Siblings, the saying is true – if we fail to prepare, we must prepare to fail. It is not only true now, but it was also true in the Exodus. Consider Today’s Holy Nougat.
Exodus 16:27-28 AFV
[27] And it came to pass that some of the people went out on the seventh day in order to gather, but they did not find any.
[28] And the Lord said to Moses, “How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws?
Failing to Prepare
Siblings, we could have called this reflection, When Unpreparedness is Disobedience. For that is basically what happened. Some of the Children of katakana failed to prepare, and there was no food available the next day. Now, I can see why some of the people didn’t prepare: they did not desire a repeat of rotted food. Not again. I suspect some had had the unpleasant task of discarding the rotted food on the previous occasion.
[Had this happened in our time, we could research the number of persons who didn’t save two days’ worth of food to see whether they had been a sunset of the previous hoarders.]
I suspect that at least a few of the hoarders tried to redeem their previous action. Can you imagine them saying,
Me? No siree. Moses is free to say what he wants. Remember what happened the last time, when we saved that little extra because it was so nice, and woke up to rotted food? That’s not happening to my family again, oh no!
Me. I’d rather die of hunger than deal with worms.
Three words – Not doing this.
They would have been resolute. A few might have been lazy. But nothing was collected by a small group of families. On Sabbath, they had exactly what they’d prepared – NOTHING!
Self-Check
Would we have been among the dissenters? If so, what would our explanation have been?
Application
Their reasoning was justifiable, except for one thing: by this time, everyone was aware that Moses operated on God’s behalf. No matter how they felt towards him as a person, the previous experiences would have taught them that obedience was better than sacrifice.
Choosing against preparation was disobedience.
Having confirmed that Moses spoke for YHWH (whom they also knew as Elohim), the logical thing to do was to obey. They had learned previously that failure to comply wasn’t just against Moses it was disobedience against God.
Siblings, that kind of logic just might be the reason only five virgins had extra oil for their lamps in Y’shua’s parable. Matthew 25 warns that when the bridegroom returned, some of the virgins awaiting his arrival didn’t have enough oil for the wedding feast. At that point when they got their oil replenished, it was too late. The door was shut, because the wedding feast had started while they were out seeking oil.
Those 10 virgins, wise and foolish, are us. When we fail to ‘get’ God’s plans, we are like the five virgins or the Children of Israel who had procrastinated (that is – they failed to prepare). Our excuses may be valid and viable, but at the end of it all, when we fail to prepare for what God has instructed us, we have sinned. No way around it.
Point to Ponder
Where haven’t we been compliant with God’s plans for our lives? As we repent, we will find God’s grace extended to us.
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May all we seek be found in Christ
