BY G.L. GLASS, SR.

“He wants to humble you with His blessings.

I have determined that the vast majority of our people are of the opinion that the only reason God gave manna to the Israelites was for their sustenance. But this verse in the book of Deuteronomy makes me see other reasons that we should consider. “That he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at the latter end.” I want to show you how He used manna to prove the people. We have our minds on the road we travel, but God has His mind on the end of the road. He does not want you disappointed when you get to the end, so He proves you now (cf. Jere. 29:11). So one morning the Israelites looked out and saw something on the ground. They really did not know what it was. This is why they named it manna. It was a gift from God (they did not work for this at all) to prove and humble them. God wants His blessings to humble us rather than puff us up. There are some people that the Lord cannot bless with a great ministry because it would puff them up instead of humbling them.

There is not anything more deceiving than pride. Many people think that they are humble when they are proud. Some people will come to church on Easter all dressed up in new clothes. Others will not come because they have no new clothes to wear for Easter. Which one is proud? There is more pride in staying home without these things than the others coming with them. Pride will park a new car in front of the church where everybody can see it; it will also park an old jalopy in the back where nobody can see it. Do not ask God to humble you, the Bible says for you to humble yourselves. He would rather not have troubles and tragedies humble you.

Here is the method God used. He told Israel to go out every morning, six days a week and gather manna. For five days they would gather just enough for that day and on the sixth day a two-day supply But they did not hearken to the voice of Moses. Some gathered more and it stank. Some people will do what they want to do, regardless of what is taught them. Well, keep ever in your mind; God is watching your obedience and disobedience and that is how He proves you to His satisfaction.

A lot of people want the preacher to tell them what the “fruit of that tree” was that God said, “let it alone”. But it does not matter what the fruit was. It was not the fruit that was the sin; the sin was disobeying God who said, “leave it alone”.

We have to let the carnal man stay out of these things. For instance, you go to the store and buy a quart of milk and a gallon of gasoline; enough for a days supply. Your mind tells you to get several days supply while you can. Their carnal minds told them to gather all you can today and you won’t have to come
back out here tomorrow. But God was proving them. If you want to please God; be accepted of God, you had better do it like He said do it.

I like to think about the man who was going down the road with his bed on his back on the Sabbath day. Someone cried out to him, “Say, what are you doing with your bed on your back? Don’t you know it’s the Sabbath?” His only answer was, “He that healed me told me to take up my bed and walk.” His only explanation was that God told him to do it. The hardest thing in the world for some people to do is to humble themselves down to obedience.

God gets glory out of obedience that a lot of people do not think anything about. You hear about Namaan dipping in the Jordan seven times. Your carnal mind cannot see why it had to be seven. He could not get any wetter after the third time. God was going to heal Namaan but He wanted to get some glory out of it.
God was not trying to get Namaan wet. He was hoping for the man to go and ask the Prophet of God for some of that dirt to take home with him and never again worship any other god. That was God’s main goal.

Look at what obedience brought to Peter. When Jesus told him to let down his nets, Peter’s first thought was, “I have been fishing all night and caught nothing.” He knew fishing; he was a commercial fisherman. So he thought it useless to put his nets back in the water, “Nevertheless, at thy word I will. ” That is not much faith, but you don’t need much; just enough to obey God. He does not want you to lean to your own understanding.

Peter unfolded the nets, launched out into the deep, and could not handle the fish that he caught. But filling Peter’s boat with fish was not what He wanted. He had another goal in mind. This is often overlooked, but when Peter got out of the boat he fell at Jesus’ feet and said, “Depart from me for I am a sinful man.” He doubted he would catch anything but through obedience he caught more than he could handle. Now he is asking for forgiveness and worshipping Jesus. That is what God was after all the time.

We are not proven yet. Somebody spoke to me about the failure of another in the church. I said, “Listen to me, there is not a person in our church who would come to the podium and say they are perfect.” I will tell you what we are doing. We are trying to give ourselves to God. We are sitting under the hammer. We hear
preaching, we pray, we fast, we seek God. We are reaching for more to do. We have asked God to iron the wrinkles out of us. And when He perfects this church He is going to take us home. To obey is better than sacrifice. You can do nothing in this world in the sight of God that will take the place of obedience. That is why the Bible teaches, “Obey them that have the rule over you.” All of these things are watched in your life. It is His way of proving you. “I want to give you an expected end.” He does not want you disappointed when you reach the end. A lot of people are going all the way to the end only to be disappointed. Some will say, “But haven’t I prophesied in your name?” that does not sound like the denominal world. When did they ever prophesy in His name? “We cast out devils.” That sounds like us. And Jesus said to them. “Depart from me, I do not know you. ” A disappointed end. You talk about the tragedy of tragedies. To spend a lifetime in this pulpit, spend a lifetime in church and then come to the end disappointed. I have prayed this prayer on my knees by myself, “Lord, I have committed my salvation to you, the salvation of my soul is committed to you. Save me at any cost.”

Can you see that there is more in manna than feeding the body? It was not just to sustain but to prove and humble them so He could give then an “expected end”.

THE ABOVE MATERIAL WAS PUBLISHED BY THE LOUISIANA CHALLENGER, MARCH 2002, PAGES
2, 10. THIS MATERIAL IS COPYRIGHTED AND MAY BE USED FOR STUDY & RESEARCH PURPOSES ONLY.