Morning Manna by Rufus Parker: Morning Manna by Rufus Parker

Friday, June 19, 2020

Morning Manna by Rufus Parker - 19 June 2020

Bury Me with Leah

“All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: and this is it that their father spake unto them, and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them. And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, In the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a buryingplace. There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah.” (Genesis 49:28-31)

Today’s Morsel: Almost twenty years ago, on the island of Okinawa, God gave me a sermon from this passage of scripture with the title, “Bury Me With Leah.” As I was studying it, I wondered why Jacob wanted to be buried with Leah instead of Rachel that he loved and worked so hard for? We know that Leah was tender-eyed and in some cases not wanted. But Jacob buried her with his father and mother, Isaac and Rebekah, and his grandparents, Abraham and Sarah. And he wanted to be buried there as well. What brought about the change in attitude and heart towards Leah? I believe that over the years, Jacob realized how compassionate God had been to him, and now he was moved with a heart of compassion for his beloved wife that was hated. I believe that she represented Christ. As Isaiah states, “For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” (Isaiah 53:2-3). I do not know about you, but I want to be buried with Christ, the despised and the rejected. Remember that beauty is only skin-deep, and true beauty comes from within.

Sing: He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. Surely, He bore all our sorrows, and by His stripes we are healed.

Thought For Today: Bury me with Christ.

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About Morning Manna

And it came to pass, as Aaron spake unto the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and, behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak unto them, saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God. And it came to pass, that at even the quails came up, and covered the camp: and in the morning the dew lay round about the host. And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground. And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat (Exodus 16:10-15).

“Morning Manna” is a short daily devotion which began in 2002, with just a short note of encouragement to a friend who was facing difficulties at the time. Through their response, I was encouraged to begin a daily devotion via email and send it to people who asked to be put on the distribution list. It is now reaching around the globe. Its birth came about during Morning Prayer. The Lord revealed to me that I should forward my friend a word of encouragement, since it is through patience and comfort of the scripture that we find hope. Thus, I forwarded him the words the Lord had given to me for him, and he forwarded it on to someone else who was having difficulties in their life as well, and thus the original list began.

The goal of “Morning Manna” is to provide people with a quick, thought provoking Word from the Lord, as well as provide encouragement from His Word that can help them through the day and during unexpected trails and circumstances in their daily lives.

Several years ago, Jesus moved on my heart to start writing daily devotions; thus began “Morning Manna”. Today, many people are receiving these daily devotions and many of these people are forwarding it on to their family and friends. It is my hope to encourage even more through posting the devotions to this blog-page.

I pray that you, too, will enjoy reading the manna from this site.