Today's Favorite Verse: Exodus 16:4

Today's Favorite Verse: Exodus 16:4

"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 no."

The amount of manna the children of Israel were to gather every morning for each person was an omer. How large is an omer I wondered? I found a reference that said it was 9.30 cups. As I thought on it I realized this was a perfect food. They could subsist on it for 40 years. This has to be longest running continual miracle God has ever provided. It was also a perfect test in obedience. They were to only gather each morning enough to be eaten in a day. Yet there were people that gathered more and stored it. In those cases the next morning the manna stank and was wormy. Yet, they were told to gather twice as much on the 6th day and that manna was fine on the sabbath to eat. Still there were those that didn't gather twice as much on the 6th day and went to the fields and found nothing.

This made me think of something I read yesterday in the General Handbook during family scripture study.

"The guidance of the Holy Ghost, along with careful study, can help members discern between truth and error (see Doctrine and Covenants 11:12; 45:57). In matters of doctrine and Church policy, the authoritative sources are the scriptures, the teachings of the living prophets, and the General Handbook."

(General Handbook 38.8.40)

This pointed out again to me how important it was to read and understand what was in the General Handbook. Reading about the different ways the children of Israel reacted to gathering and storing the manna from heaven made me think of extreme preppers and self-reliance.

Extreme preppers would be those that stored more than needful each day. Thinking that they could set aside and use later when counseled not to. This is what the General Handbook says about that.

Extreme Preparation or Survivalism - 38.8.16

"The Church encourages self-reliance. Members are encouraged to be spiritually and physically prepared for life's challenges.

However, Church leaders have counseled against extreme or excessive preparation for possible catastrophic events. Such efforts are sometimes called survivalism. Efforts to prepare should be motivated by faith, not fear.

Church leaders have counseled members not to go into debt to establish food storage. Instead, members should establish a home storage supply and a financial reserve over time."

Those that didn't gather enough on the 6th day in preparation for the Sabbath, and then went looking later would be those that knew of shortages coming but didn't think the warning was true. They mistakenly thought the Lord would provide. This is what the General Handbook tell us about that.

Temporal Preparedness - 22.1.4

"The scriptures teach the importance of being prepared (see Ezekiel 28.7; Doctrine and Covenants 38:30). Members are counseled to become prepared so they can care for themselves, their families, and others in times of need."

During this pandemic I have sure seen both sides of this. It is just as important for us to follow the guidelines given by a prophet today as it was for the children of Israel to listen to Moses.

Day 2225