- araratchurch
- Jul 30, 2022
- 3 min read
“Also Moses said, “This shall be seen when the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening, and in the morning bread to the full; for the Lord hears your complaints which you make against Him. And what are we? Your complaints are not against us but against the Lord.””
Exodus 16:8 NKJV
In April of 2019 our family was called “out on the water with Jesus” to leave a church with which I had been associated all my life, and in which my whole family had ministered for decades, to start the work of the Lord known as “Ararat Church.” We then left all we had known at the end of July 2019, with the first service of Ararat Church being on September 1, 2019 (to the glory of God!). I start with this information because it is within this context that what I am about to share with you happened.
Not long after beginning Ararat Church, I was in my kitchen working and my mind went back to different things people had done—within and after the time of our leaving out onto the water with Jesus—things that made no sense in my mind and my heart, things over which I felt hurt. Interrupting that flow of thought the Lord spoke to me as clearly as He has ever spoken to me about anything. He said, “That is offensive to Me.” Well, that statement got my attention; then the Lord went on to tell me something that I will put in my own words. The Lord basically told me that my thinking about what other people had done to wrong me was actually an accusation against Him! After all, we were doing what we were doing because God had brought it to pass. Therefore, my complaints were, although inadvertently, against the Lord.
I know we try to make a distinction between our complaints about what people have done to us as opposed to complaining about what God has done. But, make no mistake, if we are walking in the will of God, then everything that happens to us is being used by Him for a purpose. Now, this does not rid anyone of the responsibility of anything they have done out of bad motives. But, that aspect of our situation, has to be left to the Lord’s judgment.
In our “47 Days of Justice,” we looked at the journey of Joseph as he was sold into slavery, then became the right hand man of Pharaoh. His brothers meant to do him harm; and they were wrong in doing what they did. However, Joseph was able to say this to them:
“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present outcome, that many people would be kept alive [as they are this day].”
Genesis 50:20 AMP
Sometimes we want to have it both ways. In other words, we want to enjoy the place God has put us, but complain about the things anybody has ever done against us, or any other thing we didn’t like along the way. In God’s economy it just doesn’t work that way. Any accusations cast concerning our plight, ultimately point to our Father Who has allowed us to be where we are.
Today we find Moses dealing with an irate multitude accusing Moses and Aaron of bringing them out in the desert to die. But the fact is—and as they had clearly seen in the miracles to this point—the Lord was the One Who brought them out of Egypt. Therefore, their complaint was against Him. Additionally, this tendency toward complaining against the Lord, would get them in more and more trouble along the way.
Don’t misunderstand, the Lord does not mind us telling Him of our situation, even of the fact that people have done us wrong, or that we are experiencing pain, discomfort, sorrow, any of our concerns; He wants us to share our heart. But, it’s a different issue entirely when we allow our mind to go into bitter thoughts about what this one or that one has done, or how sad it is that we’re having to experience this or that. On the one hand, we are letting our needs be known to the Lord; but on the other, we are accusing the Lord of dealing with us unjustly.
For today let us discover what Moses discovered:
Complaining against the Lord is not a good idea.
- araratchurch
- Jul 30, 2022
- 3 min read
“And when the layer of dew lifted, there, on the surface of the wilderness, was a small round substance, as fine as frost on the ground. So when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat.”
Exodus 16:14-15 NKJV
I heard a story once that has stuck with me for a long time. A group was ministering to orphaned children, casualties of War World II. They found that when the children first got there—even though they were fed—they still seemed to have great anxiety and couldn’t seem to sleep well. One of the people decided to try something to calm the anxious children, something that sounds odd. You see, they tried giving the children some bread to sleep with. This simple act seemed to calm the children’s troubled souls; they knew they would have something to eat in the morning.
The fact is, we can’t survive very long without sustenance. And for the world—past and present—bread has always been a very important source of that sustenance.
I remember a prayer that was very common when I was a child:
“God is great; God is good.
Let us thank Him for our food. By His hands, we are fed.
Give us Lord our daily bread.
Amen”
As well, Jesus—in teaching His disciples how to pray—instructs that we ask the Lord to, “Give us this day our daily bread.” (See Matthew 6:9-13)
Yes, bread is important.
Today we find Moses and the children of Israel seeing the Lord literally providing them bread from heaven. The Israelites—having fled Egypt suddenly—soon ran out of the food they had brought with them. And, as we discussed yesterday, they began to complain about their hunger. In response to their need, the Lord sent quail in the evening and manna in the morning.
As we see in our opening scripture, the people had no idea what manna was; but they discovered that it was good. We find out more about how the people used the manna in this passage from the book of Numbers.
“Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its color like the color of bdellium. The people went about and gathered it, ground it on millstones or beat it in the mortar, cooked it in pans, and made cakes of it; and its taste was like the taste of pastry prepared with oil. And when the dew fell on the camp in the night, the manna fell on it.”
Numbers 11:7-9 NKJV
Yes, the people ground the manna and made it into bread!
This whole episode (of the Lord providing manna from heaven) was used by the people doubting Jesus’ authority, as a challenge.
“Therefore they said to Him, “What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do? Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ””
John 6:30-31 NKJV
To which Jesus responded:
“Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” Then they said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always.” And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.”
John 6:32-35 NKJV
Yes, bread is important. But the Lord has shown us that the most important bread, the bread we can’t live without, is provided by His sacrifice.
Consider what the Lord said as He shared the Last Supper with His disciples:
“And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.””
Matthew 26:26 NKJV
Indeed, His sacrifice, the breaking of His body for our sins, takes us from death into life; and that life, is everlasting!
For today let us discover what Moses discovered:
We can’t live without the Bread from Heaven.
- araratchurch
- Jul 29, 2022
- 3 min read
“You will bring them in and plant them In the mountain of Your inheritance, In the place, O Lord, which You have made For Your own dwelling, The sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established.”
Exodus 15:17 NKJV
The scenario is ubiquitous: a relative who has been neglected—basically ignored by other relatives—becomes “very dear” to a suddenly appearing relative as they near death or are deceased. So what’s going on here? Sad to say, many times the motivation is one of greed. They want to get “their part” of an inheritance.
I was at a funeral a while back where—after the funeral had gotten started—a small group of individuals walked from the back of the chapel to sit at the very front, deliberately making a very obvious entrance. As it turns out, these people happened to be the deceased’s children from another mother, about which the family of record was clueless. They had come to stake their claim.
Inheritance is a part of life. Many hope for a good inheritance. More should probably hope to leave a good inheritance. And, even though money is useful, a good inheritance concerns more than money.
Did you know that when the children of Israel were being allotted portions of the Promised Land, the Levites received no property? Now, don’t feel sorry for them; they had a much better inheritance:
“The priests, the Levites—all the tribe of Levi—shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel; they shall eat the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and His portion. Therefore they shall have no inheritance among their brethren; the Lord is their inheritance, as He said to them.”
Deuteronomy 18:1-2 NKJV
Wow! THE LORD was to be their inheritance! But wait a minute, what about us? Could we hope for the Lord to be OUR inheritance? Before answering that question, let me present a scripture to you:
“Why do the nations rage, And the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together, Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us break Their bonds in pieces And cast away Their cords from us.” He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The Lord shall hold them in derision. Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, And distress them in His deep displeasure: “Yet I have set My King On My holy hill of Zion.” “I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will give You The nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession.”
Psalms 2:1-8 NKJV
Who is being referenced in this Psalm? We know that this turns out to be a prophetic word concerning what God would do through Jesus Christ. But what about the inheritance? Why does Jesus—being God in flesh—need an inheritance? The answer is: He did not need an inheritance; but we did. To explain, having lost our inherited power over God‘s creation (through Sin), the Lord took on flesh and—through His work—secured an inheritance FOR US! Now, that ought to make you do a happy dance!
Today we find Moses referencing the fact that the Lord has provided His people with the mountain of His inheritance. Now, we know that there was an allusion here to Mount Moriah in Jerusalem. But, as we discovered yesterday (in terms of a prophetic word looking forward), we also see here a prophetic reference to the eternal inheritance bought back for us through the Person, Jesus Christ.
For today let us discover what Moses discovered:
The Lord is our inheritance.