It's the penultimate day of 2009!
(because penultimate is a fun word :D)

everyone gets into this whole mood when the end of the year comes
this very... reflective mood.
Looking back on the past year
heh, I fell prey to it and looked through my past year in blog posts
(an unfortunate side effect is that now I'm getting sick of hearing my own writing in my head. Ah well.)
And I realise I have alot of things to thank God for

It's a good thing :) looking back on the things He has done, the mysterious ways that He's moved in our lives. It's a wonderful thing.
But the important thing here is not to get stuck on the past.
It reminds me of manna. And how God gave the Israelites manna.

Waaaaay back in February this year, I mentioned 'the message of manna', so I'm actually going to write it now :p

(it's coincidental. As I mentioned before, I'm in the midst of reading the Pentateuch again, and two nights ago I stumbled upon the chapter again)
Exodus 16 is where we read about God giving the Israelites manna.
(hai, one of those passages where there's a million an one messages and ways to view it (:)
But today, I'll focus on manna :D

The funkiest thing is what happened with the manna.
The Israelites were told to collect enough for one (that's right, 1) day. And every morning God would send some more for them, and every day they'd take enough for that day. But only for that day though, the next day, the manna would just, well, go bad. Maggots would suddenly appear in closed pots, and the food would be ruined.

I remember reading that passage when I was younger. Because I grew in church and all that. I also remember wondering how on earth could some bread thingy appear underneath dew that was perfectly edible? And with a terrible shelf-life.

Because the message of manna is this: God will give you enough for your situation. He will tailor it to your situation. He gives you enough for your situation, so you don't need to worry.

And also this, that manna was not meant to be stored. There are only instances where manna was stored and did not go bad. The first was on every sixth day. That's because on every seventh day they weren't supposed to go out and get some more manna, but to live off the double that they had gathered the previous day. On the sixth day they were told to gather twice as much, because it was to last them twice as long. And here we see what God means when He says He gives enough specifically for our situation. The manna that they saved up did not spoil because it was needed for the seventh day.

The second instance is this: when God told the people to take some and put it in a jar. These pieces of manna looked no different from the others, yet for some reason they never spoiled or had maggots, they were perfectly fine even generations down the road. Because these were the pieces of manna that would remind the people what happened in the desert, where God provided for their lack in a land of lack. Where they found plenteous supply.

(This is the cool part, where we bring the lesson from God-know-how-far-back BC into our lives now.)

Because as we look back in this year, we see God's mighty hand in our lives. I know in my life, in this year, I attest to God's faithfulness in a time of great distress. A C5 for Chinese is not a work of man, or of tuition teacher, but an act of God's hand. Revelations on leadership and learning to use my words again. I attest to a God who has provided for my situations, who has walked beside me and has never left my side.

I thank God for this manna, but I'm not about to keep holding on to it. Sure, there are the lessons, the testimonies, the promises, the pieces of manna I'll keep in jars to remind me years down the road. But I won't live on it. Don't live in yesterdays, or else you'll never see your tomorrows.

Your manna for yesterday is not designed to be kept for tomorrow. Your manna for this year is not meant to be kept for the next year. Your experiences this year? Remember them, but don't live in them.

We ready ourselves for years ahead because the years ahead are pretty big things.

Because greater things are yet to come, and greater things are still to be done.



Philippians 3:13 tells us the key to finding the great things: "forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead"



hmmm, this post seems floaty. I've been distracted. My bad.
Blessed new year friends :)

Greater things are yet to come.