Speaker: Ben Sigman

Theme: Dealing with Setbacks

Weekend Music links on iTunes: Salvation is Here by Hillsong; Yesterday, Today & Forever by Vicky Beeching; Cannons by Phil Wickham; Need You Here by Hillsong.

Read:  Exodus 16:11-18

Think: A couple of weeks ago, I joined hundreds of people gathered at the convention center in downtown Seattle to pack food for delivery to Haiti.  Subsistence items – rice, beans, soy protein, and a little vitamin-fortified flavoring – were delivered in bulk and repacked into one-pound bags.  Each bag was designed to provide a small meal for six people when added to boiling water.  As I held a bag, I tried to imagine what it must be like for the people waiting for this food.  Having lost what little they had in the January earthquake, this simple meal would keep a few people fed for a short while.  But what would they have the next day?

It’s hard for us to imagine what it might be like to be unsure of the source of our next meal. Yet this has been a common human experience.  In the Bible, looking to God as the source of one’s daily sustenance is a common theme. Pastor Ben spoke of it over the weekend in telling the story of Elijah being fed by birds in the Kerith Ravine. We all know the Lord’s Prayer, in which Jesus taught his disciples to ask God for ‘our daily bread’. 

Exodus 16 provides a particularly striking image of daily reliance on God to meet the needs of His people.  Hundreds of thousands of Israelites, wandering in the desert, faced starvation.  God alone could save them.  And He did, providing manna and quail for them to eat.  But it was only after they had left behind the relative comfort of being well-fed slaves in Egypt that they experienced the miracle of God’s provision.  In the midst of a setback, they came to rely totally on God.

Most of us don’t have to worry about getting enough food today, or tomorrow, or well into the future.  But God’s provision extends far beyond food.  Whatever setback we may be experiencing, it is new chance for us to practice total reliance on God to meet our needs.

Do:  Make a list of some people or things on which you rely. Circle each item that you can recognize as a gift from God, part of his provision for you.  Cross out the items that – for you – might be a temptation away from total reliance on God.

Pray:  When I really think about it, God, I find that it’s easiest for me to rely on you for the things I can’t take care of on my own.  I turn to you to heal sickness or to fix a relationship that I’ve destroyed.  Help me also learn to rely on you each day for the little things, too. Give me what I need today.

The eDevotional is written each week by a team of volunteers from Timberlake Church.

4505 236th Ave. NE • Redmond, WA 98053 • 425-869-4400 • info@timberlakeonline.org