Manna from Heaven (Exodus16)

  Last time we left Moses, his brother Aaron and the Hebrews, they were all camped out near a lake that God had transformed into sweet drinking water for them. The Hebrews were happy. The next day, the cloud of God’s glory began to move, so the Hebrews got their belongings together and began to follow.
After about a month, they had eaten all the food that the Egyptians had given them when they were freed from slavery. The Hebrews were now getting hungry and began to moan to Moses. “We would have been better off remaining as slaves to the Egyptians, at least we were fed well.” The complainers grumbled. “Now we are going to die of starvation out here in the desert.”

Poor Moses. He had to listen to all the complaining. He knew that God had not freed them, just to let them die in the desert. He knew that the Hebrews had it very bad in Egypt. They were only remembering the food and forgetting about how they were told to kill their first born sons and how they were treated like dirt. Moses knew that God told him that He would take care of them, but poor Moses had to listen to all the grumbling. The Hebrews were acting like it was all up to Moses, like Moses led them out there and Moses was going to get them all killed.

Finally Moses had a talk with his brother Aaron." Tomorrow, I will stand before the cloud of God’s glory.” He said. “I want the people close enough to hear and to see God’s glory, then they will know who is in charge. Maybe then, they will quit grumbling and just trust in God.”
The next day, as Moses approached the cloud, Aaron gathered the people and told them to look way into the wilderness. When God spoke to Moses, the people were amazed at God’s glory.  God told Moses that He would give the Hebrews food every morning but there were some rules. God told Moses that every morning the ground would be covered with bread from heaven. The Hebrews were to pick up no more than 2 quarts for each person. (enough for one day) then on the 6th day, they were to pick up 4 quarts. (enough for 2 days) .

The next morning, after the dew melted, the ground was covered with white flakes. The Hebrews went out and gather 2 quarts, just as God had said. However a few Hebrews were worried that they would not get food tomorrow, so they gathered more. When they woke up the next day, the flakes smelled rotten and were covered with worms! On the sixth day, they gathered 4 quarts each. On the seventh day, some Hebrews didn’t trust God’s Word and went out to gather more flakes, but there were no flakes to be found! God was angry at the Hebrews that didn’t trust Him. And He told Moses that He was.

The flakes tasted like nothing the Hebrews ever had before. It was so delicious! God is a great Chef! No one knew what to call it, so they named it Manna. (Which means....What is it?) I guess you can say that I made Manna for dinner a couple of times, because no one knew what it was. ;o)
Every morning God would rain down manna from heaven and every morning the Hebrews would gather it up.  Moses was probably very happy that they weren’t complaining or blaming him any more.


A couple of weeks later, and a few miles later, the Hebrews were getting thirsty again because they hadn’t had any water for a couple of days.
 “Is God going to just leave us out here to die of starvation?” They grumbled. "We had enough water back in Egypt!” Poor Moses. Even seeing the glory of God and God providing them with food every day, hasn’t stopped their complaining, but now they were blaming God!
 “Why are you testing God’s patience with you?” Moses asked. Then the men began to threaten Moses. He ran to God and pleaded with Him. “Please God, the men are going to stone me if we don’t find water soon!”
" Take a few of the men that you can trust and you staff. I will lead you to a rock. I want you to strike the rock and water will pour out of the rock so that everyone will be able to drink.”God said.

 Moses did as God instructed and water poured from the rock as some of the men looked on. There was enough water for everyone. Moses named that area The Place of Testing and Arguing.

The Hebrews looked at Moses as the man who led them out of Egypt and as the man who was going to let them all die in the desert. God wants us to know that He is in control. He may work through men, but God didn’t want the people to depend on Moses and to blame him.  He wanted them to depend on Him. Just as He wants us to depend on Him and to come to Him with out hearts. There is a verse right in the very center of the Bible (Psalm 118:8) that says “It is better to trust in the Lord, than to put confidence in people.”
God also called Himself," God Who Provides”. It is good to remember that God (who takes care of the birds of the air  Matthew 6:26) provides all we need. Sometimes we WANT more than we NEED though.

The Red Sea (Exodus 14 & 15)

 Last time we were right in the middle of an amazing miracle! God had parted the Red Sea so that Moses and his brother Aaron could lead the Hebrews to safety. God had placed a cloud of darkness over the Egyptians so that they couldn’t go anywhere. God had also placed his light above the Hebrews so that they could see their way over the dry land where the Red Sea had parted. God is so amazing!

 It was just about morning and all 2 million of the Hebrews had just about crossed over to the other side of the Red Sea. Then God spoke to Moses again.
 “Now the Hebrews and the Egyptians will see my glory and know that I am God.” God told Moses.
God lifted the cloud off of the Egyptians and they saw that the Hebrews were just about across the Red Sea. The king ordered his men to cross through the Red Sea on the dry ground. The men followed his orders, although I’m sure they were a little nervous.

 While the Egyptians were in the middle of the Red Sea, God caused the wheels to fall off of some of the chariots! There were no ordinary chariots either. These were the best chariots that the king had! The Egyptians began to get scared and confused. Some of them started going in circles. “Let’s turn around!” Some of the king’s men said. “The God of the Hebrews if fighting against us!

Then God told Moses. “Now stretch your staff over the Red Sea!” Moses did as God had commanded and the waters began to flow back into the sea. The king and all his men were drowned that day. The Hebrews knew that God had truly freed them from the Egyptians that day! They stood on the other side of the Red Sea in amazement! They praised God and sang him a song. The Song is written down in Exodus 15:1-21.

Remember Moses’ sister Miriam? The one who watched as Moses was pulled from the Nile river by the king’s daughter. She shook a tambourine. Then led the singing and dancing and the praises to God.

That day the Hebrews began their journey to the promised land. God was still leading them with a cloud at day and a flame at night.  They traveled tree days through the wilderness, but couldn’t find any water. The Hebrews were getting pretty thirsty. Finally the saw a lake! They ran as fast as they could. But when they reached over and sipped some of the water from their hands, it was bitter! What a disappointment. The name of that place was Marah (which means bitter)
 Now the same Hebrews that were singing and dancing just three days earlier, were all upset at Moses and God. “What are we supposed to drink?” They complained.
 Moses prayed and God pointed out a stick lying on the ground to Moses."Go throw it into the lake.” He said.
 When Moses did as God had said, the water became sweet and the Hebrews drank till they were satisfied.

Sometime I complain when things don’t seem to be going my way. Instead, I should think about all the wonderful things that God has done for me.  The key word today is   REMEMBER. God constantly told the Hebrews to remember what He had done for them and who He is. We have to REMEMBER too. When we think about what we don’t have, we forget what we DO have. REMEMBER.

God Uses Moses to Part the Red Sea Exodus14

Last time we saw that the Hebrews left Egypt in a bit of a hurry. It was the middle of the night when the king’s son died and he finally let the Hebrew slaves go. Moses led the people out into the wilderness. Now what? God appeared as a pillar of fire to lead the Hebrews at night. When it got light out, God led the people as a cloud. This way the Hebrews could see God at night and during the day!  God led the people to the shore of the Red Sea.

Back in Egypt, the king and all the Egyptians had a change of heart.
“Wait a minute!” Said the king. “Now we don’t have anyone to do all the work!”

So he told his army to get 600 of his best chariots ready and bring back the slaves. The Egyptians set out with the 600 chariots, plus a lot more to bring back the Hebrews to Egypt. The Egyptians finally caught up with the Hebrews while they were camped along the Red Sea. The king happily thought to himself, “Hmmmm that Moses is not too smart! He has the Hebrews pinned in along the sea! They have no where to run!”

 One of the Hebrews saw the lights of the Egyptian army coming over the horizon. “Oh no!” The Hebrews shouted in horror! They were upset at Moses. “Weren’t there enough Cemeteries in Egypt? You had to lead us out here to the desert to die! We were better off as slaves in Egypt, than dead bodies out here in the wilderness!”

“Don’t be afraid.” Said Moses. “What what God will do. See all those Egyptians.... Take a good look at them because you’ll never see them again! God will fight the battle.... Now keep your mouths shut!”
Moses went to God and cried out and prayed. God told Moses to stop crying out and to cut his prayer short. “Get moving.” God told Moses. “Stretch out your staff toward the Red Sea. The water will separate and for a wall on two sides. You and all the people will be able to walk across on dry land”

Meanwhile, the God cloud that had been leading the Hebrews through the desert, was now between them and the Egyptians. God made it so dark for the Egyptians, that they couldn’t see anything. So they had to stay put. God lit the way for the Hebrews so they could see where they were going.

Moses stretched out his staff over the water, and the water began to part. The Hebrews had been witnesses to a lot of amazing things that God had done, and this was near the top[ of the list! The water parted and the land became dry as a bone! All 2 million Hebrews walked across the Red Sea on dry ground that night as God’s light guided them and his cloud held off the Egyptians!

Did God help the Hebrews because they were moaning and complaining? No, He already had a plan for them to escape. God doesn’t like complaining as you will see as the Hebrews go through the wilderness. They do a lot of complaining. Complaining all the time just gives us a bad attitude and makes us miserable. In Proverbs, the Bible says that the complainer’s days are hard, but the content (which means happy with what we have) person’s days are like a feast!  Next time you feel like complaining.... think of ALL the wonderful things that God has given you. (The Bible says that every good and perfect gift comes from God.) ... and thank Him. You’ll be amazed how much better your day is!  Besides, complaining doesn’t do any good anyway :o)

The 10 plagues (part 2) and Passover

 Last time we checked in on Moses and his brother Aaron, they were leaving the king of Egypt after he had promised them that he would let the Hebrews go if God would get rid of all the frogs, but he lied.
 So far God has turned Moses’ staff into a snake. He has turned the Nile river to blood and He has covered all of Egypt with frogs. God knows that it will take 8 more miracles before the king finally lets the Hebrews go.  Here is a list of the first nine. (We’ll look closer at number ten, because that’s the one that finally freed the Hebrews from slavery.)

 1. The Nile river turns to blood. All the fish die and the Egyptians have to dig new wells for water.
 2. Frogs come up from the water and cover the land. When they die, all of Egypt smells really bad.
 3. Gnats (which are those teeny tiny bugs) come up from the dust and swarm over all of Egypt.
 4. Flies swarm over all the land, causing all kinds of problems with sickness and food and comfort.
 5. The cows and donkeys and sheep in Egypt will get sick and die except for the Hebrew’s livestock.
 6. Sores (called boils) break out on all the Egyptians, all over their bodies, but not on the Hebrews.
 7. A great hailstorm destroys the crops in the fields and kills many of the Egyptian’s livestock.
 8. A swarm of beetles called locusts swarms over the fields and eats the remaining plants and crops.
 9. Total darkness covers all of Egypt for three days, however the Hebrews still have light.

By number 8, the Egyptians were begging the king to let the Hebrews go, but he was so hard-hearted that he still refused. So what finally convinced the king to let the Hebrew slaves go?
 God told Moses and Aaron that the king will finally let the Hebrews go, and that the Egyptians would be so happy to see them leave, they would give them valuables.  He told Moses to tell all the Hebrews not to make bread because it takes too long. Instead make crackers.  He said that all of a sudden, the king would tell the Hebrews to leave at once. God even told them not to put on their pajamas at night so that they would be ready.

“Tonight an angel of death will fly over Egypt. The firstborn son of every family will die except for the families that put the blood of a lamb on their door. “ God told Moses.
 Moses went to all the Hebrew families and told them to put the blood of a lamb on their doors and God would spare their oldest son. So they did and the angel of death flew over Egypt and all the firstborn sons died except for the families that put the lamb’s blood on their door. The angel of death passed over them and that is why the Hebrews celebrate Passover till this day. Jesus is our lamb. He died and shed His blood so that if we believe that He is God’s son and that he died and rose for us, God’s judgement would pass over us and we will live forever with Him!
 The king woke up in the middle of the night  to the queen’s cry because their oldest son had died. He went right away to Moses and told him to leave Egypt. All the Egyptians were so glad to be rid of the Hebrews, that they gave them gold and silver and clothing! Just like God said they would. It’s a good thing that the Hebrews weren’t in their pajamas and they didn’t have any bread in the oven, because they were told to leave at once! But  soon after they left.... the king changed his mind again. He and all his men went out to the desert to bring them back. Next time we’ll find out if they catch up with them.

 About 2 million Hebrews left that night. In the Bible it is called the exodus which is where the name of the second book in the Bible came from. The Hebrews were  slaves to the Egyptians for 430 years! To us that seems like such a long time. But the Bible says that 1000 years is like a day to God. (2Peter 3:8) So in “God years” they were only slaves for about 11 1/2 hours.

The 10 Plagues (Exodus6-9)

 When we left Moses last time, he was complaining to God that the Hebrews were worse off than when he arrived and asked the king to let them go.

God said to Moses. “Don’t worry Moses. This is all part of my plan. The king will keep refusing to let the Hebrews go, and I will keep demonstrating that I am God. By the time I’m done with him and Egypt, he will be very anxious to let you go.” Then God continued. “Go tell the Hebrews that I will free them from slavery. They will be my own special people. They will always remember that I brought them out of slavery to the country that I promised to Abraham years ago.”
 So Moses went and told the Hebrews what God had said, but they wouldn’t listen to Moses. They were still angry that they were being treated even worse now that Moses began pleaded to the king for their release. Moses went back to God.

 "Now go tell the king to let the Hebrews go.” God told Moses.
 “But LORD!” Moses exclaimed. “My own people won’t listen to me. How can I expect the king of Egypt to listen! I am not a good speaker at all. I stutter when I talk!”
 God responded. “Your brother Aaron will be with you. He’ll speak the words that I command to the king. Don’t be surprised if the king still refuses. He is very stubborn. When he asks for a miracle, throw your staff on the ground and it will turn into a snake.”

 Moses and Aaron went back to see the king. Moses was 80 years old by now. The king asked for a miracle. Aaron threw the staff on the ground and it became a snake. The king called his magicians and wizards. With their magic, they also turned sticks into snakes! But guess what. Aaron’s snake ate the magician’s snakes! But the king was not swayed to let the Hebrews go. He turned his back on Moses and Aaron and asked his guards to remove them from his sight.

 Moses returned to God. "The king is very stubborn. Go back to him and tell him that if he does not let the Hebrew people go, that I will turn the Nile river to blood.God said. “When the king says “No” point your staff at the river and it will turn to blood.”
 Moses and Aaron returned to the king and he refused to let the Hebrews go. Moses pointed his staff toward the river and it turned to blood, but the king still refused. All of Egypt was suffering because of the king’s hard heart. New well had to be dug for water and all the fish in the river died and it started to smell really bad.

 Moses got some further instructions from God. “Go back to the king and if he refuses to let the Hebrews go, that the whole land of Egypt will be covered in frogs. They will be everywhere, even in the beds and and kitchens and bathrooms.”
 Moses and Aaron did as God asked and when the king refused AGAIN, Aaron pointed Moses’ staff toward the lake and millions and millions of frogs came out and covered the land! This got the king’s attention. He called Moses and Aaron into his presence. "If you get rid of all the frogs by tomorrow, I will let your people go.” The king said.

Moses prayed to God and God caused all the frogs to die. The egyptian people had to sweep up all the dead frogs and pile them up in the streets and it really began to stink. The king was glad that all the frogs were gone, but he had lied to Moses and Aaron and still refused to let the Hebrews go!


 Trusting God is hard sometimes. Especially when we don’t see anything happening! But we have to remember that God is in control. "His ways are not our ways...they are better" :o) (Isaiah)

Moses is reunited with his brother Aaron.

 So Moses FINALLY obeyed God. He returned home and asked his father-in-law, Jethro, if the sheep could be cared for by someone else. “I need to go back to Egypt. I haven’t seen my family in forty years. They are still being held as slaves to the Egyptians." Moses said.
 “Don’t worry about the sheep Moses. Go with my blessing." Jethro replied.
 Moses packed up his stuff and his staff and loaded them on a donkey. Then Moses, his wife and his sons headed for Egypt. Moses was probably a little worried about the king and his men because when he left Egypt forty years ago, they wanted to kill him.

God knew Moses was a little worried and spoke to him on the way. “Don’t be afraid to return to Egypt, because everyone who wanted to kill you is dead.” Moses felt a lot better knowing that.

The journey took several days. As Moses and his family were making their way through the wilderness to Egypt, God spoke to Moses’ brother, Aaron. “Go out into the wilderness and meet your brother Moses.”
 Aaron  did exactly as God said and he met Moses in the middle of the wilderness! Moses told Aaron how God spoke to him through a burning bush and all that God had said to him.  Aaron believed every word. After all, God spoke to him too. In hundreds of miles of wilderness, God told him the exact place to meet Moses. And He told him the exact time too. He knew that God was up to something!
 When Moses and Aaron met with their own people, Moses threw his staff on the ground and it turned to a snake, then he picked it up by the tail and it turned back into his staff. Then he told them about God’s plan to free them from slavery. They were so amazed that God heard their prayers that they fell on their knees and worshiped Him.

 Moses was feeling a little more confident now as he and Aaron left for the king’s palace. Everything was going just as God had said.  When they stood before the king, Aaron did the speaking. He said to the king exactly what Moses told him to say. “The God of Israel says ‘let my people go!”

 “Is that so.” Retorted the king. “He may be your God, but he is not mine! I will do as I wish and since you have come here with such a ridiculous request,  I wish to make it even harder on the Hebrew slaves. From now on, the Hebrew slaves will have to make twice as many bricks as before! And the Egyptian laborers will no longer gather the straw needed to make the bricks. The slaves will have to go out and gather their own straw!” Then the king summoned his guards. “Remove these two Hebrews from the palace at once!”

The slave drivers were brutal on the Hebrew slaves demanding more and more, and when they didn’t make enough bricks, the slaves were beaten.
 One of the Hebrew leaders went to the king and said. “ You are demanding more than we can do. We are being beaten for something that impossible!”
 The king replied. “It is because you sent two of your people in here  and told me to set all the slaves free that you are being forced to do more.”
 The Hebrew leader left the palace. He knew the king was upset about Moses' and Aaron’s visit. On his way back home he ran into Moses and Aaron. “May God punish you for getting us into this terrible situation with the king!”
 Then Moses went back to God. “Why did you send me to the king! See now it is worse for the Hebrew slaves than before I got here! You haven’t even begun to rescue them!”

 Next time we’ll see what God has planned for Moses and Aaron.  God is always working behind the scenes. He did in Moses’ time and He does today. Did you know that God has a wonderful plan for your life? He does. God wants to use you for His purposes. Sometimes we can’t see or figure out what God is up to, but that’s OK. We know that He is working behind the scenes. That is where our faith and trust come in.  Proverbs 3:5 says "Trust in God with all your heart. Don’t do things your own way. Look to Him for direction and He will lead you in the right direction.”

Moses’ Staff Turns into a Snake! (Exodus 4)

When we left off last time, God was talking to Moses through a burning bush. God had laid out His plan to Moses. He was going to use Moses to get the Hebrews out of slavery in Egypt. God answered all of Moses’ questions..... well not all of them.
 Next Moses asked,” What if they say”You did not talk to God!” “What do I do then?”
"What is that in your hand Moses?” God asked.
 “A staff.” He replied.
“Throw it on the ground” God said.
 Moses through his staff on the ground and it turned into a snake! He got scared and started to run.

“Moses! Pick up the snake by it’s tail!” God commanded.
Moses probably thought to himself. “Why did I have to ask so many questions? Now I have to pick up this huge snake!” But he did as God commanded, and the snake turned back into his staff!
 "Now put your hand inside your robe and take it out.” God said.
 Moses did it and when he pulled out his hand, it was gross and diseased.
“Now put it back in your robe and take it out.” God continued. Moses did it and his hand was restored to normal. I’m sure Moses was glad about that!
 God told Moses that the people would probably believe him after he did the snake thing and the diseased hand thing.... but if they didn’t... He had one more sign. He told Moses that if they still didn’t believe, to take some water from the Nile River and pour it on the ground and it would turn to blood.
“That will convince them.” God said.
 So now do you think Moses was convinced? Nope! Now Moses was trying to come up with excuses why he couldn’t go talk to the people and to the king.

“But God,” Moses said.” You know that I am not a very good talker. I get nervous and I stutter. Sometimes I forget what I was going to say and it comes out all wrong!
 "Moses, Moses Moses! Who created that mouth of yours?” God asked.
 “You did.”
 “That’s right, and I gave you those ears to hear and those eyes to see too. Now go use what I gave you and go talk to the people and to the king. I will be with you every step of the way, helping you and teaching you what to say.” God replied.
 Moses finally ran out of questions and excuses."Please God! Send someone else to do it.” he said.
God finally became angry at Moses. "You are going to do this! You can get your brother Aaron to go with you. He is a very good speaker. I will be with both of you and will teach him what to say for you. Now go and don’t forget your staff so that you can do those signs!”
 Moses FINALLY did as God said.

Does God ever talk to you?  Yes! He speaks to us through His Word. (The Bible)  God tells us in the Bible how much He loves us. He also says that if we love Him, we will do what he says. It is no use trying to come up with excuses as to why we can’t do as He asks, because God made us. He made our minds and our hearts. He would never ask us to do anything that we can’t do, especially with Him helping us. When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside us to help us, encourage us and teach us. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God.