YEA Lesson Library

The Lesson

Rick Warren says in his book, Purpose Driven Life, "Contrary to what many popular books, movies, and seminars tell you, you won't discover your life's meaning by looking within yourself. You've probably tried that already. You didn’t create yourself, so there is no way you can tell yourself what you were created for! If I handed you an invention you had never seen before, you wouldn't know its purpose, and the invention itself wouldn't be able to tell you either. Only the creator or the owner's manual could reveal its purpose."

Mr. Warren talks about a 40-day journey with purpose. God planned a journey with a purpose for the Israelites of old. It wasn't 40 days, it was 40 years. We don't know how many Israelites looked inside themselves to discover the meaning of their life. We do know that God created them, as He has you, for a purpose. He expected them to believe Him and obey Him. They didn't have the Bible as an "owner's manual." But they had God's presence in a much more personal way. They had His servant Moses to tell them what God wanted them to do. They even had a pillar of cloud to guide them by day and a pillar of fire to give light at night. But were these things enough to ensure they would obey their Creator?

The Israelites continued their journey towards the Promised Land. They left Elim and went on into the Sin wilderness. This is between Elim and Mount Sinai. They arrived there on the 15th day of the second month.

The whole company of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron while they were in the wilderness. "Why didn't God let us die in comfort in Egypt where we had lamb stew and all the bread we could eat? You’ve brought us out into this wilderness to starve us to death,” they said.

About one million people - the entire company of Israel - turned on Moses and Aaron and began accusing them and God of trying to kill them with starvation. Now, put yourself in Moses' and Aaron's sandals. It's difficult enough to control your temper when just one person starts accusing you, especially if the situation is heated. It could be downright scary to have one million unhappy people upset with you. This had the potential to get out of control in a hurry. What kind of leadership skills do you think you would use at a time like this? How would you calm and reassure the people? They really weren't the patient type.

Do you realize it had only been a month since God miraculously delivered the Israelites by performing ten miracles? Oh, how soon they forgot God's power and began to gripe and complain. These hungry, tired Israelites were far from happy campers. They certainly didn't seem very concerned about God's purpose for them.

But God did have a purpose for them and He did love them very much. Moses and Aaron didn't have to do a crash course on leadership skills at this point. God intervened. He told Moses that He would rain down manna from heaven for them. Every day the people would go out and gather their daily ration - there would be plenty for everyone.

God said He would test them. On the sixth day of the week they were to gather twice as much and prepare it for the Sabbath. During the week, if they gathered too much and tried to hold it over to eat the next day, it would breed maggots and stink. On Friday, they could gather twice as much and it wouldn't breed maggots and stink. But there would be no manna from heaven on the seventh day.

God put this test, along with a miracle, in place for a purpose. The purpose was to show Israel, without a doubt, which day the Sabbath was. God told them to gather twice as much manna on Friday and prepare it so they wouldn't have to work on the Sabbath. Then on the Sabbath there would be no manna. Think about how much this short section of scriptures shows us. It shows God is our loving and merciful provider. It shows that the Sabbath is not just one day out of seven, but the seventh day. And it shows that we are to prepare on Friday so that we will be ready to rest on the Sabbath.

But did the Israelites do what God told them to do? Some did and some didn't. A few men kept back some of the manna until morning. It got wormy and smelled really bad. This was more than Moses could take, and he lost his cool.

On the Sabbath, some of the people went out to gather manna anyway, but they didn't find it on the ground.

"God said to Moses, 'How long are you going to disobey my commands and not follow my instructions? Don't you see that God has given you the Sabbath. So on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. So, each of you, stay home. Don't leave home on the seventh day.'"

Manna means "What is it?" It wasn't the only thing God gave them. In the morning there was a layer of manna on the ground. Manna looked whitish, like coriander seed, and tasted like crackers with honey. In the evening, quail flew in the camp. So they ate quail in the evenings and manna during the day.

What about you? Will you obey God's purpose for the Sabbath, or will you be like the Israelites who went out to get manna on the Sabbath? Will you make every preparation you can on Friday so that you can rest and spend time with your Maker on the Sabbath?