Covenanter Witness Vol. 54 - Rparchives.org

me."
JUNIOR TOPIC
For May 29, 1955
SWEET WATER AND DAILY BREAD
Mrs. Mildred L. Ramsey
Cambridge, Mass.
Scripture, Exodus 5:23-27; 16:11-36
Memory verse: "But my God shall sup
ply all your need according to His riches
in glory by Christ
Jesus."
Phil. 4:19
Psalms
Memory Psalm 15, page 26
Psalm 27:1-4, page 62
Psalm 146: 1-3, 7, page 353
Psalm 23:1-5, page 52
References: Psalm 31:19; Deut. 2:7; I
Kings 17:6; Psalm 115:12; Matt. 6:32, 33
On your map locate Desert of Shur;
Marah; Elim; Desert of Sin.
Have you ever seen a magician doing
tricks Perhaps you saw him turn a
yellow scarf into a red one, or make
some money disappear. No one believes
magicians really do these things, but we
know they are just clever at fooling us.
In our topic today, God does some
wonderful things we don't understand.
Only God isn't fooling us. He never does.
He can really do these wonderful things
we call miracles. We must remember
God made us and the world, and contin
ues to control the world. Sometimes in
the history of. man, He did things dif
ferently from the ordinary way to re
mind us of His power and glory.
In this story of the deliverance of the
children of Israel from Egypt, God per
formed many wonderful miracles. He
brought the plagues to the Egyptians;
He led them by the pillar of cloud;
and then most exciting of all, He parted
the waters of the Red Sea,
and let the
Israelites march across to freedom, and
drowned their enemies. How thrilled the
Israelites must have been at these mira
cles and how thankful! One would ex
pect after these experiences that the
Israelites would trust the Lord forever.
Let us see what happened.
The children of Israel began their
journey to the land of Canaan. They had
to cross the sandy desert of Shur and
they had very little water. Every one
was getting thirsty. Soon they came to a
place called Marah, where they found a
stream of clear running water. The peo
ple were so happy until they tasted it.
Alas it was bitter and they couldn't
drink it! What did the people do then
Did they say, "God will help
us as He
did before" No, they began to com
plain to Moses, their leader. Did Moses
know what to do Yes, he knew where
to get help. He talked to God and God
told him to cut down a tree nearby and
throw it into the water. When Moses
cast the tree into the water, it made the
water sweet so the children of Israel
300
could drink all they wanted. How
ashamed the Israelites must have been
at their lack of faith in God!
After this the Israelites rested for a
while in the little oasis called Elim.
They enjoyed the shade of the palm
trees and water from good springs. They
relaxed here after the rigors of traveling
the hot sandy desert. But the time came
for them to move on, so they folded up
their tents and packed up and started
into the desert again. They came into
another wild desert country, called the
desert of Sin, reaching towards Mt.
Sinai. They had been traveling for weeks
now, and the grain and other food sup
plies the people had brought with them
were almost gone. Again Moses hears
the people complaining. They wish they
had never left Egypt. They think they
will die of hunger. They are thinking
that they had food to eat in Egypt, but
forget how cruel the Egyptians were to
them. But Moses had more faith than
his people. He knew God would not for
get them. He said, "Wait and see. This
evening the Lord will give you fresh
meat and in the morning fresh bread
from heaven. Then you will know that
it was the Lord
not Aaron' and I who
brought you out of the Land of Egypt."
Sure enough, that evening flocks of
quail flew over the camp and the people
caught them and cooked them for sup
per. Then in the morning they found
small white things like seeds with the
dew on the ground. They called it Man
na. This means "What is it" for no one
knew exactly what it was. But they soon
found it was good to eat and to cook.
God had provided for them again. There
was thanksgiving among the children of
Israel and wonder at the provisions of
their God.
God gave several interesting rules
about the use of this Manna. They were
to gather only enough for one day be
cause it would spoil in the desert heat if
kept overnight. Of course some people
tried to keep it more than a day and it
became wormy and bad smelling. Only
on the sixth day, the people were to
gather twice as much so that they would
not have to work on the Sabbath Day.
This time it did not spoil because God
had commanded it so. God kept it sweet
and good to eat. Later Moses and Aaron
filled a bowl with manna and kept it to
show their grandchildren. God kept this
from spoiling too, and the Israelites
saved it for hundreds of years. They
wanted the Israelites to remember for
ever how God cared for His people the
forty long years they traveled in the
wilderness.
As we read these stories of God's care
for the children of Israel, we are very
disappointed in them for their lack of
faith and their ingratitude. We keep
thinking if we had been there we would
have trusted God to care for us, and
praised Him for the miracles. But be
fore we criticize these people, let us find
out how many of us have ever been
thirsty on a desert or afraid we would
die of hunger. No, nearly all of us have
comfortable homes and plenty to eat,
and parents or friends to help us. How
do we show our gratitude for God's daily
care over us How do we let others see
our faith in Him when things go wrong
It is easy to trust and smile when our
lives have fallen in pleasant places. Let
us learn from the Israelites something.
to remember when we are in difficulties.
First our memory verse shows us that
God will supply every need
not every
whim or desire. God did not provide
Manna to the Israelites until their other
food was gone. Then He provided it for
forty years. He filled their special need
as He will fill ours. Just let us come to
Him in prayer as Moses did.
Second, we must obey God's rules. The
manna spoiled when the people kept it
against God's laws. God gives us cer
tain rules of health and behavior. The
results can be disastrous for us if we
break these rules.
Finally, God expects us to do our part.
Even the Israelites had to gather their
manna. God expects us to put "legs" un
der our prayers. God will not do for us
things we can do for ourselves.
As we compare our lives to those of
the children of Israel, "Let us make a
joyful noise unto the Lord" for His good
ness to us, for the daily blessings we re
ceive from Him who is the source of
"every good and perfect gift."
have quiet trust and faith too, for dif
May we
ficulties that may lie ahead, remember
ing that as the Lord cared for the Is
raelites in the wilderness for forty years,
He will watch over us too. "Yea, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow
of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art
with me, Thy rod and Thy staff they
comfort
Questions:
1. Name all the miracles you can re
member that the Lord performed in de
livering and caring for the children of
Israel.
2. Why did the people of Israel not
trust the Lord after all He had done for
them Why do we not trust Him more
3. Why did the children of Israel re
ceive no manna on the seventh day
What can we learn from this
4. What did Moses do every time they
seemed to be in trouble
5. List some of the people who care
for and protect you.
6. Have you ever been afraid Did you
pray then Tell the others about it.
THE COVENANTER WITNESS-