July, 1937
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water, and they dropped anchor, and, turn ing into their berths, went peacefully to sleep. In the morning the owner came on deck and surveyed the scene—a little haven girt about by dark purple mountains. Look ing toward the entrance, he saw a narrow channel, with sharp rocks jutting here and there, all awash with boiling surf. Turn ing to the old skipper, he exclaimed: “Did we pass there in the darkness?” This is a parable of life. We know something of the goodness and mercy which have followed us all our days, but we shall never realize fully the debt we owe our un seen Guide until we are safe within the harbor.— British Weekly. A Shining Cloud E xodus 13:17 to 14:21 Memory Verse: “Thou art the God that doest wonders” (Psa. 77:14). Approach: At last the children of Israel set out on their journey to the promised land. They had killed the Passover lamb, sprinkled its blood, and eaten what was left; and then, after the angel of death had passed by, they had started out, probably more than two million of them. Moses was their leader, but how should he know which way to go? God had a plan. Lesson Story: God wanted them to go a certain way, and He gave them a sure sign
them back to Egypt. How could they es cape from their enemies? But God had made the cloud lead them into this very place. Then a wonderful thing happened. God caused the sea to divide, leaving dry ground between, and the children of Israel crossed on the dry land. God was leading them. Object Lesson A C loud and a C ompass Objects: A compass and a fluffy ball of cotton. Lesson: If you were lost in the moun tains and had a compass like this in your pocket, you would use it immediately. When the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they did not have a compass, but God gave them something better than a compass to guide them. Who can tell what it was? “A cloud.” Yes, a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. We will let this ball of cotton remind us of the cloud that guided the chil dren of Israel. When the cloud moved, the Israelites were commanded to follow it. They were to follow the cloud rather than their own ideas about their path. You and I do not have a cloud to guide us as did' the children of Israel, and we may never be lost in the mountains and need a compass, but we are in need of God’s guidance every day. God does not now use a cloud to guide us, but He uses the Bible and the Holy Spirit. In the mountains it would not help me to have a compass in my pocket unless I took it out and looked at it. It is not enough for Christians to have the Bible in their pockets or on their bookshelves. They need to read it and hide it in their hearts, and then the Spirit of God will use the Word of God to guide them into all truth.
BLACKBOARD LESSON
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bread which the Lord hath given you to eat.” The true Bread from heaven is given as food for the soul, and by faith must be received/ and assimilated. Moses told the people how the manna should be gathered for use (vs. 16-18). Each household must gather, and each per son must partake. The manna was to be gatHered day by day, and what was re ceived would be found sufficient for all needs—there would be no lack, either for the one who gathered little or the one who gathered much. The only labor involved was the lifting of the manna from the ground; the people had nothing whatever to do with bringing it to earth. Its daily appearance taught them constant and full dependence upon God for their living. In all of this is seen a type of the Word of God, the heavenly food of God’s people. The food was not to be kept for another day (vs. 19, 20). But some of the people revealed their readiness to disobey the Lord, and they tried to hoard the manna. The result was that the portion which was hoarded “bred worms, and stank.” Like wise today, our unused spiritual food is useless. If we are to get the spiritual food we need and maintain our spiritual lives in health and vigor, we must feed upon the Word of God daily. IL T he W ater G iven (17:3-6) The next journey of the people brought them to Rephidim. Once again the unbelief of the people was revealed in their mur muring against Moses, this time because of the seeming lack of water. One might say that they had cause to murmur, but .we should remember "it was the Lord and not Moses who was leading them by the pillar of cloud and fire and who allowed them to come to this place of apparent difficulty. Thus it was really against the Lord that the murmuring arose. Moses wisely refrained from answering the people, but at once he took the matter before the Lord (vs. 3, 4). When murmur ing! arise among God’s people today, it would be wise for the leaders to immediate ly take the matter to the Lord, instead of trying to argue or discuss it with the people. In answer to his cry, Moses received in structions concerning the means of obtaining water (vs. 5, 6). He was to act officially, taking elders with him, because this act, typically, was to represent the smiting of our Lord (cf. Psa. 105:41; 114:8; 1 Cor. 10:4). The rod was the rod of judgment used by Moses in Egypt, and the rock was to be smitten in the sight of all the people.
to follow. In the daytime this sign was a cloud. How clear ly this would show against the blue sky! And at night the cloud was turned into a p ill a r of lig h t. Wasn’t this a wise p la n ? T h e n , too, sometimes the cloud stood still, and that
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meant that God wanted His people to rest. They must not go ahead of the cloud, and they must not stay behind after it had left. As long as the people followed the cloud, they were safe in God’s care. Shortly after they had started on their journey, the people came to a place where there were mountains beside them and a sea, called the Red Sea, in front. They were discouraged and might have turned back, but they couldn’t, for Pharaoh in his anger had begun to follow them to bring
AUGUST 8, 1937 GOD FEEDS A PEOPLE E xodus 16:1 to 17:7
Lesson Text: Ex. 16:11-20; 17:3-6. Golden Text: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father” (Jas. 1:17). Outline and Exposition I. T he F ood G iven (16:11-20) W hen the people came to the “wil derness of Sin” and could see no food nor any prospect of obtaining it, they immediately concluded that God had led them into a cul-de-sac, and that they were doomed to starvation. Ever ready to murmur at the slightest inconveni-
ence, they began to blame Moses for bring ing them out of Egypt. The Lord told Moses He had heard the murmuring of the people, and that He would feed them (vs. 11-14; cf. Psa. 78). The food came to the children of Israel in the form of small flakes of a strange white substance. It came as a gift from God; both its beginning and its ceasing (when the wilderness journey was over) were miraculous events. It was bread from heaven (cf. John 6:33). It was something entirely new to the people. For this reason they called it “manna,” meaning, “What is it?” (v. IS). Moses said, “This is the
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