List to YouTube: O Lord, My Rock and My Redeemer lyrics
Ascribe greatness to our God, the Rock, His work is perfect, and all his ways are just.
A God of faithfulness and without injustice, good and upright is He;
(author unknown – Deuteronomy 32: 3-4)
Think of three things you are thankful for – Thank God for them.
Sunday’s Bible reading left the Israelites camped at a large oasis in the Sinai wilderness, after having experienced a very eventful week. It is easy to forget that these people were used to living in the city, so their new-normal of living in the countryside was a complete change of lifestyle for them. They stayed at this oasis of Elim for just over a month, but then it was time to continue their journey. Elim, as nice and comfortable as it was, wasn’t where God wanted them to stay, he wanted to lead them into a better experience of life. Read what happens next: Exodus 16: 1-9 you may want to continue reading to the end of the chapter.
God had marvellously and miraculously saved the Israelites from a life of slavery, he had then taken care of their need for water as they journeyed through the wilderness, but as soon as the Israelites face yet another problem, their immediate reaction wasn’t to trust God, but to blame God. Pause and think if you have ever done that!
The bible tells us that once again Moses had to listen to the Israelites grumbling, but just as he had previously, Moses prays – trust – waits - and God gives an answer to this problem of lack of food. When you are offered food you haven’t eaten before, how do you react? Are you eager to try it, or very wary and ask ‘What is it?’
Read Exodus 16: 31
It is clear that the Israelites had trouble describing this gift from God, and the name ‘What is it?’ stuck. Probably even more difficult than describing Manna, would be to find just one phrase to describe what God is like. There will be opportunity on Sunday to share with everyone else a phrase which helps describes God for you. If you aren’t yet able to come along to church, then send me your phrase (email or text) so I can share it in Sunday’s message.
God had so far provided for all the Israelites’ needs, but they still had to learn to trust that God would faithfully continue to provide for them. Just as they couldn’t stock-pile Manna, so each new day they had to rely on God to keep his promise to care for them whatever circumstances they found themselves in.
The Lord faithfully continued to give the Israelites their daily manna for forty years as they journeyed through the wilderness – God only stopping this provision once they reached the land he had promised to them and they could settle down and grow their own food.
We have experienced how strange new-normals can very quickly becoming routine, and for the Israelites collecting God’s provision of manna would quickly become the normal start to the day. The regularity of this care shown by God could easily cause them to forgot how dependent they were on God to give them this day their ‘daily bread.’ Have we ever become complacent about what the Lord God has done for us, and quick to grumble when we feel God hasn’t done what we feel he should have done?
A section of the Old Testament which we rarely read is Lamentations. A lament is a passionate expression of grief. The prophet Jeremiah writes these five laments after he has seen everything in his life either destroyed or changed for ever. Read the verses which come right in the centre of these poems: Lamentations 3: 22-24.
Even when his life is overwhelmed with anguish, misery and heartache, Jeremiah reminds himself about who he knows God to be. He remembers that God is faithful, trustworthy, reliable, and each day provides what is needed. Perhaps a new-normal you could introduce into your life is to each day thank God for three things.
On YouTube there are many versions of ‘Great is thy faithfulness lyrics’ for you to sing along to, I would recommend the version sung by Chris Rice.
Use these lyrics to lead you into a time of thanking God for his reliability, his love and his care for each of us:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end;
They are new every morning, new every morning,
Great is they faithfulness O Lord, great is they faithfulness
(Edith McNeill © 1975 Thankyou Music based on Lamentations 3: 22-24)
Tomorrow (Thursday) the Leader who usually contacts you will be in touch to ask if you would like to book a place at church on Sunday. Please consider whether you really have to come at 10:30am or whether you could just as easily come at 6:30pm.
We will have a guest writer on Friday and I will write again on Sunday - Stephen