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Obey Him in the
Little Things
written by Gloria Copeland
“He who is faithful in a very little
[thing] is faithful also in much.” Luke 16:10, The Amplified Bible
Have you ever wanted to take on some really big project in the
kingdom of God, but the Lord just wouldn’t seem to let you?
If so, there’s probably a good reason why.
You can see what I’m talking about if you’ll read about what God
did with the children of Israel after He brought them out of Egypt.
He wanted to take them on into the Promised Land.
But before He could do it, God had to know if they would obey Him.
He had to know if they would listen to His voice.
Because if they didn’t, the enemies they were about to face would
wipe them out.
So, do you know what He did? He tested them in a small matter.
Exodus 16:4 tells us about this simple test.
“Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold,
I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a
certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my
law, or not.”
God took a little, insignificant matter — the food they ate — and
used it to see if they would listen to Him or not.
He told them how much of it to gather, when to gather and when not
to, and what to do with it after they brought it in.
And the Israelites went right out and violated those instructions.
They showed God by their actions that His voice was not important
to them. They were not willing to obey even His simplest commands.
God works the same way today. Before He sends you on a major
mission, He gives you the opportunity to prove you can be trusted with small
instructions.
But many of us miss that opportunity.
We pray, What do You want me to do, Lord? Where do You want me to
go? I’ll do anything You say.
But then when the Lord says, I want you to get up and pray in the
Spirit one hour every morning, we fail to obey Him.
We say, “Oh yeah, that would be
good. I ought to do that.”
But somehow we never quite get around to it.
Don’t make that mistake. Start today obeying God in the little
things. Let Him see that He can trust you out there in a place of much
authority.
Let Him know you’ll be faithful to His words and to the voice of
His Spirit. Once He knows you won’t let disobedience wipe you out, He’ll start
sending bigger assignments your way.
Scripture Reading: Exodus 16:1-28
Kenneth
Copeland Ministries'
mission is to minister the Word of Faith, by teaching believers who they are in
Christ Jesus; taking them from the milk of the Word to the meat, and from
religion to reality.
Exodus 16:1-29 The Message
(MSG)
16 1-3 On the
fifteenth day of the second month after they had left Egypt, the whole company
of Israel moved on from Elim to the Wilderness of Sin which is between Elim and
Sinai. The whole company of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron there in
the wilderness. The Israelites said, “Why didn’t God let us die in comfort in Egypt where we had lamb
stew and all the bread we could eat? You’ve brought us out into this wilderness
to starve us to death, the whole company of Israel!”
4-5 God said to Moses, “I’m going to rain bread down from the skies
for you. The people will go out and gather each day’s ration. I’m going to test
them to see if they’ll live according to my Teaching or not. On the sixth day,
when they prepare what they have gathered, it will turn out to be twice as much
as their daily ration.”
6-7 Moses and
Aaron told the People of Israel, “This evening you will know that it is God who brought you out of Egypt;
and in the morning you will see the Glory of God. Yes, he’s listened to your complaints against him. You
haven’t been complaining against us, you know, but against God.”
8 Moses
said, “Since it will be God who
gives you meat for your meal in the evening and your fill of bread in the
morning, it’s God who
will have listened to your complaints against him. Who are we in all this? You
haven’t been complaining to us—you’ve been complaining to God!”
9 Moses
instructed Aaron: “Tell the whole company of Israel: ‘Come near to God. He’s heard your complaints.’”
10 When
Aaron gave out the instructions to the whole company of Israel, they turned to
face the wilderness. And there it was: the Glory of God visible in the Cloud.
11-12 God spoke to Moses, “I’ve listened to the complaints of the
Israelites. Now tell them: ‘At dusk you will eat meat and at dawn you’ll eat
your fill of bread; and you’ll realize that I am God, your God.’”
13-15 That
evening quail flew in and covered the camp and in the morning there was a layer
of dew all over the camp. When the layer of dew had lifted, there on the
wilderness ground was a fine flaky something, fine as frost on the ground. The
Israelites took one look and said to one another, man-hu (What
is it?). They had no idea what it was.
15-16 So Moses
told them, “It’s the bread God has
given you to eat. And these are God’s
instructions: ‘Gather enough for each person, about two quarts per person;
gather enough for everyone in your tent.’”
17-18 The
People of Israel went to work and started gathering, some more, some less, but
when they measured out what they had gathered, those who gathered more had no
extra and those who gathered less weren’t short—each person had gathered as
much as was needed.
19 Moses
said to them, “Don’t leave any of it until morning.”
20 But they
didn’t listen to Moses. A few of the men kept back some of it until morning. It
got wormy and smelled bad. And Moses lost his temper with them.
21-22 They
gathered it every morning, each person according to need. Then the sun heated
up and it melted. On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, about
four quarts per person.
Then the
leaders of the company came to Moses and reported.
23-24 Moses
said, “This is what God was
talking about: Tomorrow is a day of rest, a holy Sabbath to God. Whatever you plan to bake, bake today;
and whatever you plan to boil, boil today. Then set aside the leftovers until
morning.” They set aside what was left until morning, as Moses had commanded.
It didn’t smell bad and there were no worms in it.
25-26 Moses
said, “Now eat it; this is the day, a Sabbath for God. You won’t find any of it on the ground today. Gather it
every day for six days, but the seventh day is Sabbath; there won’t be any of
it on the ground.”
27 On the
seventh day, some of the people went out to gather anyway but they didn’t find
anything.
28-29 God said to Moses, “How long are you going to disobey my
commands and not follow my instructions? Don’t you see that God has given you the Sabbath? So
on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. So, each of
you, stay home. Don’t leave home on the seventh day.”
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