening to a sermon, being fed; we need to take that time to Praise God for His unfailing mercies and watch care over us throughout the past week. We need to share with others, Christ. What is the best way to do that? By sharing your testimonies on what God has done for you throughout the week, sing songs of praise, praying; personally or corporately, visiting others, giving a Bible study, and all-in-all…witnessing!

   See the difference how the week is separate from the Sabbath? We should focus on our Spiritual growth during the week, reflect and strengthen that growth on Friday, which prepares us for Sabbath; where we can spend time in full praise by worshiping and witnessing of our Lord Jesus Christ! In other words, we gather all week and we give back to God on Sabbath!

By Krista Hooven

6/15/12