Verse by verse teaching - Proverbs 10:3 "When Manna is Served"

You take God's precious word in the book of Proverbs chapter 10 Proverbs chapter 10 Had such a wonderful time studying this verse God willing will be expounding verse 3 tonight Proverbs 10 verse 3 The tile the message tonight is when manna is served When manna is served if y'all had a chance how many of y'all Would like to taste of manna if you had the opportunity I Would too I'd like to try it out. I just like to try it out. That'd be the neatest thing Last week we began our study of pithy Proverbs in Chapter 10 and Proverbs we learned our brief in each one may or may not directly relate to the proverb that comes after it or before it and In verse 3 tonight Solomon begins his next proverb by saying look with me 9 verse 3 The Lord will not suffer The Lord will not suffer Now the word suffer here doesn't mean suffer in the sense of enduring pain like we would use it today and or hardship or something like that, but it means suffering in the sense of allowing something to happen This word suffer is Used frequently in the Bible and that old Archaic King James language So when you read the Lord will not suffer Then understand that it means the Lord will not allow The Lord will not allow the Lord will not permit The Lord will not let something happen. I Was speaking to an older cousin of mine once who was telling me about my paternal grandfather He passed away the year I was born so I never got to know him But my cousin being older than me He told me about a fond memory that he had of our grandfather He said one day when he was a little boy They were somewhere and there was a dog a mean dog that was barking at him and he was afraid that that dog was going to bite him And he said he remembered our grandfather telling him Come over here and stand by me. I won't let that dog get you And a memory like that it's it's a precious thing for You know a child to have especially if the grandfather died when they were young and they don't have a whole lot of memories They can always remember that That grandparent saying I'm not going to let That dog get you come over here by me. I will protect you So in the old English my grandfather was telling his grandson. I will not suffer that dog to hurt you That's the the language of the king that we're reading here in the book of Proverbs We're reading about our loving Heavenly Father Who will not allow who will not suffer a particular thing to happen to his? Children aren't you glad there's some things God will not suffer to happen to you I thank God once I put my faith in Christ. He will not suffer me to perish I Thank God once I put my faith in Christ. He will not suffer me to ever be left alone from his spirit Understand that the only way God cannot allow something to happen is if God has Sovereign power over that particular event in the believers life My grandfather of course the only way he could not allow that dog to Bite my cousin was if my grandfather had some kind of power over that dog Maybe it was a good swift kick or maybe it was a whack on the dog's head with the stick But I'm sure he had some way of keeping that dog in check Or else the dog would have been his grandson In God when we see here that it says the Lord will not suffer the Lord will not allow we see that God has complete sovereignty over his creation God has the power to allow and God has the power to deny anything he chooses Concerning your life That's a lot of power, but that's God and in this case Solomon said God will not allow look in your text now the soul of the righteous to famish God will not allow he will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish now the word famish here It means to hunger Sometimes at least in the olden days I remember growing up I would hear people say this from time to time If someone was really hungry, they would say I'm famished Girls y'all ever heard anyone say that good I'm famished Now I thank God that he's always supplied my need I thank God that he has always Taken care of me. I've I've been hungry, but I've never gone hungry He always supplied the needs of those that put their trust in him That's a proverb Mark this down God will never suffer The soul of the righteous to famish I've been meditating on that this week and it's been such a comfort to me such an Encouragement to me the Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish That's a good one to memorize But at this point we have to remember that the Proverbs are general principles their general Principles and as general principles they must always be interpreted within the strict Context of God's Word They are general principles that have to be interpreted within the strict Context of God's Word if you did not interpret it within the strict context of God's Word You would say well the Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish, but I'm really hungry right now How come he's let me get hungry and that's not what God is saying Generally speaking according to the Proverbs God takes care of his children. He provides Their daily bread for them remember that's one of the things Jesus taught us to pray give us this day our daily bread Jesus would have never told us to pray for God to give us our daily bread unless it was God's will that we get bread every day That's the will of God So generally speaking God takes care of his children. He provides their daily bread sovereignly speaking however There are times when God intentionally allows the souls of the righteous to famish Sounds like a contradiction doesn't it if Solomon says God will not allow them to hunger Yet we read in the Bible where God does allow the soul of the righteous to hunger does that mean the Bible is contradicting itself No, the Bible never contradicts itself So if you read here in the Proverbs the Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish Yet you read somewhere else that God will suffer them to famish or suffer them to hunger The Bible is not contradicting itself. It is explaining itself It's where the general principle of the proverb gets defined By the specific the specificity of the text in the other place Let me give you an example Listen to what Moses told the children of Israel in Deuteronomy chapter 8 verse 2 He said and Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these 40 years in the wilderness to humble thee and to prove thee to know what was in that heart whether thou wouldest keep his commandments or no and he humbled thee and Suffered thee to hunger see that and by the way the Hebrew word translated hunger here Suffered thee to hunger is the same Hebrew word translated famish in Proverbs 10 3 tonight So he's saying he suffered thee to famish and fed thee with man I Don't know if you're turned there tonight, but if you're taking notes you want to you would definitely want to write this down in your margin You'd want to write down Deuteronomy 8 3 He humbled thee and suffered thee to hunger or suffered thee to famish and fed thee with manna which thou newest not That's Very important He didn't say he suffered you to hunger and fed you with manna and Stop He said he suffered you to hunger and fed you with manna which you did not know Why is that important We'll learn there in just a moment Why did he do that? Why did he give them food? They didn't know anything about And made them suffer hunger before he gave it to them. He goes on to say that he might make The know that man doth not live by bread only But by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live Moses specifically said that God suffered Israel to hunger that suffered them to famish So this appears like a total contradiction Against what we're reading tonight in Proverbs 10 3 which says the Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish But again, it's not a contradiction It's an explanation you see when God led them into the wilderness where they had bread God did not allow them to hunger in the sense that God did not meet their needs Remember he gave them manna God met their needs he put up with them in the wilderness for how many years? 40 years now if he didn't meet their needs in the wilderness They would have never survived 40 years in the wilderness and made him to the promised land So God did God suffered them to hunger not in the sense that he didn't meet their needs No, it's the opposite God allowed them to hunger So that he might make them know that man does not live by bread only But by every word there proceeds out the mouth of the Lord does man live? You see by by by depriving them of food they were forced to look to him and Take heed to his word in order to live and What happened when they obeyed his word? They gathered up manna that God sent down from heaven and they ate manna That nobody had ever seen before that they had never experienced before that their fathers had never experienced before So God caused his people to hunger that he might cause them to eat Are you catching that I? He suffered you to hunger and gave you manna Now if you start making that connection there you're gonna start getting a blessing God calls them to hunger that they might eat Specifically he calls them to hunger for things To be deprived of things that they knew So he could feed them with something that they never knew before Isn't that good? God calls his people to hunger that he might cause them to eat which means God did not suffer them to hunger in the end But to eat bread they would have never known had they never known hunger Moses said again in verse 3 he said he fed thee with manna which thou knewest not Here's a kingdom truth We are often deprived by earth So we can be supplied by heaven We are often deprived of earth So we can be supplied by heaven Sometimes we can't experience the manna Until we experience the hunger that's what happened to Israel So God sometimes deprives us so he can provide us with something far better in value The Apostle Paul told the Corinthian church in 2nd Corinthians chapter 11 verse 27 that in his service to God he had been quote in weariness and Painfulness in watchings often in hunger and thirst How about that? What happened God suffered the soul of the righteous to hunger Paul Suffered in hunger and thirst in fastings often. He says in cold and nakedness and Then after telling them what all he had suffered for the gospel's sake He then told him that he considered his sufferings something to be thankful for You Know why Because by being deprived of Earthly things he was supplied with heavenly things God did not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish He suffered him to famish in earthly things he supplied him with heavenly things you see God's strength was made perfect in Paul's weakness and Paul knew what he lost in this in this world for the gospel's sake He knew that there would be much greater eternal reward in the end So God suffered Paul to hunger God suffered Paul to be in properly clothed at times Because it tried Paul's faith It brought God glory through Paul's persistent obedience to him through his sufferings And it allowed Paul to experience the power of the grace of God in his life, which he otherwise would have never known Just a few verses later after Paul talked about all the things he had been deprived of He says in 2nd Corinthians 12 9 again just a few verses later He says most gladly therefore will I? Rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me He said brother Richard he suffered Paul to hunger Yes, he suffered Paul to be empty of some earthly things So he could be filled with some heavenly things and Paul said I've been deprived of one I've been supplied of the other and I would much rather have the other God did not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish. He rather Deprived him of one that he might supply him of that greater thing God suffered Paul to be weak so that Paul may know a superior strength He would have never known had he not known weakness God deprived Paul of strength that he may supply Paul with strength you see Physically Paul was deprived of strength Spiritually Paul was supplied with strength So does God suffer us to hunger Yes Does God suffer us to hunger? No He suffers us to be deprived by earth that we might be supplied by heaven He suffers us to hunger for the bread that we do know so that he may fill us with the bread That we don't know I Believe many people who've lived a Close walk with God at least for for a number of years would be able to testify to what Paul's saying That it was the loss of something in their life that actually supplied something That they desperately needed It was God depriving them of one thing that enabled them to be supplied with something far better Fanny Crosby was deprived of vision But she was supplied with much greater vision So the thing she saw doctrinally Are still with us musically today? And had she seen with her eyes and not seen with her soul the things of God Then she being dead would not be speaking He does not suffer the righteous to famish look now back in your text But he casteth away the substance of the wicked So here's how all this works out The wicked can become very wealthy very quickly The wicked can appear to be strong and even invincible at times on this earth Just look at the drug cartel just look at some of the political powers that we have and and so the wicked can have plenty Of earthly bread for a time plenty They can have plenty of earthly strength for a time They can have plenty of earthly influence and wealth for a time But what God does for the wicked soul or the soul of the wicked Is the exact opposite what God does for the soul the righteous? Let me repeat that again What God does for the soul of the wicked is an exact opposite of what God does for the soul of the righteous You see God allows the righteous to be deprived of earth Supplied by heaven Exact opposite for the wicked God allows the wicked be filled with earth and deprived of heaven Repeat that again God allows the righteous to be deprived of earth and supplied with heaven But God allows the wicked to be filled with earth and deprived of heaven. I tell you what I know which one I want He fills the soul of the righteous The soul the wicked the substance of that wicked soul he cast away Solomon didn't say God wouldn't suffer the wicked to have substance notice that You can't cast away substance unless they have substance to cast away So don't misunderstand what Solomon said He said God cast away their substance so the wicked gain substance That will inevitably inevitably be lost the righteous lose substance That will inevitably be gained. Isn't that amazing? So that in the end the righteous are filled and the wicked go hungry Remember the story of the rich man in Lazarus. There's a good example of that The rich man fares sumptuously every day he's clothed in purple his belly's full God allowed The rich man to be filled with earth Here's the righteous man Lazarus. He's sitting outside the gates and God suffered his soul to famish With one thing anyway But Lazarus was a righteous man because he made it to Abraham's bosom. He made it to heaven and Then Abraham said When when you were here you you had it good and Lazarus had it bad But now look your torment and he's comforted what happened God allowed The carnal man to be filled with earth and deprived of heaven He allowed Lazarus to be deprived of earth and filled with heaven He did not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish to this day Lazarus is full God gave Lazarus more than the rich man ever could have dreamt So God will suffer you to famish But what he denies you He more greatly supplies you That's a wonderful truth for us to take home tonight and my glasses just fell apart I Gotta go back and see that lady Becky All right father we thank you so much for your precious word Thank You father That you do not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish Lord sadly The wicked father their substance will be cast away. They will not have an inheritance with your children Just like the the people the the Canaanites at Israel drove out. They did not have an inheritance They did not have any lines of inheritance drawn for them You suffered your children to hunger in one sense in the wilderness But you did so Lord that you might fill them with an even greater sense a sense of memory Even so much that the food they ate was laid up in store for future generations to see and know about and Lord I pray father tonight That we will be the people father Who trust in your word? Who looked to you for all of our needs we pray as Jesus taught us give us this day our daily bread But help us also to remember Lord That when we are deprived by your sovereign will of earth If we will trust in you Lean on you and remember that you are the God that supplies all of our needs Then Lord we know father that you ultimately Will supply us with heaven what we've been deprived of earth and that with the Apostle Paul will be able to say That we glory in our infirmities that the power of Christ may rest on us. We ask it in Jesus precious name Amen.