Daily Lesson for April 30, 2014

Today's Daily Lesson is from Exodus chapter 16 verse 4:

"Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.'"

When the LORD brought the Israelites out of Egypt He had to teach them how to think and live as free people. For 400 years they had lived in a state of absolute dependency upon the provision of Pharaoh.  They had to relearn dependence.  They had to learn to depend upon God, rather than Pharaoh.

God's intention was to not only make them free in body, but also free in mind.  To be free in mind they had to learn to be free from the worries and anxieties that lead to overwork, hoarding, and ultimately the breakup of the family, and the destruction of community.  Pharaoh's apparatus of control rested on fears of scarcity, deprivation and punishment.  That kept people working themselves to death.  God's vision for the Israelites was an economy based trust in God's abundant provision, the dignity of work, the dignity of the worker, and rest.

Here are some principles in God's economy:

1. Work is inherently dignified, good, and necessary for all able families in order to avoid laziness and self-loathing.
2. Enough really is enough, but too much never is.
3. Overwork really is a sin.
4. A day of Sabbath was commanded us so we might not be slaves to our work.  And I presume that means church work also.

In this same chapter in the book of Exodus, Moses tells the Israelites that at evening they would know it was the LORD who provided for them that day and in the morning they would behold His glory in the meat and bread He would put on their table.  

That's pretty much an everyday thing in God's economy.