Author: Bryce Marner

Read: Exodus 16:1-20

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. ⁵ On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.” ⁶ So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, “At evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, ⁷ and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord. For what are we, that you grumble against us?” ⁸ And Moses said, “When the Lord gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full, because the Lord has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him—what are we? Your grumbling is not against us but against the Lord.”

Today, before writing this, I had the privilege of hearing the testimony of a fellow brother in Christ. After growing up in a legalistic church, becoming an evangelistic atheist, he returned to belief in God and eventually trusted in Jesus. The turning point for him occurred in the middle of a mix of life crushing events and drug dependency when he found himself screaming at God in anger. While standing in the middle of the street daring God to take His life, he came to the realization that he couldn’t possibly have this much anger directed at the nonexistent deity he had some vehemently argued against. Thus, his journey to faith started in anger.

In many ways, the Exodus community found themselves on the same journey. After witnessing the miraculous work of God flexing His might over the so-called gods of Egypt, they now face the harsh realities of life in the wilderness. They have needs that only God can meet. Yet God doesn’t provide for them immediately. He allows the people to experience hunger pains, bitter water and the woes of an unwilling vegetarian diet. He even allows them to turn to Him in unrighteous anger only to respond graciously by providing their needs for water and food.

Had God provided immediately and always for the community, what would have been missed? God’s people may have taken the Lord’s provision for granted. They would not have learned the hard lesson that without God’s provision, even the basics of life prove beyond their grasp.

The second generation from Egypt received this story well before we did. How important it proved to them as they faced the seemingly insurmountable odds of taking the land. In this story was the forever reminder that the same God that chose to meet the needs of their grumbling parents would go before them.

This story serves the same purpose for us today. Although we don’t want to find ourselves angry with God, from this position we can remember the story of His grace to the people in Exodus. We can recognize that our irritable state in times of need draws us to our faith in the one capable of meeting those needs.

Take time to reflect:

Where have you found yourselves irritably turning to God for your needs? How has He met you in this space with grace and provision?

How can remembering the provision of the Lord to your spiritual forefathers keep you grounded in trust in your life?

What provision can you praise God for right now?

2 Peter 1:3-4 shows how wonderful His eternal and spiritual provision is for us even if the practical things aren’t met as we wish.

Praise God for this provision in Christ today.

Read: Exodus 3:1-4:18

There exists in some Christian circles a particular idol that I (Brycen) have encountered in various places over my years following Jesus. I encountered it most strongly when attending seminary. I am speaking of the idol of finding “my fit.” I overheard many conversations about the jobs guys were willing to take like, “I’d be willing to do youth ministry if I have to until I can get a different job.” You can bet I couldn’t let that one go without asking them not to disservice those possible teens with that kind of attitude. But I really got confused when the idea of picking where God might call you to serve was quantified by taking your Myers-Briggs and the generalized Myers-Briggs of the zip code you might serve and seeing if it proved compatible. Now this is extreme and definitely not normative of the attitudes of Covenant Seminary. However, we often narrow our focus of the ministries and places God might ask us to serve in the local church or in life based on what we deem is our best fit.

The danger in this attitude is that it diminishes the empowering of God in sending you out into His work in the world. Moses tried to argue that the call to lead the people out of bondage wasn’t really a good fit for him. Jeremiah argued that he was to young. Jonah thought himself not a fit with the zip code of Nineveh. Yet the answer to all of them was not in who they were or how they fit, but in who God was and what He would do despite their qualifications.

In Colossians 1:29 Paul begins a sentence that we almost anticipate going a different way. “For this I toil, struggling with all…” You expect him to say “my strength,” but the verse concludes with “his energy that he powerfully works within me.” Paul knew and Moses is told that the Lord equips the called, rather than calls the equipped.

Take time to reflect:

Have you ever found yourself narrowing the range of places God could possibly call you down to some idealized fit?

We know that the Lord gives spiritual gifts and has specific plans for us to walk in, so when is it appropriate to factor fit into the equation?

When does fit become and idol or an excuse that limits our willingness to respond to God’s call to serve in His work? What are signs that we may be looking for excuses out of certain areas of service?

Has God tugged on your heart to step in to His work in a certain area of your church, family or community and you have been resistant? Will you pray for Him to reveal any of that to you and maybe invite a friend into that process?

Read: Luke 15:1-7

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. ² And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

³ So he told them this parable: ⁴ “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? ⁵ And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. ⁶ And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ ⁷ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

As I, Brycen, type this devotional while working in one of the office rooms at Salem, I can see a table that many would call “the Lost & Found.” This fine collection contains dirty coffee thermoses, sunglasses, small stuffed animals and a bag with the name Nate on it that has been here long enough, the change of clothes inside would no longer fit either young Nate in our congregation. Rick and I refer to this assortment not as the “Lost & Found”, but simply “the Lost.” These things have no consciousness of their abandoned state nor would you find their owners scouring the building to find them.

This condition of lostness reflects the condition of both the sheep and the Pharisees and scribes in our text. As many have heard, sheep are stupid. I haven’t personally fact checked this assertion, but I trust those I know who have and they would tell me that the sheep spoken of in the parable would quite possibly not even know it was lost.

The beauty of the parable lies not in the sheep but the shepherd. The shepherd tears apart the countryside in search of the sheep. Upon finding the unaware fluff ball, he brings him home and throws a party to celebrate. This of course mirrors the pursuit Christ undertakes to seek and save the lost in this world. The sinners Jesus is accused of eating with (and He did) in verse 2 are the broken in this world who are aware they aren’t in the best situation, but don’t know they are lost, as they didn’t know who they needed to be found by. Jesus finds them nonetheless and brings them to the celebration of a new home in Him!

Do you have that story of salvation in your life? Were you lost without a full awareness of how lost you were? Did Jesus come and find you and carry you home? Praise Him for that story and share it with someone this week!

The second group whose condition reflects “the Salem Lost” probably even more, are the Pharisees and scribes in verse 2. The sheep represents the broken sinners this party judged and they at least knew of their brokenness. The Pharisees and Scribes, however, sit in the presence of the one all their studies should have pointed to and yet they don’t recognize they need to be found by Him. They sit unmoved from their table of lostness, not because there is no one ready to find them and carry them home, but because they refuse to admit their condition. Their position in their minds finds security in self-righteousness, and yet placing their security in this keeps them lost, not experiencing the joy and party of finding their home in the fields of Jesus’ grace and mercy.

Take time to reflect:

Are you tempted to sit in a security of self-righteousness and mistakenly forget that you need to be found by Jesus just as much as the “sinners” of your world?

What areas do you find a judgmental attitude creep in towards the struggles of those around?

Read John 10:27-30. What areas of your life are you slow to recognize your drift from the Good Shepherd’s guiding voice? How can you get back to following Him?

As you pray to the Lord on these things, don’t forget to check “the Lost” this Sunday and turn it into a “Lost & Found.”