Exodus pt. 5 | The Bread of God

What if hunger isn't just a physical sensation to be quickly remedied, but a divine invitation to discover deeper satisfaction? We explore this profound question through the parallel stories of God's provision in Exodus 16 and Jesus' temptation in Matthew 4.

Chapters

• 1:35 Introduction to Prayer Reflection
• 2:15 Exodus 16: Manna in Wilderness
• 3:39 Matthew 4: Jesus' Temptation
• 4:51 Finding Satisfaction in God's Word
• 5:59 Closing Prayer

Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:36

Hey everyone, welcome back to the podcast. I'm glad to be with you today. It's just me, it's Curtis, and today I'm flying solo. We're going to do things a little bit differently on the podcast today. Instead of a conversation, we're going to spend some time praying the Word together. We're focusing on Exodus, chapter 16, and then we'll flip over and see a couple verses in Matthew, chapter 4. These passages they remind us of God's provision and the importance of consuming His word, being satisfied by God. So, wherever you are if you're driving, maybe you're at home or maybe on a walk let's pause and reflect on these words and then pray the scripture together.

Speaker 1: 2:16

Let's dive in an Exodus chapter 16, beginning in verse 15. Moses said to them it is the bread the Lord has given you to eat. This is what the Lord has commanded. Each one is to gather as much as he needs. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent. The Israelites did as they were told. Some gathered much, some little, and when they measured it by the omer, he who gathered much did not have too much. And he who gathered.

Speaker 1: 2:45

This is a beautiful passage. We've been studying it on Sunday mornings. The Israelites were hungry in the wilderness, and God provides manna. It's the morning dew on the ground, it's this bread-like substance, and they are to collect it for six days out of the week and on the sixth day collect double the amount so that on the Sabbath day, the seventh day of the week, they would rest from their work. God is doing something extraordinary here. He is teaching the people of Israel to become dependent on him. Teaching the people of Israel to become dependent on him that, out of all of their struggles and all of their turmoil in Israel, they're going to relearn, they're going to be recalibrated to depend completely on the God of heaven and earth, yahweh, the one who exists Now.

Speaker 1: 3:39

In Matthew, chapter 4, we see that Jesus has this temptation from Satan as he goes out to the wilderness to fast for 40 days and 40 nights. At the end of it he's hungry and Satan comes to him and says If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread. Just fulfill your need, don't starve yourself to death. But Jesus says this. Verse 4, it is written man does not live on bread alone, but from every word that comes from the mouth of God. A beautiful parallel to what was happening to the Israelites in the wilderness, the basic need is hunger. But God provides for that basic need in two totally different ways. For the Israelites in the wilderness it was a bread-like substance that grew from the ground. In Matthew 4, the temptation is to turn something on the ground into a bread-like substance. But Jesus says I don't even have to have bread in my stomach to be fulfilled by the living God. I don't have to have food in my belly to feel full, because God provides everything I need to be satisfied.

Speaker 1: 4:51

Have you ever thought about the words of God that way? Have you considered that the words in scripture are assessments for you, like the words in God's book can actually fulfill you and make you feel full? Maybe being hungry isn't all that bad. Maybe being hungry drives us closer to the thing that we really need. When we're hungry, we can either be driven closer toward our carnal needs, the things that our body needs, and be so focused on I just need my next meal or we could utilize our hunger to spur us on toward focusing on the Father. To spur us on toward focusing on the Father. Jesus tells us everything God says is enough to satisfy us. I wonder are we really allowing God to satisfy our every need man. Things would be different if I viewed scripture in that perfect lens. I wonder how they would be different for you as well.

Speaker 1: 5:51

Let's pray that God would help us to see his scripture, to hear his words and to truly be satisfied by what he says to each of us. Oh God, we just pray right now. Wherever we are, god, we pray that you would be our ultimate satisfaction. God, forgive us when we look to other things, when we try and be satisfied by our own efforts and our own direction. God, when we hunger for things, we try and get out of that hunger, like we want to get away from feeling hungry. And so, god, sometimes we go on our own, but actually most times we go on our own.

Speaker 1: 6:25

God, forgive us when we go our own path, when we go our own path, but, lord, help us. Lord, teach us that we do not survive on bread alone, but in eternity we survive and are sustained by every word that comes from your mouth. Father, speak to us all the more, god, as we open our Bibles. Speak to us in our hearts. May we understand you and know you more. God, thank you for Jesus and for his revelation. Thank you that he came to this earth and lived a perfect life and taught us about the kingdom of heaven, so that we can be included in this glorious plan that you had from the very beginning, that we could be brought back into right relationship with you through your son, jesus Christ. Thank you, jesus, we love you and and we pray all these things in the name of Jesus, amen.