February 23 – Exodus Week 8

Main Focus: As we follow God, even in the most desperate of times, he provides for us.

As we get into Israel’s era of wandering in the wilderness, we’ll see complaining quite a few times (actually, we already saw it on the shore of the Red Sea). This week we’ll find the Israelites complaining of hunger, and yet again God will show compassion on his people, providing both food and an opportunity to rely upon him. In discussion, we’ll touch lightly on the provision of the manna but focus more on this reliance, particularly through the giving of the Sabbath. For some background on the Sabbath, check out our Sabbath training from a couple years ago.

At the beginning of Exodus 16, Israel is making their way through the wilderness on the way to the Promised Land, and they get hungry. They complain about how, back in Egypt, they used to sit around eating meat and bread to the full. Don’t miss what a gross misrepresentation this is; just a few months prior they were groaning because of their slavery (Exo 2:23) and broken hearted from their harsh treatment (Exo 6:9). Did they really do a lot of sitting around by meat pots while the Egyptians “ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves” (Exo 1:13)?

In discussion, we’ll note God’s response to Israel, which is remarkably patient and kind. Rather than chastising Israel for their lack of faith and disdain for all God had accomplished for them, he proclaims a plan of blessing. God will provide food for them in a miraculous way, but that’s not all; through this event God will introduce another gift to the Israelites: the Sabbath. On this initial week of the manna, God introduces a new rhythm and way of life for his people, six days of work followed by a full-stop day of rest (literally; “sabbath” means “to stop”).

All of this shows how God provides for his people, both in meeting their needs and in giving them the good gift of his higher ways. We see in the story how hard it was for Israel to grasp this; they try to keep manna overnight and it spoils, they go out on the seventh day looking for bread and there isn’t any. And lest we look down on the Israelites as silly, we should remember that they’ve just fled slavery. This whole people group is used to forced labor seven days a week, and now they’re stuck in the wilderness with no means of agriculture or making money. Of course it was hard for them to do this.

Nevertheless, God invites them to trust him both in their work and in their rest, and to accept the good limits he places on them. We’ll ask what this passage can tell us about God’s intent for work and rest, and here we see that God assigns a good place to both. Israel goes out to gather for six days and rests on the seventh—they are to work and rest in a way that trusts in the Lord’s provision. Now, of course this lack of trust can look like laziness (cf. 2 Thess 3:10). But I think more often we’re given to overwork. This reminds me of Psalm 127, “It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.” God provides a better way.

We’ll discuss what’s convicting about this to us, then focus on verse 23 where Israel is told to Sabbath “to the Lord.” This is why the Sabbath command is something other than just a vacation. That’s not to say we can’t enjoy leisure and fun when we Sabbath, they’re just not the highest objective. In Matthew 11, Jesus invites us to, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” This is the point of the Sabbath, to rest unto the Lord, to delight in him and receive nourishment for our souls.

We’ll close with discussing how we all hope to grow in this, which our recent stuff about the Personal Discipleship Plan should give us some material for. We all stand to benefit from a greater practice of stopping—whether for a beat in the morning, or in little moments throughout the day, or for a whole day in the week—to simply be with God and find rest for our souls.