The Bread from Heaven So, the year was 2008, I know, seems like a long time ago, right? That is when I packed up my bags and went to seminary. So, I finished college in December of 2007, I was a weird December grad student, and I wanted to get a jump start on school. School wasnt going to start until August, but I wanted to be prepared. So, I saved up money for a few months, had a good two months worth of good supply ready and moved to North Carolina. Thats when I could get into my apartment in Raleigh. So, I moved up there, two months, plenty of time to get that job because, you know, you got to pay for bills. So, I was like, I saved up enough money, two months, good, I got a job waiting for me part time when school starts in August, school will start, thatll be great, I just need that extra 20, 30 hour a week job, easy, part time, simple. Two months of provision, planned out perfectly, until we come to June, which quickly approaches, two months goes away real fast. So, lots of applying online, going into places, again, you could kind of actually still talk to people back then, not that they cared that you said hello to them, but even then they began the, you can go fill out a thing online, cool. So, two months, filling things out online, couple random in-person meetings, doesnt seem to be going anywhere. So, you start to have a little panic set in, like, Ive got like two weeks before I run out of cash on hand, okay, there were still credit cards floating me a little bit here, but you cant pay the rent with a credit card back then. So, its like, Im going to run out of money and Im going to have problems. So, again, praying, I dont know whats going to happen. I just started going to a little church at that point outside of Raleigh, and one of the pastors, associate, theres a church plant, there was only like 30 of us, but he was one of the pastors, was getting a full-time job running the missions department at the seminary. So, hes like, hey, I work this night job, they hire mostly seminary students, Im quitting, I can tell them, hey, theres a guy that goes to my church that needs a job, theyll hire you just because I asked them to. Nice gig. So, I was like, well, sure, I just need a job, so thatd be great. So, he talked to them Monday, I got a call, hey, can you interview Tuesday, theyd probably want you to start on Wednesday morning. Its like, yes, lets do that. So, very quickly turn around from going from a month or a week from running out of money, week to two weeks of running out of money, to having a job, which then I stayed at for four years, working nights, every night, including my day job, 70 hours a week of work, paid those bills, paid off all those credit cards and student loans, very useful. So, Gods provision abundance through it all, a lot of hard work. But there was just that work of, that reality though, of where is my next paycheck coming from? I had a plan. Two months seemed like plenty of time. All the more if you want to, for those who have a history lesson here, if you want to go back to, the year was 2008, I got a job in June. By the time September rolled around, jobs didnt exist anymore anywhere. So, there was a blessing of the financial crisis that then half the people coming to seminary at September couldnt find jobs because there werent existing, especially in the triangle, which is Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill. There were no jobs. So, the Lord was very gracious to me through that, the provision that he gave. And as we turn to our text today, were going to find Israel in a similar situation. So, we have the history of where weve gone, so well back up a little bit, walk through our context as we dive into our text this morning. So, up to this point, God has saved Israel out of Egypt, big miracles. We got the destruction, the plagues, through the Red Sea, weve seen these huge miraculous works of God saving his people. As he took them out of Egypt, he told them to take with them unleavened bread. Youre moving quickly, make quick bread so that you have provisions, so you have food for the journey. This is the picture before us. So, they made what they could, left in haste, and the Lord provided for them along the way. And here we are, roughly a month to two months later, depending on how you break down the language of our text, and theyre about to run out of food. The provisions are gone. They left the oasis, their provisions are slowly running. Theyre running out. And so, what do we do? That is the situation before us as we come to our text today. Its the context. The question is, will God still sustain his people? Yes, he saved them, awesome, but will he also sustain them? Not only is he a God that will save, but as we see, he is the God who sustains them along the way. And this is very important for us to learn as we look at this text, that we serve and worship a God who not only saved us through Christ Jesus, but sustains us through him as well. And so, as we open our text, the first part that we are going to seeis the reality and the nature of the Israelites. We are gonna see them as a needy people. I. Given to a Needy people. (v1-3) So in verses one, two, three, we see their predicament. They set out from Elam. Now again, this is what we talked about last week. Pastor Adam ended with the oasis. Everything is great. Theyve got palm trees and springs of water. What else do you need? It might as well as a mini Florida for those who like that sort of thing. Thats what they were experiencing. And so to pick up and move is a moment, but they werent home yet. They had not reached the promised land. And so its time to move. And so they set out from Elam. And all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin. Again, thats just a generic, that is the name for the wilderness. It has nothing to do with actual sin. Its just the name of a region, which is between Elam and Sinai. So halfway to Sinai. On the 15th day of the second month, after they had departed from the land of Egypt, and the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. The people of Israel said to them, would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into the wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger. And so this begins our first picture. So we have the speech of the people, the grumble of the people. Their need is laid bare. They are a people who are now hungry. And so again, like I said, they left with provisions. They had provisions to begin the journey, and now they are running low. Again, theyre not turning to the animals. Again, Numbers 11 will make a point on why, for them to slaughter the animals. They have no sacrifices, and that will go away in a moment. Then they have nothing else. So they do not slaughter the animals. So they need bread. They need something to sustain them day by day. This is a real need. You need food to eat, yes. Now, yes, its not as readily needed as water. You need water every day, but food also, it doesnt take that long before you start to get weak. And if youre walking through the wilderness, you need some sustenance. You need to stay well eaten. You need that gluten for all those allergy people. Im sorry, you need the carbs. You need the heaviness to keep you motivated, keep the fuel going. That is this picture. They need food to survive. And so they are facing a real crisis. This isnt an imaginary one. They do have a real situation before them. What are we going to eat? Its also not a small group of people. Again, this is a group of people larger than Pasco County. Take every person in Pasco County, and then say they are without food. Fix it. So its a tall order before them. Okay, theyre running out of food. Where will their daily bread come from? And this is very much what the people then are confronted with, this trial, this tribulation. Where will they turn to find the answer? And as our text unfolds, we see clearly they turn in the wrong direction. Okay, the obvious one for those we would say is obvious is they should turn to the Lord. But as we see in our text, they do not turn to the Lord, but they also do not blame God either. This is an interesting point when you read the text. They say they wish God would have just killed them in Egypt, but really this is all Aaron and Moses fault. Why did you take us out of Egypt? Why did you lead us here? You guys are such bad planners. You should have had a better plan. Now were here, theres no food, this is your fault. Fix it. Its ultimately what theyre telling Aaron, you fix it, feed us all, give us food. This is your problem. You mismanaged the situation. Now were stuck. What are you gonna do about it? And so they quickly turn on this whole journey into the wilderness. They now look to Aaron and Moses and go fix our problems. This isnt Gods fault, clearly, they are still a little bit. God has saved us, thats cool, but now you need to fix our problems. God clearly cant do this, this is a you issue. And so this becomes the situation. They understand they have a need. Okay, they know their needs, we are hungry, but their problem is they go to the wrong source to solve it. So they go to Mary and blame them for their problem. This is you need to fix our problem. So they grumble. And this is the second of the three grumbles in the book of Exodus. So last week we had their first grumbling when they led them to the drink, or led them to the water they couldnt drink of because it was bitter. Okay, this week we have this daily bread. Next week, Pastor Adam will unpack their grumbling over the lack of water. So they will need a daily substance of water. So each of these continue to show their need for Gods provision. The grumbling will not continue. Then into the book of Numbers well see. see greater grumblings that will lead to greater, and in that point, judgment. T
