As God led the Israelites in the dessert, He tested them to see if they would believe in His goodness. It was the test of the manna: “Do you want relief (and go back to your pots of meat in Egypt) or do you want freedom (and trust Me to provide)?”
As God led the children of Israel out of Egypt, He continued to relate to them under the covenant of grace He had made with Abraham. He blessed them with His presence and His provision. They came out of Egypt laden with silver and gold, and the scripture says there was “not one feeble among them.”1 During the two month period between the Red Sea and Mount Sinai, God’s response to every complaint was a fresh demonstration of grace: waters of Marah; manna from heaven; water from the rock. He didn’t once curse them, punish them, or judge them during that first two month period. He didn’t even get angry with them.
In Exodus 16 when the people complained about not having any meat to eat, God rained down bread from heaven. Pure grace. In that event, the Bible says that God tested them. This test would prove something that would come into play later on when they made a promise that they couldn’t possibly keep.
And the children of Israel said to them, “Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not.” (Exodus 16:3-4)2
Note that when God said, “whether they will walk in My law or not” is not referring to the law of Moses. It had not been given yet because they had not reached Sinai yet. This is talking about obeying the voice of God. This is the obedience of FAITH.
“And it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.”…‘Come near before the Lord, for He has heard your complaints.’” Now it came to pass, as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel. Speak to them, saying, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. And you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’” (Exodus 16:5, 9-12)
Wow!!! When they complained and accused Moses of bringing them out to the desert to die, God’s response was to give them heavenly bread. Instead of telling them to flee from His presence lest He consume them as He would AFTER the law of Moses was given, God told them to come near Him! What was God doing? He was testing them. This test would prove whether or not they would trust the Lord and know that it was the Lord who would take care of them. It was an obedience of faith based purely on grace. In essence God was asking the question: “Do you believe in the righteousness of faith like your father Abraham? Do you believe that I am good? Do you believe that I even exist?”
What did the Israelites do? Did they trust Him and believe that He would provide? For five days they were to eat all of the manna and not save any for the next morning. This would show that they trusted Him to provide the next day. Some didn’t obey and saved the left-overs to find the next morning that the leftovers “bred worms and stank.”3 On the sixth day they were to gather twice as much and not gather any on the seventh day in honor of a day of rest. Yet, some did not gather twice as much on the sixth day, and they went out on the Sabbath looking for manna, once again disobeying the voice of God and not trusting Him.
They disobeyed His “law.” But what was the “law”? It was simply to believe Him. The “law” was simply the obedience of faith – the “law” of faith. It was God saying to them, “Do you trust ME to provide for you? Or do you want to take matters in your own hands? You keep saying that you want to go back to Egypt. That might give you momentary relief, but it won’t give you freedom!”
It’s like God saying to us today, “Grace requires utter dependence on Me. I know that the flesh has no patience and no faith. The flesh would rather have the ‘pots of meat’ and be in slavery than be free and trust Me. The flesh finds its security in the bondage of the law. But the spirit is free because of law of faith. Every day there will be tests that ask the question: do you believe Me or not?”
“Do you want RELIEF or do you want FREEDOM?”
(from pages 216-218 of Unveiling Jesus)
Want more from Tricia Gunn? Check out excerpts from the Unveiling Jesus 20-part series!
Unveiling Jesus, by Tricia Gunn, is a verse by verse study of the pure gospel of grace. It’s an amazing journey of love, identity, and freedom in Christ.
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1Psalm 105:37
2All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New King James Version. Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
3Exodus 16:20, NKJV”
