Bread and Water

How long would you survive without water?

Three days... four at the most - depending on your health and the weather conditions.

SIX HUNDRED THOUSAND MEN were on the move with their women and children, having escaped slavery. They had watched on as Moses negotiated with Pharaoh, but as each request was denied, GOD responded every time with different terrible plague. It must have been nearly a year later that they were chased out of Egypt, and their pursuing enemy drowned in the surging sea.  After celebrating their freedom with singing and dancing, their expedition to the Promised Land set out across a desert, following their GPS (GOD's Positioning System) - a pillar of cloud during daytime, and at night a column of fire to give them light.  For three days they pressed onwards through the wilderness, finally finding water. Desperately thirsty, they were horrified to discover the water was undrinkable! 

How frantic are you likely to be when you're nearly dying of thirst?

Three days without water and when they bent down to drink, the water was bad. There's no way to describe their anguish, grief and fear. They named the place Mar'ah [Hebrew: 'bitterness'].Have you been there? Did you regret burning the bridge behind you? What were you thinking? That you should NEVER have listened to someone you THOUGHT you trusted… Was that ‘someone’, GOD?

Bad water, bad attitude, bitterness, complaint. These people complained to Moses. We probably complain to GOD. It was a life -or- death situation. Without water to drink, there will be mass deaths of an entire nation during the next 24-48 hours. They complained to Moses because they were afraid of this GOD of the cloud, GOD of the fire, GOD who seemed to have abandoned them for 430 years.

Do you know who were your ancestors in the year 1590? Who was your 'tribe' generations ago, and where did they come from? Who else other than William Shakespeare was alive in 1590?  430 years is a very long time ago, and I don't know my family tree from that era - but the Hebrew people knew that four centuries ago their forefather Jacob (whom GOD renamed 'Israel') brought his family down to Egypt because the drought had caused terrible famine in their land of promise. The 12 tribes of Israel were the descendants of Jacob's 12 sons.  

Everything was fine for a couple of hundred years. But look what happened… maybe they forgot the GOD of the Promised Land while they enjoyed the foreign land. But for as long as living memory, Egypt had about-changed from being a benevolent benefactor, to a cruel master demanding their life-blood in forced labour. 

Everything's fine until it’s not - suddenly everything they took for granted was taken from them. THEN they cried out to the GOD of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob, and He sent Moses who led their freedom – something to sing and dance about - until three days later when there was no drinking water.  Had they misunderstood God? Fear and regret are there, in the waters, a bitter reflection of life almost lost.

Desperate and afraid, the people complained bitterly to Moses. He cried to The LORD who showed him a "certain tree, when thrown into the water, made the water taste good."

It might seem mysterious why the tree healed the water, but I think this was a prophetic Sign from Heaven, that a wooden stake - a cross, would lead the Way to heal us of our bitterness. 

OH! Taste and see, that the LORD is GOOD! See to it that no one misses out on GOD's grace, that no root of bitterness, springing up causes trouble and thus contaminates many. 

There was a time when my family had no food.

(I looked in the pantry one day, and felt bereft. Other than rice, salt and pepper, there wasn't anything to make a meal. A lengthy sickness had resulted in no income to buy food or fuel for the car. There was no bread, eggs, milk or meat in the fridge either. A car pulled up out the front - a visitor. I went out to greet him and he opened all the card doors, revealing bags, boxes and bundles of food, food and more food! I cried with joy and relief. GOD provoided all we needed plus we were able to bless our extended family as well, because the abundance was so great we would not have been able to eat it before it went stale!)

 

One month after they left Egypt, the Israelites had no food.

Although a mixed crowd had also gone with them, as well as livestock, by the 15th of the second month they had no more supplies - no food - no meat or bread.  Grumbling to Moses, they moaned, "We wished The LORD GOD had used His own hand to kill us off in Egypt. There we used to sit around the pots with the meat boiling, and we had as much food as we wanted. But you have taken us out into this desert to let this whole assembly starve to death!"

So here they were, stranded in a wilderness so far from food, and how far away WAS this 'promised land'?  GOD spoke to Moses, "Here, I will cause bread to rain down from heaven for you. Every day, one day's worth of bread from heaven, enough for everyone to eat their fill." 

The next morning when the dew evaporated there was a fine flaky substance as fine as frost on the ground. When the people saw it, they asked each other "Manna?” [Hebrew: ‘what is it?’], because they didn't know what it was. Moses said "it is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat." Every day, they had to go out and gather what they needed to eat for the day's food rations. If they tried to store some, the next day it was full of worms and stank.

I love the way the people named this Heavenly bread "what-is-it?"  

What is it, indeed, that God will rain down from Heaven for you?

WHEN THE PEOPLE ASKED JESUS TO TEACH THEM HOW TO PRAY, He gave them the example we call The Lord’s Prayer. 

And look what’s in the middle – “Give us today, our daily bread.”

We aren't to just sit here, moaning and complaining, grumbling, full of bitterness. The Lord's provision for us is providing we GO OUT AND COLLECT IT EVERY DAY.  It doesn't just land in our laps!

Yes, our body needs bread and water to survive, but our spirit and soul must eat and drink of the Lord's Word and His Will day by day, every day.

~ ~ ~

Scripture References:

600,000,000 men - Israel departs from Egypt [Exodus 12:37-40

The Angel of God in the cloud and fire [Exodus 14:19,20]

The Red Sea divided [Exodus 14:21-29]

The water of Mar'ah made sweet [Exodus 15:22-27]

Taste, and see that The Lord is good [Psalm 34:9]

No Root of bitterness [Hebrews 12:15]

The Lord provides Manna [Exodus 16:1-30]

'The Lords' Prayer [Matthew 6:9-13; Luke 11:2-4]

 

the Thorn Bush

THE FARM where I grew up used to have an expansive house-yard full of hundreds of rose bushes. It must have been so beautiful, so fragrant – and so full of thorns! 

My dad often called me Thorn Bush.
Even before my first memories formed, I knew my names were Rosemary, and Thorn Bush... but as I grew, I connected the meaning of my nickname to my birthname -

Roses and thorns grow on the same bush!

There was another thorn bush, and a man named Moses: 

        He was born during an overwhelming time, when newborn baby boys had to be thrown away, abandoned to die. Not ALL baby boys, just those born to the slaves - the people called Hebrews. This was Pharaoh’s Final Solution – after he realised that the growing numbers of Hebrew slaves could mount a huge army, outnumbering and overthrowing his Egyptian kingdom.

        Moses’ mother was an extraordinary Hebrew woman, preserving her baby’s life by hiding him in a floating basket. Another extraordinary woman intervened - Pharaoh’s daughter rescued the Hebrew baby, and after he was weaned she raised the boy as her son! Right under her Pharaoh's nose!

 

        It’s interesting that although the lad grew up enjoying the luxuries of privileged Egyptian life, while he was learning palace policies and procedures, he was also mindful of his Hebrew kinsmen. Visiting them one day, he witnessed their struggles under forced labour - so he killed an Egyptian task-master, hiding the body in the sand.
        Did Moses think he could solve their problems by secretly despatching every Egyptian?
        Did Moses assume that his elite position gave him authority to intervene using his own measure of justice?