Blessing
Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments, and commanded us concerning the counting of the Omer.
Barukh atah, A-donai E-loheinu, Melekh Ha-ʿolam, asher qid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu ʿal S’firat Ha-ʿomer.
Count
Today is thirty five days, which is four weeks and seven days of the Omer.
Meditation
Exodus 16:4-7
4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. 5 On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.” 6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, “At evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, 7 and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord. For what are we, that you grumble against us?”
Devotional
God had birth His son out of the womb of Egypt. In the wilderness, like the earth without form and void, He would make Israel His people. There God fed them with food from heaven. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not desire” (Psalm 23:1). God’s provision is a test for His people in order to confirm their trust in His word and their willingness to follow His instructions. Would they be consumed by their perception of scarcity? Or would God’s word fill their imagination to see the divine provision that would surely manifest before them. God wants us to know that The One who made heaven and earth will surely care for those He made it for. The first generation of Israel would grumble and stumble into rebellion resulting in endless wandering in the wilderness. Their behavior kept them out of the land God promised them. We must not miss out on God’s blessing because we react incorrectly to the situations around us.