Dear Family,
Today is Sunday, April 18, 2021. This is Day 1 of Week 4 in our Counting toward Pentecost. It is our 22nd day of Counting.
This begins the week of the manna which fell down upon them from heaven in the desert (Exodus 16:4-36). Actually, this was a very full week for Israel. There are many lessons to be drawn from their experiences.
To help us understand the chronology of the journey, God inspired Moses to write down each of the camps the Israelites made following the cloud by day and the fire by night. We find a summary of their camping sites in Numbers 33. Just prior to the 50th day, they were camped in the area of Mt. Sinai. Here is an overview of their travels and camping.
Numbers 33:1-15 (1) These are the journeys of the children of Israel, which went forth out of the land of Egypt with their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron. (2) And Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the commandment of the LORD: and these are their journeys according to their goings out. (3) And they departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the morrow after the Passover the children of Israel went out with an high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians. (4) For the Egyptians buried all their firstborn, which the LORD had smitten among them: upon their gods also the LORD executed judgments. (5) And the children of Israel removed from Rameses, and pitched in Succoth. (6) And they departed from Succoth, and pitched in Etham, which is in the edge of the wilderness. (7) And they removed from Etham, and turned again unto Pihahiroth, which is before Baalzephon: and they pitched before Migdol. (8) And they departed from before Pihahiroth, and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness, and went three days ‘journey in the wilderness of Etham, and pitched in Marah. (9) And they removed from Marah, and came unto Elim: and in Elim were twelve fountains of water, and threescore and ten palm trees; and they pitched there. (10) And they removed from Elim, and encamped by the Red sea. (11) And they removed from the Red sea, and encamped in the wilderness of Sin. (12) And they took their journey out of the wilderness of Sin, and encamped in Dophkah. (13) And they departed from Dophkah, and encamped in Alush. (14) And they removed from Alush, and encamped at Rephidim, where was no water for the people to drink. (15) And they departed from Rephidim, and pitched in the wilderness of Sinai.
It is important to remember that the camp of Israel moved when the cloud moved and they camped when the cloud rested. We learn of this principle of moving and resting in the book of Numbers.
Numbers 9:18 At the commandment of the LORD the children of Israel journeyed, and at the commandment of the LORD they pitched: as long as the cloud abode upon the tabernacle they rested in their tents.
The journey from Egypt to Mt. Sinai was difficult for this large group of people; yet, it was God Who was leading them. It was God Who had delivered them.
It was God Who knew everything they would face at each step of the journey. It was God Who was proving their hearts to see whether or not they would follow His commands.
Exodus 16:4 Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no.
In this Church age we see God following the same kind of process. He is still in charge, knowing all that we must go through as part of His process of salvation for each of us. And, He is invested in this process at an extreme level. Nothing can separate us from the love of God that He has made available to us through our Savior, Messiah, and Lord.
Ben Faulkner, Pastor
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