Minutia

Numbers 16:14 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.

Minutia from the plural Latin minutiae meaning trifles, singularly smallness, the root to the word miniature. I include the plural as it brings in the attitude of trivial. Here in Numbers we are speaking about the manna from heaven. That which was given freely from heaven and gathered to be consumed daily. This is the root of our daily bread.

Jesus included this in teaching us how to pray. “Give us this day our daily bread.” It is meant for sustenance for the day and nothing more. If it had not been so, it would not have been given daily.

Is that a trivial thing? A trifle is not to be taken seriously. Is that our attitude about that small thing given to us to sustain us through each day? Do we have a proper respect for the little thing, the minutia? We have to gather much to make anything of any substance. We need to gather many words to make sense of any passaged. A word by itself says little, yet a misplaced word changes everything. A word overlooked isn’t missed in the gathering. Yet one little word can make all the difference.

For example, what does it mean that the manna fell in the wilderness, outside the camp? They were only allowed to gather enough for each family member. They had to leave the rest. How much was left that was not gathered? How far from the camp did the manna fall and remain because the camp could only gather so much? Did that manna mean anything to anyone outside the camp? Or do we only think about ourselves?

Were there wilderness eyes watching what was gathered and wonder if they too could use it?

Believe Me

Isaiah 53:1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?

A witness is one who gives testimony. In the most common usage it occurs within the legal system as one who witnessed a crime. The defense attorney will try and discredit the witness and call their vision and their judgment into question. That is his job.

Acts 4:10, 12 Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Now here is a witness that testifies that there is no other way to view what he has seen. But who will believe this report? In all of the world there is no more offensive witness than this. Jesus is the only way offends everyone to whom the arm of the Lord has not been revealed. Everyone.

In what other religion is salvation an issue?

I asked a practicing Buddhist why she was a Buddhist. Her answer was sincere. “To be a better person.” So I asked her to draw that out to a final conclusion. She asked “What do you mean?” I pointed out that if her religion had nothing to offer beyond being a better person, then why can’t I be a better person alone without Buddha? She had no answer. Salvation was not part of her belief system.

The same question could be asked of me. What is my final conclusion?

I will be transformed into an incorruptible body that does not know death, sickness nor pain. This is where the belief systems differ. How do I know?

Because Jesus Christ has declared to us the promises of God which are many and not just the one at the end of our journey together. The way that I can trust Him to be faithful in that last promise is in the observation, my witness, of the promises He has kept so far.

No other religion offers proof to its followers in varying degrees of kept promises.

2 Corinthians 1:20-21-23a For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Moreover I call God for a record upon my soul,

My witness.

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