Learning Each Day to Depend on God (Part 2) (Exodus 16)

On a first read it might seem really surprising how gracious God is to the people of Israel.  I mean He just saved them from Egypt by parting the waters so that they could go through on dry ground and then He drowned the Egyptians in the sea.  You know the story so well this may no longer amaze you — but that is huge.  He Himself glorious in power brought them out of the land of Egypt and shattered the Egyptians.  And after they sing His praise, the next three stories are of them whining like a bunch of babies that they are hungry and thirsty.  Yet instead of responding to their cries with punishment, God decided to bless and teach them.  On a first read this really surprises me, until I remember that I would do the same thing for my children.  When they were infants and they were whining like babies because they were hungry and thirsty Leia and I made sure that they were fed and that their thirst was quenched.  God is a much better father than I ever could be.  And His people birthed from the waters of the sea He treated as infants in these passages and so instead of punishing them He blessed them and taught them some lessons.  I say this in no way to excuse the people of Israel, their whining was rebellious temper tantrums, but to describe God’s care for them as the care of a Father for His infant baby boy Israel.  And, as a Father, when they were hungry, He taught them a lesson about depending on Him.  Reflecting on this passage last Sunday we saw that God means to teach us who are His children each day the hard lesson to depend on Him to put to death the old man/Adam still within us.  But there is another side to that lesson for His children in these verses of Exodus 16, which we will unpack in this message.  (I begin reading with verse 9 since I read the whole in the previous sermon).

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