1.30.26 – Our Daily Bread

Each morning we do a study at the Faith Works clinic to start off our day with the Word of God. It is a 9:00 a.m. study to give us insights into the Torah portion that we would not have time to do during our regular video calls on Monday, Friday, and Shabbat morning. 

A full month after leaving Egypt, the people ran out of food in the desert (Ex. 16:1). They had meat—quail—then God provided manna, known in Hebrew as man. The Lord/YHVH provided this food for forty years until they entered the land after Moses' death (Josh. 5).

Because it was "angel's food" (Ps. 78:25), it was said that the taste was anything you desired. This tasty supply of daily bread was hand-delivered from heaven based on where each person stood in their relationship to the Lord/Yahweh. For those seeking to live righteously, the bread was right outside the tent door. For the average person, they had to walk a distance. For the wicked, they had to go a long distance. For the righteous, they received it already prepared to eat. For the average believer, it required some preparation to bake it. And for those who were wicked, it was only the raw materials that they would grind and pulverize in a mill to supply their daily bread (Num. 11:6–8).

Each family was to gather an omer (about 2–3 pints). Whether they tried to gather more or less, those who gathered more—out of fear there would not be enough food for tomorrow—Moses warned them not to leave any until morning (Ex. 16:19). However, some did not listen, and the bread grew worms and began to stink like rotten trash (Ex. 16:20). This is like the lust for having for the sake of having, when it becomes an obsession and we are not willing to depend upon God's provision.

This bread of angels (abbiyr) is connected to abbriym ("limbs"). In other words, the manna was absorbed into the body, and the three million people traveling forty years through the wilderness never had to use the bathroom. It was like an X-ray. The manna showed what was in the soul of the individual—what shortcomings needed to be addressed. One of the most amazing aspects: here God is spoon-feeding His children from the table. But when they saw it, they said, "Man-hu?"—"What is it?"

In Deuteronomy 8:3, He reminded them that "He afflicted you and made you go hungry, so that you would know that man would not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." This was a test to see if they would follow the Torah or not (Ex. 16:4). This is more than a "test" from the American Broadcasting System. This was a test to see if they would obey God's Torah or not.

This bread was so valuable in God's eyes that He wanted it to be an eternal remembrance by putting a supply in a golden jar and placing it in the Ark of the Tabernacle (Ex. 16:32–34; Heb. 9:4)—emunah (faith). That is what it is all about. Eternal and relevant to us today.

Everything about how God provides for us is always about a test and testimony of faith. It is a constant reminder of how He provides for His people. We may think this was only a special treat. "Behold, I am raining down (present tense) bread from heaven." Just as He gives rain, He gives us what is needed for our livelihood. The vessel is faith and trust.

"And He afflicted you, then fed you with manna, what you didn't know, so that you would know that man does not live by bread alone."
(Deut. 8:3)

Of course we need daily bread. But we need more. We need what comes from His mouth. The part that gives us life—our conscious decision—is the part that comes from the mouth of God. During these forty years in the wilderness, they finally realized that they were flourishing from the mouth of God. It taught them to see that they were sustained by what comes from His mouth. Were those the "good old days"? If God is running the world—and He is—then He only runs it well, and the best is yet to come. The preponderance of man-made bread only produces anxiety, but it is all an illusion. We need to make our own tikkun to fix what is wrong in the world and make the world a better place. Everything we receive comes from God alone. That is the true test of faith (Jer. 17): trust in the Lord.

Nothing is ours to give. We are only giving to others because God gives to us. 

Happy Preparation Day!

Shalom,
Alan

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

4.4.26 ~ Can You Count to Three?

Image
Today, Saturday 4/4/26, many will celebrate the day that Yeshua was visibly seen risen from the grave (John 20:1; Matt. 28:1–10; Luke 24:1–10)! The day after His resurrection, Yeshua would be out ministering to the doubts of His disciples, helping them realize that He is alive and that the purpose of His resurrection would be catalyzed by their lives. For the disciples closest to Yeshua and those who stood at a safe distance away, it was a time of doubt. The enemy was in hot pursuit. They were fearful for their lives, but just at the God-appointed time, their salvation appeared.  Does that sound vaguely familiar? It should. Earlier this week, on the day after Passover—the 15th of the first month—the natural-born Israelites and those who joined them through the blood of the Lamb exited Egypt and headed toward the sea. In just a few days, during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Pharaoh would not be happy that he let the Israelites go; he felt betrayed, and he was hot (Ex. 14:5–9). Mose...
Read more

3.20.25

Good morning! Yesterday, we learned some essential truths about how to 'be still and know that He is God (Psa. 46:10). Today, I want to ask you a different question based on life's ability to throw a wide variety of circumstances at us!  One of the most difficult situations is when we are threatened by someone or some circumstance. Have you ever been threatened?  Oh, maybe no one came up to you with a gun, or shouted at you with malice, or told you that you were going to be tortured or punished.  Maybe all the threat you ever had was the innuendo of rejection, or the social snub or something much less violent than jail time.  But my guess is that if you are traveling the road with Yeshua, living a Torah lifestyle, you know what it means to be threatened. Every time the circumstances of your life look as though they are about to cave in, you are threatened.  It might not be a threat from a physical enemy, then again...but we all know that in one form or another t...
Read more

3.22.25

Good morning! Shabbat shalom! Although the portion of Vayakhel/and he assembled is almost entirely focused on the construction of the tabernacle, it begins by reminding the children of Israel that no work may be done on the Sabbath (Ex. 35:2,3). Why does it begin here rather than jumping right into how to construct the Tabernacle? Enquiring minds want to know :-) By placing the topic of the Sabbath against the construction of the Tabernacle it's God's way of defining the boundaries of the Sabbath...that even the most intimate work for the Lord needs to be put aside for His 'Date Day'. However, upon further investigation, there’s another layer to understand that connects us back to the golden calf (Ex. 32). As we know, while Moses was up on the mount getting the instructions from God the children of Israel decided to make an object that would replace Moses, their deliverer; The object, later known as the golden calf, originally intended as a 'necessary' means to ...
Read more