The Tuesday after Laetare Sunday
Posted on April 1, 2025 by under
Scripture: Exodus 16:4-15 (NKJV)
16:4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not. 5 And it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.”
6 Then Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel, “At evening you shall know that the Lord has brought you out of the land of Egypt. 7 And in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord; for He hears your complaints against the Lord. But what are we, that you complain against us?” 8 Also Moses said, “This shall be seen when the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening, and in the morning bread to the full; for the Lord hears your complaints which you make against Him. And what are we? Your complaints are not against us but against the Lord.”
9 Then Moses spoke to Aaron, “Say to all the congregation of the children of Israel, ‘Come near before the Lord, for He has heard your complaints.’” 10 Now it came to pass, as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud.
11 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 12 “I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel. Speak to them, saying, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. And you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’”
13 So it was that quails came up at evening and covered the camp, and in the morning the dew lay all around the camp. 14 And when the layer of dew lifted, there, on the surface of the wilderness, was a small round substance, as fine as frost on the ground. 15 So when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was.
And Moses said to them, “This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat.
Devotion
Through a trial of faith God directed the nation’s gaze to the source from which all their needs were supplied: the Lord God and His merciful grace. In the fullness of time Jesus was to come down from heaven, the very Bread of Life and supernatural food that gives life to the world. In John’s Gospel, Jesus called Himself “the true bread from heaven,” “the bread of God,” “the bread of life,” and “the living bread that came down from heaven.”
In Exodus, the people are directed to go out each day and gather enough for that day as a test of faith. This also points forward to Jesus’ petition about daily bread in the Lord’s Prayer, for we are to trust and have faith that God will graciously provide. In the Exodus story God would go beyond the natural processes of nature to make bread available. By miraculous intervention He would endow it with properties that would satisfy each person, regardless of the amount gathered. He lengthened the time of its ordinary usefulness every sixth day, and supplied it without interruption for the full forty years of their exodus through the wilderness. Likewise, Christ supplies our need through His holy Means of Grace, day in and day out, for our entire exodus journey through the temporal world. For we are but sojourners here till we return to our true home in Paradise with the Lord.
Collect: Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that we, who for our evil deeds do worthily deserve to be punished, by the comfort of Thy grace may mercifully be relieved; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Collect for the Season of Lent
Almighty and Everlasting God, Who hatest nothing that Thou hast made, and dost forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of Thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
