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They Found None!

With 20-20 hindsight, we can look at recorded history from the Scriptures of mankind’s interaction with God and we sometimes can come to the conclusion that a particular event or interaction might have been a big, giant “duh” moment.

From the book of Exodus:  He said to them, “This is what the Lord commanded: ‘Tomorrow is to be a day of Sabbath 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.’”  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.  (Ex 16:23-27)

The “it” was manna.  It was to be gathered, prepared and eaten within certain time frames.  But it was not to be gathered on the Sabbath.  The Sabbath was a day of rest and it was holy to the Lord.

Moses instructions regarding gathering manna on the Sabbath couldn’t have been clearer.  He told them, if you try to gather it on the Sabbath, you will not find any of it and, in fact, there won’t even be any to find.  But some of the people still went out to look for it and, lo and behold, they found none!

They found none, as in nada, zilch, shut out entirely!  Lest the people appeal with some sort of excuse like we forgot or we weren’t really sure what you meant or we thought it was just a general guideline and not a hard and fast rule, the Lord drilled right down to what was really going:  Then the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions?  (Ex 16:28)

So, for us looking back, not only does it seem like it was a big, giant “duh” moment, as in they found none, just as they were warned, but it was probably also an I told you not to but you went out and did it anyway moment!

We do have the luxury of 20-20 hindsight and we often see people at their worse. But if I were to take a long, hard look in the mirror, I’m not all that sure that I wouldn’t have also been out looking for manna on the Sabbath.  Sometimes my “duh” moment is recognizing that I have a stubborn streak a mile wide and I’m stuck, smack dab, right in the middle of it again!

  

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