It is summer. It is hot. My best friend, Krystal, and I are about eleven-years-old. The days are long.Me: What do you want to do?
Krystal: I don't know. What do you want to do?
Me: I don't know. Let's make a list of things we could do and then pick.
Krystal: Okay.
The List:
Go swimming in the lake.
Go swimming at Krystal's house.
Play in the woods.
See if Jennifer wants to play.
Go to Circle K
Me: They pulled a nine foot alligator out of the lake just last week.
Krystal: The pool will be full of Mom's day care kids and they never get out to go to the bathroom.
Me: The woods are a good idea even though we aren't allowed in there.
Krystal: We could go to my cousin Jennifer's house. She has air conditioning and we don't.
Me: All she ever wants to do is play school; I don't even like school.
Krystal: Candy sounds good. Let's walk to Circle K.
Me: I don't have any money.
Krystal: Let's go see what my dad left on his dresser.
And so we were off. Krystal would sneak into her parent's bedroom and snag change. She couldn't take all of it because then they would know. Sometime we would have thirty cents. Sometimes we would have two dollars.
Leisurely, we walked down the railroad tracks adjacent to the forbidden woods, balancing on the rails like circus stars. Along the mile journey, we would discuss our purchase options. What candy could we buy that would give us the most sugar bang for our buck? We would have it all figured out and then walk into the convenience store and have to rethink the entire purchase.
Rows of sweetness tempted us.
As a general rule, we stayed away from chocolate; it melted too quickly. Most of the time our pockets held less than fifty cents so our choices were limited to the nickle candy. Tootsie Rolls. Smarties. Lolly Pops. Bazooka Joe Bubble Gum. If we had enough we would indulge in candy cigarettes. I liked the red Pall Mall box because that's what my daddy smoked. We thought we looked so cool puffing on those white sticks of sugar. They tasted good, too.
To be honest, I like just about anything that is sweet. Candy. Ice cream. Cake. Pudding. Cookies. Pie. It doesn't matter. As kids, we dreamed about being able to eat whatever we wanted. Chocolate cake for breakfast like Bill Cosby. Oreos for lunch. Ice cream for dinner. Why not?
In high school, I somehow survived on Dr. Pepper, cinnamon rolls from the school lunch room and Little Caesar's bread sticks. The trouble with eating sweets is that it gives you a sugar buzz, and then you don't feel hungry. Candy masks the fact that your body needs protein and vitamins. The sugar buzz masks your hunger for the real nutrients that you don't have. Your body is unable to function the way it should.
Things like popularity, sex, power, money, and success—as well as favorable circumstances—act like spiritual sugar. Christians who have these spiritual candies may say, "Sure, I believe in God and I know I'm going to heaven," but they're actually basing their day-to-day joy on favorable circumstances. When the circumstances change, it drives us to God, because when the sugar disappears, when the candy gets taken away, we're forced to pursue the feast that our souls really crave. We'll hunger for the spiritual nutrients we really need.
Taste and see that the LORD is good;
blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.
Fear the LORD, you his saints,
for those who fear him lack nothing.
The lions may grow weak and hungry,
but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.
Psalm 34:8-10
Do you remember how the LORD fed the Israelites as he brought them through the desert? Though they constantly grumbled over their lost Egyptian sugar, He fed them with manna straight from heaven. Check out Exodus 16.
15 When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was.
Moses said to them, “It is the bread the LORD has given you to eat. 16 This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Everyone is to gather as much as they need. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent.’”
17 The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little.
The word Omer, spelled in Hebrew Ayeen-Mem-Resh is a measurement believed to be equivalent to about 3 pounds or the size of half a pitcher of milk. The only time this measurement is used in the entire Bible is in Exodus 16.
However, there is another Hebrew word that is pronounced the same way, though it is spelled slightly different, Alef-Mem-Resh. This word means, "Promise! Speech! Answer! Word!" Perhaps this is a pun of promise.
Authors Bodie and Brock Thoene explain it this way in Second Touch.
Every day Adonai was saying to his people of Israel as they gathered an Omer of manna, "This is My promise to you! I AM speaking here! My Word is the true bread from heaven! My Word will feed your souls as you cross the wilderness of life! Until the end of time there is a battle raging against you, but I, Yahweh, will win the battle for your souls! I, Myself will lead you and provide for you, if you will only trust me! My Word sent from heaven is your salvation!"
Maybe they learned; maybe they didn't. But this is the lesson: This small truth speaks to us in a big way of Messiah. He is the WHO, the Messiah! He is also the WHAT, the Bread of Life sent from heaven! He is also the WORD, the OMER, the full measure of truth that feeds men's souls. There is always enough to meet our needs and to satisfy the hunger of our hearts.
Visualize this beautiful word picture:
Let my teaching fall like rain
and the words (omer) descend like dew,
like showers on new grass,
like abundant rain on tender plants.
Deuteronomy 32:2
In his book Exodus and Revolution, Michael Walzer shares three lessons we can all learn from the Exodus event of the Old Testament:
First, that wherever you live, it is probably Egypt. Second, that there is a better place, a world more attractive, a promised land. And third, that "the way to the land is through the wilderness."
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