LORD’S DAY, JANUARY 22
EXODUS 16:14-28
MATTHEW 6:34

"Take therefore no
thought for the morrow..."

HEDONISM CAN LEAD TO APOSTASY

Hedonism is the pursuit of pleasure and self-indulgence. Their hedonistic attitude moved the children of Israel to look for someone who could hasten their journey to reach the Promised Land (Exod 32:1). Having come out from the Egyptian bondage and slavery, they dreamed of having a land and a house of their own. They could not wait any longer to get into Canaan.

The LORD promised the children of Israel, through Moses, in Exodus 3:8, "… to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey..." This intense desire to immediately enter the Promised Land was because they regarded the land as very pleasurable. Their reactions in the wilderness journey reveal that they were a people lusting after their carnal desires.

Their desire is described in Numbers 11:4-5: "And the mixt multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick."

Our Father in heaven is the One who provides for all our physical needs. He will grant us the daily bread that we require. Let Him quieten our hearts to trust in His loving care, that none of us desire high-living and self-gratification. Let Him comfort us as the psalmist says, "I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread" (Ps 37:25).

THOUGHT: Am I seeking worldly pleasures to gratify self?
PRAYER: "Praise ye the LORD. Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD, that delighteth greatly in his commandments. His seed shall be mighty upon earth: the generation of the upright shall be blessed" (Ps 112:1-2).