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One of the great purposes of God is for us to know Him. This is God’s design for you and me. In the 16th chapter of Exodus, we see the Lord working with His people from the very beginning for this purpose. In the prior chapter (Exodus 15), we find the nation singing of the wonders and salvation of the Lord. God had just once again displayed His mighty power over the Egyptians and brought the nation of Israel through the Red Sea on dry ground. It is evident that God led them to a place where they must rely upon Him (Exodus 14:1-4). This lesson was not learned immediately, for after they concluded their song of praise to God, we read in verse 2 of chapter 16:

“And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness:”

They thought they were murmuring against Moses and Aaron, but their complaints were not against Moses and Aaron; they were against the LORD (Exodus 16:8). Notice, however, how Moses addresses the people in verse 6. The Bible says,

“And Moses and Aaron said unto all the children of Israel, At even, then ye shall know that the LORD hath brought you out from the land of Egypt: And in the morning, then ye shall see the glory of the LORD; for that he heareth your murmurings against the LORD: and what are we, that ye murmur against us?”

Make note of the phrase, “….then ye shall know that the LORD hath brought you out of Egypt…” Here, a vital lesson about God’s workings and movement in our lives is revealed. The people only recognized that they were without bread (Exodus 16:3). God saw that the true need of the people was to know Him. How quickly we forget that God has brought us up out of Egypt (bondage of sin and the world). When we look out at the situations of life, we may miss the fact that God is bringing us unto Himself. We know from the account that the Lord had no problem providing all of the bread they could ever need. But our Savior knows we have a greater need, and that is to know Him, to trust Him, and to rely upon Him.

Later on, the Lord Jesus Christ used this great event in the life of the nation of Israel to declare to us that He is the Bread of Life (John 6:33, 48, 51). This bread in Exodus chapter 16 was temporary. Our Savior is the true sustenance that every man needs, and He is eternal. When we come to Christ for our every need, we discover He satisfies us completely. Perhaps you are in a moment of great difficulty. The fixing of that difficulty may appear to be the greatest need you have, but in truth, the Lord is just bringing you closer to Himself.