Day 2 – Loving Your Family the Way God Loves You
Today’s devotional is connected to Exodus 16 from God’s Word:
‘The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt. In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord ’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.” So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “In the evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt, and in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we, that you should grumble against us?” Moses also said, “You will know that it was the Lord when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the Lord .” Then Moses told Aaron, “Say to the entire Israelite community, ‘Come before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.’ ” While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of the Lord appearing in the cloud. The Lord said to Moses, “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’ ” That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. 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. 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.’ ” The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. And when they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little. Everyone had gathered just as much as they needed. Then Moses said to them, “No one is to keep any of it until morning.” However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them. Each morning everyone gathered as much as they needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away. On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much—two omers for each person—and the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses. He said to them, “This is what the Lord commanded: ‘Tomorrow is to be a day of sabbath rest, a holy sabbath to the Lord. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.’ ” So they saved it until morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink or get maggots in it. “Eat it today,” Moses said, “because today is a sabbath to the Lord. You will not find any of it on the ground today. Six days you are to gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any.” Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather it, but they found none. Then the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions? Bear in mind that the Lord has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where they are on the seventh day; no one is to go out.” So the people rested on the seventh day. The people of Israel called the bread manna. It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey. Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Take an omer of manna and keep it for the generations to come, so they can see the bread I gave you to eat in the wilderness when I brought you out of Egypt.’ ” So Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar and put an omer of manna in it. Then place it before the Lord to be kept for the generations to come.” As the Lord commanded Moses, Aaron put the manna with the tablets of the covenant law, so that it might be preserved. The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a land that was settled; they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan. (An omer is one-tenth of an ephah.)’
Exodus 16:1-36
The theme of today’s reading is God’s love for His kids. His love for us is unconditional. God provides for us even when we don’t have the right attitude or perspective. Ever tried to compare where you are to where you were and thought things might or would be better if you were still back there? Even if it isn’t right or true? Ever been faced with trials, troubles, or challenges and found yourself looking backward instead of forwards with God? The Israelites were in slavery and being pushed to the point of breaking and crying out to God and we read in today’s reading how they were seeing things back then in a positive light compared to what they were going through at the moment. Do you realize that God knows what we will need for today? Do you realize that God will provide for you today? Are you satisfied with what you need or do you complain about not having what you want?
How about you? Are you looking out for the needs of your family? Are you able to overlook the complaining and love them? Are you able to love them enough to show yourself faithful and trustworthy?
Let’s model our lives as dads after our Heavenly Father’s example. Let’s lead with love, unconditional love! Let’s not model being a dad after how the world is but instead by the leading, guiding, and instruction of the Holy Spirit.
Today’s devotional has the purpose of providing a reading plan to encourage Dads in the hope of the gospel. Today’s devotional has been provided by Harvest House Publishers (more details).
Reading through today’s devotional, here are some takeaways for me: (check out the devotional on your own too to see if you pick up other nuggets, and please share your findings in the comments)
- When you hit a rough spot, be willing to get help.
- Do you realize how short lived attachment or intimacy are?
- Relationships need daily attention and infusions of love
- You can’t give extra dosages and hope that it will last longer. (similar to how the Manna wouldn’t last more than a day most days and in the special instance as a reminder for all times)
- When you stop investing, infusing, pouring out love the feeling of close attachment lasts about 24 hours.
- Don’t forget and find yourself back where you started before you invested, infused, and poured out love.
- We can’t just coast! We can’t coast in our marriages nor our families!
- So we need to pursue daily out of love!
- We need to invest, infuse, and pour out love daily!
- God isn’t a one and done type of guy.
- He doesn’t want us to have a single prayer to do but wants an intimate and loving with relationship with us.
- He pursues us with His love daily!
- Consider how God kept showing up in today’s reading for His people.
- Manna was an example of how He showed up daily for His people.
- So take hold of these thoughts from the closing of today’s devotional:
- Today’s devotional gives us an action item or task:
Today may be the first time you read something from the Bible. Today might be the first time you are hearing about our Heavenly Father. Today might be the first time you are hearing about Jesus how made a way for us. If you haven’t met Jesus before but would like to start then join me in praying the following prayer today and let’s start this journey together. Leave me a comment and I can reach out and pray with you and for you.
