Day 1 of [Manna]: a deeper level of trust- submission
Your joy lives inside and does me good
Can I have more of You?
Amazing grace how sweet the sound
oh my God You'll never let me down
Can I have more of You?
"Can I Have More of You?" - Kim Walker
This song is a good preface to the next fourteen days for me. Today is the start of a 14 day "fast" of sorts. A fast based on Exodus 16, at which point the Israelites had been led out of imprisonment in Egypt, experiencing true freedom and grace from the Lord after which they responded in selfishness.
"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.'" Exodus 16: 2-3
When I was reading this in August the Lord just burdened my heart. I remember being angry at the Israelites for acting so callous and selfish. I couldn't fathom receiving such a blessing as freedom from slavery and persecution and only a few days later be ungratefully complaining. Through Holy Spirit intervention & revelation I realized that this was a reminder of how quick we are to return to our flesh, and how quickly we so earnestly give our flesh and our sinful nature power, of which our emotions, attitude and actions are a reflection.
Throughout Exodus 16, the Lord daily provides ENOUGH manna in the morning and quail in the evening, straight from Heaven. A daily portion. The Lord said, "I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions." I believe there is much more beyond obedience in this 'test'. Within obedience is a level of trust, and an even deeper level of trust is submission. I believe the Lord was asking the Israelites if they would be satisfied with having Him, with being His people, with having His love, joy and blessings in abundance, or if they would continue to revert to their indulgences in Egypt.
For the next 2 weeks, I am going to run from indulgences, I will fast eating only plain oatmeal and water for 14 days. My prayer and my heart's cry in the midst of this fast is for more of Him! I want to be filled to overflowing with the Lord, I want to be supersaturated(which in Chemistry terms means a solution that contains a higher than concentration) by the Holy Spirit, so that my actions are constantly a reaction of being supersaturated, and thus are rooted in divinity and direction from the Lord.
I want to take you on this journey with me. I can't guarantee to blog everyday, I will certainly try, but I know I will fall a bit short.
My prayer for you, is that the Lord will show you areas in your life that you need to learn submission, areas where you need to hand back to the Lord and be expectant that He will guide the desires of your heart because you want to walk in His plan, and not ask Him to come with you in your own.
James 2:17
:)
