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My Declaration of Dependence
I Remain Loyal to God


As we approach this week’s lesson, let’s ponder the words of Episcopal bishop Phillips Brooks (1835-1893): “Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men and women. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks.”

Andrew Bonar once wrote, “…life is a pilgrimage during which we must learn new lessons an fight new battles. One great victory doesn’t settle everything; we need new experiences that will help us mature and glorify God. Yes, life is a school, and the Lord knows just when to give us an examination.” Adding his own insights to this great man’s words, Bible commentator Warren Wiesby has this to say,, “Life is still a school, and the painful experiences of life teach us some of the most important lessons.”

Good words to remember and to heed!

Exodus 15:22-27 (Monday)
“Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah.) So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, "What are we to drink?" Then Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the LORD made a decree and a law for them, and there he tested them. He said, "If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you." Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water.” (NIV)
1) God often sends situations, trials, suffering, pain, difficult circumstances to His children. This one came just three days after God miraculously delivered His people! According to this passage, what was and is His motive in doing so?
2) The Israelites needed water and God provided—but the waters were bitter—undrinkable for the Israelites! Still, it was water! The great suffering Job endured taught him to drink of the “bitter” waters of God! His words should have echoed in the ears of these Israelites! (Job 2, especially verse 10) So, why not drink? How does this speak of the Israelites attitude, thoughts and motives? (Romans 1:21) What would have been a better way of looking at the “bitter” waters? (Ephesians 5:20) I wonder how God would have responded to their thankfulness? Hmm!
3) Note: I attend the Price’s Life Group with my husband at 8:30, just prior to my class. I just have to share this insight from one of the members in our class, Wayne Hawkins (and I’ll be paraphrasing his words):
4) “I wonder if this is a picture of how Jesus took our bitterness on the cross [drinking the bitter gall] of God’s wrath so that we, as His children, could drink freely the sweetness of His [Living Waters]?” (See Psalms 69:19-21 and Mathew 27:34, as well as John 4:7-14!) What a Savior!

5) Have you every asked God for something, received it, only to find that it was the worse thing in the world for you? Share.
6) Funny that the Israelites would call their place of testing “Mara—bitter”! Have you ever been in a testing place of God that wasn’t? Share.
7) If you feel free, please share your “Marah” with the group.
8) Did you immediately “see” your Marah as a testing place?
9) The Lord told Moses to throw a piece of wood into the waters. The Hebrew word is “ets” which translated is tree, or from the firmness thereof; hence the word, wood. Reminds me of the “tree” of life and as Wayne stated, the cross. What does Jesus call Himself in John 14:6?
10) Did God throw something into your “Marah” that sweetened its “bitterness”? What was it?
11) How long did it take for you to recognize that your “Marah” had been sweetened?
12) Notice that after the testing, God asked for obedience and then led the Israelites to a place of plenty. Was this the case for you? What became your place of plenty?
13) Boy, I personally wish God would leave out those “If’s”! We think it’s the trial that is “bitter”, but I think sometimes, (perhaps, most times) it is the “obedience”! Obedience is hard—it takes an deliberate act of our will! Ouch! Boy, those two natures battle within me every single time! Anybody with me on this one?
14) I hope you noticed the goodness of Almighty God! He led them to the place of plenty before they had learned to listen and to do right! God is so good! Isn’t that exactly how He treats us when we accept His Son, Jesus Christ? We enjoy all the benefits of being sons and daughters of God before we fully learn His ways and walk in them. How merciful is our God! He is so worthy of all praise!
15) Elim! A place of God’s abundance! Waters, shade, rest. But, I have to ask, do we learn more about God in the “bitterness” places or in His places of abundance? Which place spurs our spiritual growth?
Exodus 16:1-8 (Tuesday)
“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.” (NIV)
1) Remember, God did not immediately take the Israelites into the promise land because He did not want them to face certain war from its inhabitants. He did not want them all to turn tail and run back to Egypt! His heart was for His children! So, about six weeks later, we find the Israelites smack dab in the Desert of Sin! Sounds like a pretty bad place to be! Ever been there?
2) Imagine! A people wanting to go back into bondage—better to have “meat” even if the cost to them was the back-breaking labor of making bricks and building the cities of another nation. Not to mention the hatred and abuse of the very Egyptians they labored for! After God’s mighty deliverance in the face of the Pharaoh and the Egyptians, would things have been better for the Israelites if they returned to Egypt, or worse?
3) For a Christian, what is our “meat”? (John 4:30-34 KJV)
4) We know the Israelites came out of Egypt with plenty. God caused the Egyptians to highly favor God’s people even though they were losing their “cheap” labor—their slaves! A miracle all by itself! However, by this time things may have been becoming a bit scarce. Have you ever had a time in your life when all was right in your little world and then the rug was pulled out from beneath you! How did you respond in your “plenty” and how did you respond in your “want”?
5) The Israelites had their eyes on Moses and Aaron! True, they were God’s men of the hour, but the people never once thought of turning to God themselves. Do you think that maybe the miracles God performed before their very eyes were so awesome in nature that they actually feared God, thinking Him a harsh taskmaster, rather than respectfully honoring and worshipping Him as their loving and caring Father?
6) We’ve mentioned this so many times before, but what is the great sin behind fear (Hebrews 3:7-19)? Like these Israelites, do you sometimes forget that God is for you and not against you?
7) Can you truly love what you are afraid of?
8) Another problem for the Israelites was that though they were not longer in Egypt—Egypt was still “in” them! Can you relate? Explain.
9) For some reason, it appears that the Israelites seemed to think that Moses and Aaron actually had some part to play in mighty miracles that brought them out of Egypt and not God alone. In truth, Moses and Aaron were vessels used by God for His divine purpose. What did the Israelites misconception lead them to do?
10) Grumbling! Oh, tread very carefully on this one! Unbelief and unthankful hearts often go hand and hand. Left to fester in our hearts and minds—sin is always the end result! I love what Warren Weirsby had to say about this: “While God was testing them, they were temping Him by their attitude and their words. To temp God means to deliberately adopt a disobedient posture and dare Him to do anything about it.” Wow! The Israelites repeatedly grumbled and complained until God finally let them go their own way—actually hardening their hearts and blinding their eyes! This is still true of Israel today! Still, God’s promises are always “yes” and “amen” and He will save His people, Israel! We can see God’s saving plan for this small country unfolding in today’s headlines. We have no idea the “when”, but God’s purposes and plans for Israel will be fulfilled!
11) Even as Christians—Christ followers, are we any different from the Israelites in our constant tempting of God by being deliberately disobedience? Thank God for grace!
12) Moses and Aaron fulfilled God’s purpose for their lives, but they were mere men empowered by an Almighty God! “Man” alone cannot fulfill our deepest “wants”, “needs”, or our “gotta haves”! That is why there can only be one Mediator between us and God—Christ Jesus! Why? Because He is the God-Man! If we have our eyes on anyone else, they will always, always fall short—someway, somehow.
13) Still, God is so patient with us and full of grace! How did God provide for Israel’s “gotta haves”?
14) In doing so, what was God’s two-fold purpose?
15) How much were the people to gather? How often? Why do you think God set this particular command? What is our human inclination to do?
16) Where was Jesus born? Do you know the meaning of Bethlehem (Bread, or House of Bread)? What does Jesus call Himself in John 6:35, 48? Oh, I pray you have tasted of the “Bread of Heaven”! Nothing sweeter in this whole wide world!
Exodus 16:13-23 (Wednesday)
“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: `Each one is to gather as much as he needs. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent.'" The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. And when they measured it by the omer, he who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little. Each one gathered as much as he needed. Then Moses said to them, "No one is to keep any of it until morning." However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them. Each morning everyone gathered as much as he needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away. On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much--two omers for each person--and the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses. He said to them, "This is what the LORD commanded: `Tomorrow is to be a day of rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.” (NIV)
1) This is the reason why you can’t have a “second-hand” relationship with God! The Israelites did not know what God had sent! That is exactly what happened with God sent His only begotten Son—Jesus Christ! Jesus is the only necessary substance for our lives—for our very souls! The Jews didn’t recognize Christ when He walked upon this earth (John 1:1-4), and many (Jew and Gentile alike) don’t recognize Him today for the sole reason that they do not know the One who sent Him (John 14:8-21)! God help us all!
2) Whoa! This is major! You see, an omer is about 6 pints. Yet, when the one who gathered much measured it by the omer—he didn’t go over. And, when one gathers little and measured it by the omer, it was still an omer! Each had what was sufficient for him! How could this be so? God! He knows exactly how much each one of us needs to meet our daily bread! Glory!
3) The people were to gather the manna early. What happened if they waited too long to gather the manna?
4) What happens in the life of a Christian if we are lazy or get distracted from our daily fellowship with God and His word? How about if we try to subsist on yesterday’s “manna”?
5) Well, of course, some are greedy! What happened when they tried to hoard the manna?
6) The same can be true in our own lives. God blesses and blesses us! Do we try to keep the “leftovers” for ourselves or do we share what we have with others? Oh, you don’t need material blessings to bless others—you can share of your knowledge of Christ, your wisdom, your strength! Don’t be greedy or God will cause what you have to waste away!
7) What was God’s purpose in having the Israelites gather twice as much on the sixth day?
8) This is the very first mention of the Sabbath in scripture. Although, in Genesis 2:1-3 we learned that God rested on the “seventh day” and made it holy. It appears that the Israelites were familiar with God’s command to rest. Rest! Very important to God! Why? Oh, why do we think we can get by with not resting? Is hoarding or “piling up” part of our insistence for work, work, work? Who are we depending on when we fall into this trap?
9) What is “hoarding” “piling up” an outward sign of?
Exodus 16:24-30 (Thursday)
“So they saved it until morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink or get maggots in it.”Eat it today," Moses said, "because today is a Sabbath to the LORD. You will not find any of it on the ground today. Six days you are to gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any." Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather it, but they found none. Then the LORD said to Moses, "How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions? Bear in mind that the LORD has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where he is on the seventh day; no one is to go out." So the people rested on the seventh day.” (NIV)
1) 1) The world doesn’t know it or it shuts its eyes to this truth, but one day the Bread of Life will not be available to them. They will search for Him, but not find Him. They will mourn and not be comforted! (Zechariah 12:9-14; John 7:33-34; John 8:21-47) If you do not know Christ, don’t wait another day. We don’t have tomorrow! Today is the day of salvation (Deuteronomy 30:19; Psalms 95:6-8; 2 Corinthians 6:2; Hebrews 4:7-11)! Taste and see that the Lord, He is good! Jesus Christ, the Bread of Heaven, is the true rest of God! On the sixth day the people ceased from their labor. Why? Because God had made provision for the morrow! We have that same provision in Christ (Romans 5:17). On that cross, Jesus said, “It is finished!” Literally, it means that the holy debt due God was fulfilled—by Jesus’ death and resurrection! You see, sin brings a holy, just penalty of death and only pure holy blood can cover—no, forever remove that penalty for sin. Jesus’ was that pure holy blood! There is absolutely nothing you can do that can add to what Christ did on the cross, so stop trying! Rest, beloved one, rest! Let Jesus Christ carry your sin, your shame. In return, He will give you His righteousness (right standing with God) and eternal life!
Exodus 16:31-35 (Friday)
“The people of Israel called the bread manna. It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey. Moses said, "This is what the LORD has commanded: `Take an omer of manna and keep it for the generations to come, so they can see the bread I gave you to eat in the desert when I brought you out of Egypt.'" So Moses said to Aaron, "Take a jar and put an omer of manna in it. Then place it before the LORD to be kept for the generations to come." As the LORD commanded Moses, Aaron put the manna in front of the Testimony, that it might be kept. The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a land that was settled; they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan. (An omer is one tenth of an ephah.)” (NIV)
1) Four hundred years of bitter bondage—waiting for God’s promises to Abraham to be fulfilled! Forty years of eating the sweet “Honey” of God! How do you think relying solely on Almighty God to sustain their very existence prepared the Israelites to face the warriors, the giants that were surely still waiting for them on the other side of the Desert of Sin?
2) Oh, I can’t help but wonder if that jar of omer is still around today! It is! It is! You are that earthen jar, filled with the Spirit of Christ, your own personal “omer” portion of the Bread of heaven! (2 Corinthians 4:7) Glory, glory, glory!

Note for future teaching: L. Price used a mason jar and scattered pieces of bread on the floor to show how this is a picture of how we, as Christians, are “earthen jars, filled with God’s Bread of heaven, Jesus Christ and His Living waters,! Then, he demonstrated how we are “sealed” with God’s Spirit as a guarantee of our future with Him, just like the jar of “manna”was sealed for the Israelites! Amen!

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