Yesterday Is Not Today

With Dr. Gena Crawford

Exodus 16:19-20 (CSB), “Moses said to them, ‘No one is to let any of it remain until the morning.’ But they didn’t listen to Moses; some people left part of it until the morning, and it bred worms and stank. Therefore Moses was angry with them.”

These two verses are talking about the manna that God provided to the Israelites during their time in the wilderness. God gave Moses specific instructions to relay to the Israelites regarding the manna that He (God) was going to provide to them, and he did. It was the Israelites, however, that did not listen to the instructions that were given to them.

And how often do we have believers, as followers of Jesus Christ, do the same thing? Yesterday’s manna for the Israelites did not sustain them for the next day. It’s just like our walk with Jesus; we can’t expect for a word or a prayer to sustain us for more than a day. It’s counterproductive to our growth process, it’s counterproductive to our faith, and it hinders our journey. The Israelites had trust issues, they didn’t fully believe that God would provide for them each and every morning. [God’s word says that his mercies are new every morning.] And to no surprise, we operate in that same mindset much of the time in the present time. It’s counterproductive to the charge that Jesus gave the disciples and us - presently: Jesus in Matthew 16:24 (CSB) says, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” Self-denial in this context is literally a DAILY THING, it has to be. Because denying ourselves one time and expecting that to carry us and sustain the rest of the way is a dead end to nowhere. 

Is it laborious for us to seek God for ourselves daily? Does it require more than we’re ready to give? Does it come at inconvenient times? Absolutely, it’s supposed to! The walk with Jesus is COSTLY, something has to die. We have to give up something, why not give up ourselves? Why not daily choose to renew our yes? Why not daily choose to deny our flesh and what we want? Because it costs!!! And I think we’re aware of that, it’s hard for us to wrap our minds around it. But the consequences of us not doing it are dire to our faith, it’s going to cost us everything in the end. 

We can’t expect for others to shoulder the burden that we were meant to carry in this sense. That Sunday sermon was not meant to keep us until next Sunday! That word was for that Sunday and that’s it, unless you’re going to revisit the sermon each and every Sunday until the next. Honestly though, even with that there is no variance, there’s no time in making it personal because now we’re expecting for that word to sustain us. What would it take for us to seek the Lord daily for ourselves? Not off the heels of another sermon, a podcast, or anything else that requires less work from us? But for us to open our bibles for ourselves, for us to sit with God in the quiet for ourselves, for us to pray for ourselves? We have to make it personal, our walk with God has to be personal! This has been a lesson I’ve been actively learning myself. I have to take time to spend with the Lord each day. When I do that he literally fills me for that day, it's a daily thing. Matthew 6:11 says, "Give us this day our daily bread."

Furthermore, how could I not make personal time to spend with Him when he continues to wake me up each morning?! He continues to give me breath in my body?! I want deep roots with Jesus, I want a deep relationship with Jesus. I want to know who I am and whose I am, that only comes by daily seeking Him. Spending time with him for myself allows me to get to know Him better, get to know Him more. Yes, I get a snippet of who He is on Sunday’s, or on Tuesday night bible study, or corporate prayer calls - but for me to know Him for MYSELF, for Tenia?!? I have to put in the work for myself. I cannot expect for my faith to grow, for my roots to grow deep without doing my part. You can’t either! 

It doesn’t have to look like how somebody else’s personal time with Him looks, it’s not supposed to anyway. It’s supposed to be between YOU AND GOD! As you spend more time with Him each day, you’re watering that time, you’re allowing God to water that time, and it’ll grow and grow! God is a dependable God, he’s trustworthy, and he’s faithful. How could we not believe in that? And I mean ACTIVELY believe in it? If we’re really honest with ourselves, we long for it anyway. Whether we admit it or not, whether we know it or not, we were created to long for Jesus. We were created to have a close and intimate relationship with Him. We have to take the time, DAILY, to have that relationship. 

If you take a look at the word ‘yesterday’, there are a few words that can be extrapolated that we can learn from. The first word is the word ‘yes’. When we look at the word, it is synonymous with granting permission or coming into agreement with what was and what is. Another word from yesterday is the word ‘date’. This is known as a specific period of time during which something should and can happen. Once the date has passed, you are saying ‘yes’ to the old day and ‘yes’ to something new. 

Now let’s take a look at the word ‘today’. If you take a deeper look at this word and dissect it, the first part of the word is ‘to’. ‘To’ is a versatile preposition that denotes the ability to be flexible, adaptable, and the capability to thrive in various situations. The word ‘day’ means a period of activity that starts at midnight and ends at the next midnight. It is during this time that God allows us to see and be grateful for His provision, along with the ability to be all that He has created us to be in the earth. Constantly living off of yesterday can steal from the possibilities of seeing God in today.

Allow yourself to learn from yesterday, which will teach you to embrace and experience God’s promises of today. Put this on repeat and watch God work!