April 9, 2021 CAC Living Water Devotional : Topic – FAITH IS THE HALLMARK (II)
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Friday, April 9, 2021
FAITH IS THE HALLMARK (II)
Read: Exodus 16:1-17
Exodus 16:1-17 The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt.
In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron.
The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”
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.”
So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “In the evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt,
and in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we, that you should grumble against us?”
Moses also said, “You will know that it was the Lord when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the Lord.”
Then Moses told Aaron, “Say to the entire Israelite community, ‘Come before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.’”
While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of the Lord appearing in the cloud.
The Lord said to Moses, “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’”
That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp.
When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor.
When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat.
This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Everyone is to gather as much as they need. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent.’”
The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little.
MEMORISE:
And, “But my righteous one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.” (Hebrews 10:38).
EXPOSITION
The believers work and walk with God must be faith based, nothing less than that. The Israelites continuous grumbled because they worked and walked by their fate than their faith, moving by the slight rather than by faith in God’s WORD. In a world where we experience natural scarcity of our human wants, problem of drug abuse, teenage pregnancy, rise in crime, racism, school drop-out, communities collapse high rate of divorce, empty/shallow relationship with God, uncontrolled desire for money and pleasure etc. The fate of man can no longer sustain him. Man must connect back with his Maker, and this can only be achieved by Faith in God, in whom all man’s challenges have their solutions (Matt.11:28).
The Israelites cried for food, and it was provided by God, effortlessly, along the line (Exo.16:8,13). The issues of life shouldn’t push us out of the boat of God. Rather they should keep us intact in the battle. Nothing moves or destabilise God. God has no pleasure in any one who draws back, for such may end in perdition (Heb.10:38). God is looking for men that will hold forth and not draw back. Life tries our faith (1 Pet.1:7). But these trials will also submit to us if we submit in faith to God.
Faith is what God normally looks for in man. Jesus would be attracted to act on man’s behalf when He sees faith, raw faith in our relationship with God cannot be overemphaasised. May we be equipped with the kind of faith that moves mountains to the glory of God (Matt.8:10; Mk.5:34).
PRAYER POINTS:
1. I receive grace to be victorious over the trials of my life.
2. Pray for Christians all over the world whose faith is under terrorists threat.
3. Pray for the deliverance of thsoe in kidnappers den.
EXTRA READINGS FOR TODAY: Joshua 16:7-19:14; Luke 8:56-9:21