Exodus 16:16-18(NLT)
“16 These are the LORD’s instructions: Each household should gather as much as it needs. Pick up two quarts for each person in your tent.” 17 So the people of Israel did as they were told. Some gathered a lot, some only a little. 18 But when they measured it out, everyone had just enough. Those who gathered a lot had nothing left over, and those who gathered only a little had enough. Each family had just what it needed.”
A dear friend recently invited me to be her ‘plus one’ at a wedding. Although we both knew she would have preferred someone of the masculine persuasion, we also knew we’d have a lot of fun together. With exasperation cloaked in a little bit of humor, she asked “Lord, when is it going to be my turn?!!!” I giggled, because this is something that I’ve heard many single women ask of the Lord, especially when yet another sister-friend is taking that walk down the aisle. They want to know if there’s a special set of steps that makes a woman irresistible to a man’s heart. Is there something that makes him want to make a lifelong commitment to a woman he may have only known for a small fraction of his life?
We live in a society that wants everything on the double, and whether we want to admit it or not, this has impacted the way we think about blessings. Even unconsciously, we assign a timetable to our prayer requests. In other words, when it comes to the wait, we think we have the right to make the call on how long is long enough. If a blessing doesn’t materialize within our acceptable time-frame, we assume it’s not on its way or that we’re not going to receive it. We become discouraged, and this opens the door for our believing to take a dive. Our tendency to lose hope, to allow our believing to faint, and our refusal to continue seeking God to know the areas where we need to put on more of Christ, these are the things that put up the wrong shield around us. They put us in the position of attracting the bottom of the barrel rather than becoming irresistible to the one God has ordained us to help, treasure, and love.
Exodus 16:16-18 gives us a lot of information about God’s nature, and if we will digest it in the deepest part of our understanding, our believing will become firmly anchored in God. The passage in Exodus 16:16-18 occurred during the time that God delivered His people, the children of Israel, from Egyptian slavery. Some Bible scholars estimate there were over two million people that Moses guided to deliverance under the hand of God. They set up camp in the wilderness, and no doubt food was scarce there, but God took care of His people. He fed them manna, and it rained down from heaven. Because the manna God fed them was a pure and perfect source of nourishment, none of the Israelites that ate it were sick or feeble.
God’s people living during Old Testament times had a mentality much like many of us living today. They wouldn’t allow themselves to depend totally on God. Even though He was their Sufficiency and the sole Source of their survival, many of them were not convinced of His perfection and goodness. They doubted that He would make the same provision the next day as He had the day before, so they tried to hoard. They picked up too much manna, and others picked up what was left. Because they had become used to being slaves, they were stuck in a survival mentality.
What do we know about a survival mentality? We know that it is a mentality where a person depends on themselves and what they can do. They assess their own needs and seek to fill them. In this way of thinking, we make the mistake of overestimating our needs and underestimating our responsibility to God, and this will not adequately back our faith. If we feel that something is too difficult or outside the boundaries of our capabilities, we become afraid, and this fear is an enemy of God’s love. Fear is an enemy to God’s love because it leads us down a path of desperation, and Heavenly Father would not allow the children of Israel to get away with it. Exodus 16:18 tells us that when they tried to take more than what they needed and measured it out, everyone had just enough.
Heavenly Father would not tolerate a mindset that didn’t honor His perfection and provision. He didn’t do it then, and He won’t do it now. Out of the thousands of men that God delivered out of Egyptian slavery, only two believed and trusted God. Numbers 32:12(NLT) tells us, “The only exceptions are Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua son of Nun, for they have wholeheartedly followed the LORD.’” It’s a natural inclination to want to be partnered with the man God has ordained to walk with us through life, but our actions must indicate we understand that God requires us to wholeheartedly follow Him.
Many of us have done things we’re not proud of. We have behaved out of desperation rather than standing on faith in God. We’re out of balance but haven’t realized it. Our actions—the way we think about men, the type of men we’re seeking to attract, and the compromises we’ve made that have forfeited our standing in Christ; all these must be crucified, and God will accept nothing less. Our actions have proven that our wants are not in balance with what God knows we need, and this can only be seen by Him as doubt in the perfection of His timing, order, and blessing. This must change, and we must do it through our prayers, worship, and adoration of our Heavenly Father. When we are at this level of submission and surrender, our lives will make a shift, doors will open, and God will give us exactly what we need. ■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“Out of Balance with God”, written by Kim Times, edited by Fran Mack for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2022. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!