Let’s examine the reasons for such a possibility and the warning for us.
The Israelites travelled for years without supplies but God never failed to meet their needs. The Lord rained down (Psalms 78:24-25) the bread of heaven and they ate angels’ food. It is hard to contemplate worms getting into angels’ food. Let’s examine the reasons for such a possibility and the warning for us.
They were told (Exodus 16:15-30) to gather every morning enough for each day and to leave none of it overnight. On Friday they were to gather enough for 2 days to also cover the Sabbath. But there were some who didn’t listen because they arrogantly thought they knew better. After all, if they could collect for 2 days on Friday, why not on Tuesday also so they could sleep in on Wednesday? Some were too lazy to collect for 2 days on Friday so they went out on Saturday and found nothing. (Can you hear their accusing wives and crying children?)
By disobedient hoarding, the God-given manna bred worms and had a foul stench. Gratitude was a stranger to them when they (Numbers 11:4-6, Numbers 11:18-20, Numbers 11:33) fondly remembered the food they ate in Egypt – they stupidly said – without cost – but seemed to forget the painful price exacted by cruel bondage. They were filled with lust for meat and by despising God’s provision, they despised the Lord. God gave them their desire but (Psalms 106:15) sent leanness into their souls. First came the worms, then a plague and they ended up as bereft, starving spiritual skeletons.
What can we learn from this grim account? Jesus (John 1:1) is the Word of God and Jesus (John 6:33) is the Bread of heaven. God was not playing games with Joshua (Joshua 1:8) when He told him to meditate on God’s Word day and night. You cannot separate the written Word from the Living Word. You cannot separate Jesus from the Bible. If you neglect One – you neglect Both. In such a case it is impossible to have an effective prayer life and a loving, satisfying relationship with our Triune God.
If a Christian has a boring, duty-habit of reading one chapter of the Bible daily and then he decides to race through 2 or 3 chapters so he can skip it for a couple of days – the worms are already feeding on him. Worms of laziness, worms of pride, worms of self-centeredness and worms of despising the holy Bread of heaven. Soon he will drop it altogether and won’t even remember the last time he nourished his starving soul with the Bread of Life. What will follow the worms for him in the (Hebrews 12:6-7) beneficial, surgical discipline of his heavenly Father?
God’s Word and prayer are close allies. What place does prayer have in our lives? Do we take the time to know the heart of God so that our prayers are true intercession and will confidently reflect the heart of God? Or does the Lord still wonder (Isaiah 59:16) that there is no intercessor?
(Oswald Chambers) – “Discernment is given to us for prayer, not for criticism”.
Prayer is our glorious privilege which brings us heart-to-heart and face-to-face with Jesus.
I heard this sentence in a sermon from Dr. C. Stanley and it grabbed my heart. I think it is fitting to include it with this meditation
“The message of the Blood is God’s holiness.”
Be ye holy (1 Peter 1:15) for I am holy. Be ye holy (Leviticus 20:7) for I am the Lord your God.
How can we be holy? Through faith (Romans 3:23-26) in His Blood. The high Priest had to have (Leviticus 8:24) blood on his right ear, thumb and toe to symbolize total consecration to God, The high Priest had on his ephod (Exodus 28:4-10) the names of the 12 tribes of Israel inscribed on 2 onyx stones, close to his heart. Once a year and only once, the high priest and only he, could enter the Holy of holies (Hebrews 9:7, Leviticus 16:15) where he offered a blood sacrifice to make atonement for himself and the nation. It is the blood (Leviticus 17:11) that makes atonement for the soul. There came a day (Hebrews 9:11-14) when holy God had to call in the I.O.U.’s He had temporarily accepted based on the sacrifice of perfect animals. But now the essential requirement was for a perfect, sinless Man to shed His Blood to atone for the sin of all humanity, to take away (John 1:29) the sin of the whole world. That One and only perfect, sinless MAN is God’s beloved Son.
We are no longer shut out. Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we have been reconciled (Romans 5:10-11) to God and have AT – ONE – MENT with Him. Jesus has given us, through His Blood – past the veil, immediate access to God (Isaiah 57:15) right into the Holy of holies. We must never overlook the eternal truth that God’s greatest attribute is His holiness. The seraphim (Isaiah SA.6:3) were not crying out ‘love – love – love’ or ‘justice – justice – justice’ but ‘holy - holy – holy’ is the Lord of hosts.
Never forget if and when you are leaning toward temptation, that compromise is trying to mix light with darkness and that is impossible. Some years ago a chaplain said “We live in the world of the dying but we are heading to the world of the living.”
This is my colour chart/road map for the journey:
White – purity,
Yellow – hope, faith,
Blue – loyalty,
Red – courage, power,
Green – growth, resurrection,
Pink – joy,
Purple – royalty, the family of God,
Grey – doubt,
Brown – temptation,
Black – compromise, disobedience, sin.
Even the colour of my clothes can be a daily reminder to me to walk in the holiness of the ONE I represent. Please feel free to use my colour chart.
If God’s Word is the revealing lamp (Psalms 119:105) for our feet and the guiding light for our path, then our path (Proverbs 4:18) will get brighter all the way Home.