{"id":1576,"date":"2015-03-17T00:19:04","date_gmt":"2015-03-17T05:19:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vitwministries.com\/wordpress\/?p=1576"},"modified":"2015-03-17T00:48:58","modified_gmt":"2015-03-17T05:48:58","slug":"and-we-hate-this-wretched-manna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vitwministries.com\/wordpress\/2015\/03\/and-we-hate-this-wretched-manna\/","title":{"rendered":"And We Hate This Wretched Manna!"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Armando,

Armando, Alicia and Ana (with the infamous “dump-dog” Panchito) at the back entry to the Casa del Obrero staff house<\/p><\/div>\n

“But the people grew impatient along the way,\u00a0<\/sup>and they began to murmur against God….’Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die here in the wilderness?’ they complained. ‘There is nothing to eat here and nothing to drink. And we hate this wretched manna!<\/b>‘\u201d (Numbers 21: 4b \u2013 5).<\/em><\/p>\n

I have been spending some time of late enjoying rereading the Pentateuch. \u201cEnjoying\u201d may sound like a strange word to use to express the reading of these somewhat heavy books, but it has really been true \u2013 it has been a delight to spend time in them.<\/p>\n

One of the things that hit me straight between the eyes right away was the short memory of the Israelites and how unthankful and self-centered they were constantly. Just for starters let\u2019s take the miracles of the ten plagues which struck the Egyptians, and their own miraculous delivery from them, and their incredible subsequent exit from Egypt. Exodus 12 says that Moses had told the Israelites to ask their Egyptian neighbors for articles of silver and gold and clothing before they left. Verses 35 and 36 state: \u201cNow the children of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, and they had asked from the Egyptians articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing. And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they granted them what they requested. Thus they plundered the Egyptians<\/b>.\u201d (NKJV).<\/p>\n

Thus they plundered the Egyptians<\/i>!<\/p>\n

They didn\u2019t just sneak out with their tail between their legs; rather, they plundered Egypt and<\/p>\n

\"Placing

Placing the water storage tank onto the roof of the outhouse. The water is fed into the house with gravity pressure<\/p><\/div>\n

put them to eternal shame.<\/p>\n

Then, let\u2019s recall the parting of the Red Sea for their crossing on dry ground; the gushing of water from solid rock to quench their thirst; the supplying of quail in the desert to satisfy their taste for meat; the fact that their shoes never wore out; the defeat of innumerable enemies long the way; the column of smoke and the pillar of fire constantly indicating God\u2019s direct presence with them along the journey; the opening up of the earth and the swallowing of people who complained against God; the nuking of Aaron\u2019s two sons due to their disobedience and nose-thumbing against God\u2019s direct command; and then of course, let\u2019s not forget the incredible miracle of the manna.<\/p>\n

When the Israelites complained about food yet again (and remember we are not talking about once or twice, or even three or four times, but unceasingly), at that point God answered and said okay, I will give you food to eat, \u201cI\u2019m going to rain down food from heaven for you.\u201d According to Exodus 16, this food supplied directly from God\u2019s inexhaustible provision arrived the next morning in the area around the camp which was wet with dew. When the dew evaporated, a flaky substance as fine as frost blanketed the ground. The Israelites were puzzled when they saw it because they had no idea what it was. Moses explained to them that it was the food that the Lord had given them to eat. According to Exodus 16: 31 it was white like coriander seed, and it tasted like honey wafers. The Israelites called it manna. According to Strong\u2019s Concordance \u201c<\/i>manna\u201d<\/i> literally means “What is it?”<\/p>\n

\"Javier

Javier hooks up the water lines for the storage tank<\/p><\/div>\n

Okay, so these people had just been delivered from Egypt where they spent 400 something years as beaten, bruised, crushed, miserable, futureless slaves. In Egypt their children had been murdered upon birth, their lives and liberty had been destroyed, and they had nothing, no hope, and no future. But fast forward to Numbers 16:13 where the first words out of their mouth in complaint against Moses\u2019 leadership, and directly against God, are: \u201cIsn\u2019t it enough that you brought us out of Egypt, a land flowing with milk and honey<\/b>, to kill us here in this wilderness?\u201d<\/p>\n

A land flowing with milk and honey? Egypt? Where you were beaten and pitiful slaves? You have got to be kidding!<\/p>\n

But it didn\u2019t end there. In verse 3 of Exodus 16 their incredibly stupid statement was\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cIf only the Lord had killed us back in Egypt. There we sat around pots filled with meat and ate all the bread we wanted. But now you (Moses) have brought us into this wilderness to starve us all to death.\u201d<\/p>\n

Incredible! Unbelievable!<\/p>\n

But, just a minute \u2013 how much like me I am afraid.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I hate this wretched manna!\u201d<\/b> Haven\u2019t I also spoken those same words against God\u2019s generous provision at times? Oh, maybe not directly in those terms, but how much longer is my own memory of God\u2019s incredible provision then was that of the wandering Hebrews?<\/p>\n

Actually, despite what I have written above, over the past weeks and months I have been<\/p>\n

\"The

The finished product; and it works like a dream. The well water is pumped into the storage tank, and the house has beautiful water pressure due to gravity flow.<\/p><\/div>\n

constantly encouraged as I see God making it clearly evident that we are heading in a direction that he has set for the work. The handing over of the ministry is going extremely well. I am constantly being blessed as I see my national brothers and sisters taking more and more of the responsibilities and shouldering the load. Projects and unfinished details are being completed. Armando and Alicia are doing extremely well as they take over the daily tasks of the Training Center farm and of their Bible and leadership training. Javier is proving himself to be a trustworthy and capable leader, as are Janny, Mario, Aminadab, Cristina, and the others with whom we work so closely, and with whom we have knit our hearts.<\/p>\n

On a personal level for Theresa and me: we have been able to buy a travel trailer for our housing needs over the next year. We were able to get it moved to the area where we will begin working on the 1st<\/sup> of May. We have been able to finalize work related details so that we can move back to Texas at the end of April and begin the new job on the 1st<\/sup> of May without stress. This includes apparently \u201clittle\u201d things like finding an affordable health package for the U.S. when we begin to work in Texas; primary care providers (doctors) that we can trust and feel comfortable with that will cover us in our HMO; finding someone to help us make the final move of the trailer onto the job site on the day that we will begin working, getting a rural post box address set up for our new location, etc., etc.<\/p>\n

God has proven himself to be so very true and generous yet once again.<\/p>\n

But, perhaps the biggest thing that has happened for Theresa and me over the past month since my last blog is the continued concluding of unfinished business that has been taking place for us here in Mexico. It feels so good to watch as God is bringing closure to these areas of the ministry \u2013 issues that seemed so overwhelming to me as I tried to imagine how I could possibly wrap them up \u2013 suddenly are finding good and logical closure.<\/p>\n

A huge issue for Theresa was the handing over of the sewing school. Only days ago there didn\u2019t seem to be any good way to bring proper closure, and Theresa and I were discussing the possibility of selling the sewing machines and handing the money over to the ministry rather than simply leaving the equipment to rust after we left. On Sunday Theresa and I decided to follow up one last time on an offer that Theresa had made several months back to Aminadab, one of the sisters with whom she had worked closely over the past several years, and who had shown both gifting and desire to head up the sewing school ministry. However, since Ami had not gotten back to us since the original offer was made months ago, and since her life was now getting complicated with issues of living as well as a risky pregnancy, we were sure that her answer to a second offer would be a polite \u201cno\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, to our surprise and joy we found both she and her husband to be excited about the prospect, and indeed waiting with open arms to embrace the ministry presented to them. The husband\u2019s words to us were that only days before our Sunday visit they had spoken together about a longing that they had for a ministry that would be their own. They saw the sewing ministry to be a way to evangelize through friendship throughout the Huasteca. They explained that they desire to use their money and vehicle (the husbands), and their talents and skills (the wife\u2019s) to be able to reach villages throughout the region.<\/p>\n

Incredible! More than we could have even imagined in our wildest dreams. This is what Theresa\u2019s heart and vision has been all along. It just never seemed that there was anyone to fill the role. But there it was. A direct answer to prayer, and one more loose end closed well. Praise the Lord.<\/p>\n

But it doesn\u2019t end there either. We also found to our surprise and joy that Cristina has taken the cottage industry concept of the ministry that Theresa has begun, and has run with it. Her thrust in the ministry looks different than that of the village evangelism aspect mentioned above which is Ami\u2019s vision. Rather, as a pastor\u2019s wife in a tiny church in which many of their congregant\u2019s are extremely poor, she is working with several of the wives to train them in sewing so that they can use their skills to begin to generate an income for their families. Through this they are then able to take on work contracts as I have mentioned in some of my previous blogs. Cristina now has a number of women working directly under her tutelage learning how to sew with electric machines, take on sewing jobs, and sell their products. Again, this is exactly what Theresa\u2019s dream was in beginning sewing classes. Cristina\u2019s ministry is different than that of Aminadab\u2019s, but both serve the Body of Christ. It has been Theresa and my privilege to be able to provide the sewing machines and supplies for both aspects of this ministry.<\/p>\n

For me it has been other issues, mainly ones that involved finishing off work begun, but never completed on the Missionary Training Center farm staff house and landsite. Some of these were things that I felt that I should complete before I left so that there would be no confusion in the handover. This was especially true were the work involved a distinctly American way of doing it, rather than a Mexican way. This involved the finishing off of the well and water system, the completing of the septic, and the wiring of staff house.<\/p>\n

At issue for me is not only the actual physical completion of the work over the remaining weeks that we will be here, but also the constant lack of funds that the ministry is now facing. We are increasingly being confronted by being behind the 8 ball in the area of finances. It is for this very reason that Theresa and I have committed to working for the next year in order to give our income into the ministry \u2013 so that a ministry fund can begin to accumulate so that the transition into self-financing by a completely nationally directed work can actually take place. However, the complication is that the money to complete some of the work is needed now, before we leave, not later, after we are able to earn it to give it to the ministry.<\/p>\n

But God is good. He is opening doors in unexpected ways. He is providing for the ministry through unanticipated methods so that the work is being accomplished bit by bit. This does not mean that I am not loosing what little hair I still have left as I try to figure out what we should be doing, and how we can possibly find the funds needed to complete the work before us. It just means that despite my desperation, God is still in control.<\/p>\n

I am trying to learn to rest in God as I hand over more and more. The icing on the cake in this relaxing in God is that in the process I am also seeing more and more loose ends finding closure and looking wonderful.<\/p>\n

Birthing babies (figuratively in my case) may not be easy, but it does bring much joy in the end.<\/p>\n

Your friends and fellow laborers,<\/p>\n

Steven and Theresa<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“But the people grew impatient along the way,\u00a0and they began to murmur against God….’Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die here in the wilderness?’ they complained. ‘There is nothing to eat here and nothing to drink. And we hate this wretched manna!‘\u201d (Numbers 21: 4b \u2013 5). I have been spending some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vitwministries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1576"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vitwministries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vitwministries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vitwministries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vitwministries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1576"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.vitwministries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1576\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1579,"href":"https:\/\/www.vitwministries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1576\/revisions\/1579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vitwministries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vitwministries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vitwministries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}