There was no warning. All the power just suddenly went out in this building where we have our offices. No thunder, no lightning, no wind - just a sudden shutdown of our computers, our phones, our heat, all our power. In an instant, our building was dead. And it stayed dead for two full days making for some interesting opportunities to be resourceful, flexible, adaptable, inefficient! Our offices are in a pretty old building. And when they dug into the cause of the shutdown, they found that some antique electric part in the building had finally just died. Now, since this part was apparently original equipment - probably from sometime around the Revolutionary War - it was impossible to find another part like it. They don't make them anymore! So we're talking some creative electrical work here! Those old connections just couldn't deliver what is needed for today's demands!
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You about "Yesterday's Connections."
You just can't get the power you need for today from yesterday's connections. The power failure in our building proved that; the power failure in people's lives proves that! See, if you're trying to meet the demands of your family, your responsibilities, your problems, your burdens, your ministry with yesterday's connections, you're often going to fall short of the power you need. And right now, the events and pressures you're facing may be heavily underscoring your need for greater spiritual power to handle them.
Then this would be a good time to look at a Biblical picture of how God supplies the resources you need, the resources you could never come up with yourself. His people, the Jews, are in the wilderness where there is no real food supply to meet the demands of hundreds of thousands of people. A massive need with woefully inadequate resources to handle it. Sound familiar? Well, here comes the manna. Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Exodus 16 beginning at verse 4.
"Then the Lord said to Moses, 'I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day." Well, when the manna fell that first manna-morning, the Bible says, "Each one gathered as much as he needed" (Exodus 16:18). "Then Moses said to them, 'No one is to keep any of it until morning.' However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell." It's tough enough to wake up in the morning; it's really tough when you wake up to Maggot Krispies for breakfast!
But God was teaching a vivid lesson here. He supplies what we need in 24-hour deliveries - always fresh resources, always new mercies for this new morning. And no matter how high a mountain of manna you may have piled up on Monday, it won't be what you need for Tuesday. Old resources will not meet today's new needs.
Unfortunately, too many times we try to coast on manna we got from God last week, or last month, or even longer ago. But, like the building our offices are in, you cannot keep trying to meet today's demands with some old connections you have to the Source of power. You may have some tremendous memories in your spiritual scrapbook, some great times with the Lord in the past, but you've gotten so busy - or maybe just lazy or careless - and you've been relying on what did go on between you and God to meet the demands of today. And the lights are flickering, the power is failing.
Maybe you need to get on your knees today and say, "Lord, I need a fresh touch, some new victories, a fresh cleansing of the dirt I've allowed to accumulate, a renewing of my attitude, a new Holy Spirit takeover." If you've been relying on yesterday's connections, a power failure is inevitable. Each new day, go for a fresh touch from God - today's connection for today's needs.