This week's friday prayer meeting was led by bro Teh and he turned our focus in scriptures to Exodus 16:1-36.
This is in response to our theme for August which focuses on God's supply. In response to the grumbling of the Israelites in the wilderness, God furnishes them with manna in the morning and meat in the evening between dusk and dark.
Interestingly the catch was that they were only to gather enough manna for that particular day i.e. the Sabbath, for the two days. If they attempted to save manna, it soured or became infested with maggots. If we consider deeper into this instruction it requires total reliance on God and God alone for provision.
The challenge that this poses for us are enormous. But we also know in our heart how difficult this kind of trust is. So many experiences in our lives make trust hard to come by. Deep down all of us want security and at times it seems not necessarily the security of God's promise, but we want a security we can hold in our hands and tangible in nature.
In today's context can we live on "manna and quail?" All to often the answer is, "I don't know. I'm scared. Help me believe. Help me trust." It is in the wildernesses of our lives, the Dark Nights of the Soul, when everything else is stripped away, that these questions become most real; that they take on their greatest weight.
Many of us struggle with the same attitudes. Not necessarily about food, but about emotional needs, money, love, security. Behind each of these struggles is a story of loss or trauma or pain. In the grumbling in the wilderness the Israelites at least brought their story to the conversation. Mind you they didn't bring it up front and clearly. They didn't say, "we've been enslaved for so long that it's hard to trust God to care for our needs. It's easier to look back through the past with selective memory or to lean on old ways of soothing our pain." But they were talking-and that's the starting point.
As long as you and I can stay in the conversation talking about our fears of living on whatever our version of God's "manna and quail" is....we can trust that God will meet us in the dialogue. God will not abandon us or condemn us because of our fears. God wants to keep the conversation going.
Do join us at NGC this month as we consider the following questions.
Aug 7 : Why is a christian still in need?
Aug 14 : Can we have spiritual sufficiency?
Aug 21 : How are we one in the bond of love?
Aug 28 : The theory of "ENOUGH"
Our breaking of bread / Lord's Supper service starts from 10am every Sunday and thereafter Morning Ministry and Discovery Moment.
Do join us and discover God in the process. And if you desire more, do join our Family Camp from Aug 31 till Sept 3 as we consider God's way always.
