Take a Jar

Exodus 16:33 So Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar and put an omer of manna in it. Then place it before the LORD to be kept for the generations to come.”

How do we keep memories alive. This becomes important for many of us as we age. Our minds are not what they used to be. Some memories, even important ones, fade.

We pull out the photo album or scroll through our photos on Facebook. We pass our tablet to our spouse and say, “Remember this?” And then we reminisce about the moment in our history together. Or maybe we tag someone on the photo or comment on their memory that pops up.

Many of us have mementos in our homes, hanging on the wall or setting of a shelf, of moments from our lives. We hold onto those items as a way to hold onto the past. They give our minds the opportunity to connect back to what has made us who we are today. They become anchors.

But what happens when the ropes to the past get cut or frayed? These are some of the most heart-wrenching moments in life. When we can’t, or a loved one can’t, pull up the memory. It is bad enough when you can’t find a file on your computer! But when it is your brain that isn’t working, that is far more difficult.

Our text tells us about the moment the LORD tells Moses to do something counterintuitive. It is counterintuitive because we have just had the incident of the maggot infested and smelly Manna. Some things just can’t be preserved!

And yet the LORD tells Moses to take some of this substance that can’t be preserved and preserve it. How can the unpreservable become preservable? Moses had to have asked the question, if only to himself.

But Moses gets a jar and puts the Manna into it. But how is it going to be preserved. Won’t it just get maggot filled and smell things up?

The jar was to be placed “before the LORD” and it would be preserved. Nothing impure or putrefying can be in the presence of the Holy One. Don’t we read about impure people and things getting killed or destroyed when they come into the presence of the LORD in an unauthorized manner?

But obedience requires at times a suspension of our reasoning. We must ignore our excuses for not obeying, and obey anyway. We must realize that what we can sense is not all there is to this universe. The LORD is outside the confines of this physical box. He isn’t bound by the rules He imposes on the inhabitants of the box.

So next time you sense the LORD leading you into a situation where obedience might mean ignoring some ‘fact’, don’t automatically dismiss the notion as being crazy. Maybe the LORD is leading you, and things will be OK because you are “before the LORD,” in his presence, following His lead.