Lectio Divina from the Jesse Tree
MOSES & MANNA – Day 8 🔥 & 9 🥖
Exodus 2:23-3:17; 16:1-15,35
“The angel…appeared…as fire.”
In the Psalms (104:4) and later in a letter to the Hebrews, we are reminded how “he makes his messengers winds, and his servants flames of fire.”
In this world, we’ve become so accustomed to the laws of science that we forget the Lord is Master of the Elements.
The supernatural is by its definition not the opposite of natural but rather it’s Supra – as in beyond the natural. So when fire breaks forth but doesn’t burn, or water doesn’t quelch, or earth transfigures its form and dew becomes bread, it is an invitation to turn from the ordinary to the extraordinary.
Moses turns aside from his ordinary tasks to look at something happening that is super in the natural. And God turns his heart to Moses.
From out of the fire, God calls his name.
The ministry of angels is not only a part of the supernatural experience it is actually an essential element. While some may reason there is no need to acknowledge their presence, it is clear that God has established angels as an integral part of bringing His Presence.
“The bread of angels.”
So integrated are his messengers as wind and flames that he uses them to bring encounters of His love through clouds and pillars of fire and to walk with them both day and night, and to feed them with the supernatural manna from heaven.
“The people are to go out and to gather their daily portion…I will use it to test them.”
In the desert, when the people grumble against Moses and Aaron, they do so against the Lord who has appointed Moses and Aaron as shepherds over them. In response, he feeds them for 40 years, all the while testing them, to see if they can obey his instruction to take only their daily portion.
How difficult it is to discipline the appetite. When tempted to take more than our daily bread, we find any extra becomes stale. Because we cannot binge God!
The life of discipleship is a life lived in moderation. It requires sacrifices in fasting and moderation in order to live a supernatural life that disciplines one’s body, mind, and will to have mastery over the elements.
It’s only in the daily doses of the supernatural Bread from Heaven that our natural minds can be strengthened to stand in His Presence and to prepare to receive the God of Miracles. For we can only do so through Christ, who strengthens us.
And so we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses,” the times we turn away from You instead of turning to encounter You and your Bread of Angels!
And He turns His heart toward us, saying, “I am who I am…Take and Eat.”
