Some of Them Paid No Attention to Moses: Where Maggots Come From

PRAYER OF CONSECRATION Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.  Jesus, I belong to you. I lift up my heart to you. I set my mind on you. I fix my eyes on you. I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice. Jesus, we belong to you.  Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.  Exodus 16:19–20 Then Moses said to them, “No one is to keep any of it until morning.” However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them. CONSIDER THIS So those seven significant words from yesterday’s text: “The Israelites did as they were told” (Ex. 16:17)—maybe we spoke too soon. Moses spoke clearly: “No one is to keep any of it until morning.” However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, What might it mean that they paid no attention? There must be a spectrum of possibilities here. A) They didn’t actually hear what he said. B) They didn’t understand what he meant. C) They heard the command and forgot. D) They heard the command and considered it was unjust. E) They heard the command and were afraid they would not have enough. F) They heard the command and considered it didn’t apply to them. G) They heard the command and considered they merited an exception to the rule. H) They heard the command and paid it no regard. Or,  I) They heard the command and willfully defied the authority. All of this only begins to unfold the nuance of disobedience and sin. We see a spectrum ranging from ignorance to negligence to recklessness to willfulness. The bottom line? It is sin at every level—it misses the mark. There is another line of analysis here. Why would they keep the manna overnight? Maybe they took more than enough to begin with? Maybe they feared there would not be a fresh supply the next day. Is there any real harm here? What if it were toilet paper? What if the Lord put on our doorstep each morning just enough toilet paper for one day? And what if he instructed us to keep none until morning? Would we obey? Only if we really trusted God. We want to trust God, but we also want a backup plan. We want to hedge the bet, just in case our toilet paper, I mean manna, doesn’t show up one day. What’s so bad about that? Maybe it’s not a matter of good versus bad or obedience versus disobedience. What if the real issue is fear versus faith? Will we trust in God’s provision or our own? This is the lesson of the wilderness. Jesus had something to say on this point: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” (Matt. 6:25–26) This is so challenging. I’ll admit, it even seems unreasonable. We can disagree with it. We can even choose to pay no attention to it. One thing we can’t do is say he didn’t mean it. At a very minimum, we must grapple with it. The kingdom of God is a very different place than the kingdom of the world, and the wilderness is the place where it all gets sorted out—the wheat from the chaff. However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them. When we don’t pay attention to the instructions of God, we run the risk of seeing the happiness of manna turn into the horror of maggots. How can something so good turn into something so bad? I think we know the answer. THE PRAYER FOR DELIVERANCE Lord Jesus, you are my Deliverer. Would you reveal to me the deeper wisdom of your will and ways in the wilderness? I’m not a hoarder, but I do like a backup plan. I want to believe I trust you, and yet something about this teaching challenges me to ask deeper questions of myself. I have absolutely no reason not to trust you, and yet I hedge. Deliver me from my fearfulness that there will not be enough. Deliver me into a state of trusting in you. In fact, I welcome you to deliver me into an unreasonable faith—a faith that stretches beyond reason. Something tells me that would please your heart.  Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be. World without end, amen! Amen!