This year I switched from using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible reading to the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net”. I have now done this long enough to say that I am glad I made the change. I am firmly convinced that the One Year Bible Online is a great way to read through the Bible in a year. It breaks the parts of the Bible which can be a struggle to read into manageable portions. However, I think that the Daily Bible Reading Schedule I am using now is a better format for doing a daily Bible study.
Today, I am reading and commenting on Exodus 16-18.
Despite the miraculous way the Children of Israel escaped the Egyptian army, they quickly began to complain about food. Then when God provided them with manna, they did not follow the instructions which Moses gave them. First, they tried to keep some for the next morning, when Moses told them not to. Then when Moses told them not to go out on the Sabbath to collect it, some of them did anyway (although I can sort of understand the second reaction after what happened to the manna which some kept over the first night. One interesting note I want to make here. I have heard it suggested that manna was a natural phenomena of the Sinai wilderness which Moses knew about from his time herding his father-in-law’s herds. The problem with that is how does a natural phenomena go bad overnight for five days a week and on the sixth day last through a second day?
After receiving the manna when they complained about no food to eat, the children of Israel began to complain when they came to a place where they did not find water when they arrived. It is worth noting that they were still collecting manna every morning except for on the Sabbath. And Moses did not turn to God until he got desperate. Nevertheless, God provided for the needs of the children of Israel once more. There is a lesson here for us. God will be faithful, even when our faith falls short. God will provide for us, even when we struggle to believe.
The advice which Moses’ father-in-law gave him was advice which every leader needs to hear. Every leader of a group that is larger than four needs to learn to delegate. Even when God speaks to you in a clear, unambiguous voice you cannot do everything yourself. More importantly, God will call others to various roles in the group and will speak to them. He will provide them with the wisdom and judgment to make the decisions for which that role calls. God intends for every leader to empower and encourage those they lead to use the gifts which God has given them so that those followers can in turn lead others to do God’s will. If those in subordinate positions must turn to the leader for every decision, the leader is not fulfilling God’s intentions. If you are a leader and feel that those whom God has called to follow you are unable to make Godly decisions about matters regarding the group, it is your job to teach them how to do so. If you feel that they are unwilling to make those decisions for themselves, you need to push them to do so (after teaching them to do so).